I’ve got a few embroidery books and magazines on my shelves. Okay, it’s heading into “more than a few” territory, so I figured I may as well give some small reviews of them. Just in case anyone else here is interested in getting as addicted to purchasing stitching books. Because reading about stitching is almost as good as doing it. Which, now that I think about it, is probably how many socially inept young chaps feel about sex.

With that charming introduction I’ll go onto the first book: New Ideas in Goldwork by Tracy Franklin.

Goldwork, frankly, rocks. It uses gold-wrapped threads (among others), involves a lot of couching (so as not to damage the golden strands, or waste lengths of it behind the fabric), and is shiny, shiny, shiny. Tracy is a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework, teaches and takes commissions and is at the forefront of modern goldwork. Check out her website, it’s purdy.

The book is set up with pages of photographed step-by-step instructions on how to do the various techniques of goldwork, although unlike many other goldwork books, it focuses less on how to do the traditional stitches stitch-perfect the traditional way, and more on how to use those methods to achieve new effects (while still being stitch-perfect but in the modern way). The second half of the book is artworks utilizing goldwork techniques by different embroiderers. These she’s broken down into their component parts and described so that readers can reproduce them if they wish.

The photography in the book is excellent and the descriptions clear. It’s a great resource for technique as well as a stunning source of inspiration for both beginner and advanced goldwork-ers. I love this book and it often comes out for me to flip through before bed. Then I lay awake for an hour with visions of golden threads dancing through my head.