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! :)
If you're interested in shadow embroidery techniques, "Mastering Shadow Embroidery" by Wendy Schoen is the best source out there. Her designs, instruction, and technique are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteW. O. W. What a fantastic book!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like some of the handmade hankies that I got from my Grandmother when she died. So very lovely.
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely Stitching :D It would be gorgeous to stitch like that.
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