Giveaway Love: Mary Thomas Embroidery books

Hi Guys! Remember I told you February on Feeling Stitchy was going to be all about love? Well, I wasn't kidding, and we've got some giveaway love for you today! By the way, I had every intention to do this post last night, but hail, thunder, and some creepy lightning got in the way, switching off my computer at least once! eep! So, the giveaway's today instead. :)

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled on 2 books that so many of you love and swear by as embroiderers. So, I decided to do a giveaway of both, for those of you who haven't had a chance to own them!

Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches (updated version)


Mary Thomas's Embroidery Book (vintage edition)

I'm doing a giveaway today of one updated version of Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches and one vintage copy of Mary Thomas's Embroidery book. (2 different books) The vintage copy won't be the one in the picture - but it will be the best quality vintage copy I can track down!

To win, just leave a comment on this post by 9 PM, US central time on Sunday, Feb. 5. Tell me which copy you'd like, and tell me one thing you love about Feeling Stitchy!

Edit: 9 PM, Sunday - comments closed! Two winners will be announced tomorrow! :)

Mary Thomas, continued

I just received this wonderful email and photographs from Barbara, and with her kind permission, I'm sharing it with you here:

Thought you might be interested in the following.

There was another Mary Thomas book called The Mary Thomas Embroidery Book, first published 1936. I bought my copy (seventh impression 1952) in 1953 from Cheshires in Melbourne, Vic, Australia, for 18/9 (eighteen shillings and nine pence for you young ones).

I taught myself to embroider from this book. First was a couple of very ordinary dinner mats which I no longer have but in 1953 I made a shadow work "throw" from the book. I forget what the correct name for them was but after you set a tea table or supper table in advance you would cover the food with a nice flimsy throwover.





Isn't Barbara's shadow work beautiful?

Thank you so much for sharing this with us, and giving me yet another technique I'd love to try! If any of you have stitched from or own either of the Mary Thomas books, we'd love to see your pics in the embroidery pool! :)

Mary Thomas, chapter 1

stitched by KittyStitch

I was on the hunt for all things couching for my next January stitchalong post when I found this amazing gem, stitched by KittyStitch. It seems she rendered all the stitches in chapter 1 of Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches. I am in awe of her color choices and the lovely precision with which she carried this out. Challenge: can you spot the couching? :)

I was really curious about the book, which I'd never heard of - it seems the original title was published in 1934, and looked like this (I love that sturdy 1930's typography):


photo courtesy of Savage Pink

A bit of googling led me to this helpful review of the book by savage pink and a nice review on Needle n'Thread. It seems the book is back in print and available on Amazon, and the updated photography in the preview looks amazing.

Does anyone own the updated or original versions of this book? I'd love to hear what you think of them! :)