Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches

Today I am going to post a review of a book from my bookshelf: “Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches”. This is a book I own and love.

In recent years, this book was completely overhauled and revised. Unfortunately I don’t like the new version at all. It looks cheap and nasty, and just doesn’t appeal to me. It gives me the impression that it has been “dumbed down”.

My copy of this book is the 1934 edition, and it is a real gem. It is a small hardcover book, with text and line drawings. It has a wonderful range of stitches, and while some of the instructions can be a little hard to follow, it is a book I would not be without.

Occasionally I would look at the method presented for a complicated stitch with lots of thread and needle manipulation and think “Surely there has to be an easier way than that?” So I would sit there and persist until I was able to get the exact same result, using an easier method. Often it would take some time and problem solving, but it was always great when I achieved it.

The text of this book is fabulously interesting. Its the type of book I would read from cover to cover, because it is so fascinating. (Yeah, maybe I should get out more – who reads stitch dictionaries from cover to cover?!)

If ever I want to look up a stitch, this is the book I go to (well, it used to be, before I wrote and published my own stitch dictionary!). Every embroiderer who is interested in stitches should own a copy of this book.