Portugese Whitework by Yvette Stanton

Published 2012, Vetty Creations Publishers

It begins with a brief and informative section on the area in Portugal that this embroidery is from.  This explains the colours traditionally used in this work and also contains lovely coloured photographs of traditional examples.

The reader then moves onto a general section which gives you information on the materials you will use and handy tips such as how to check if the fabric is evenweave.

The following thirty pages deal with the projects of which there is plenty of choice in both scale and difficulty.  Some of the projects included are; a bookmark, hanging ornaments, a biscornu, table cloth and a sampler.

The next two sections deal with the technical aspects of creating the stitches.  These give step by step instructions with clear diagrams as to each step to create the stitches used in the Drawn Thread Work and Surface Embroidery to create the finished piece.

Finally the book finishes with extra techniques such as how to damp stretch or block your work.

I found the book to be very well written, with clear and easy to read instructions and diagrams to follow from start to finish.  An accessible book, you will learn another beautiful technique to add to your stitching repertoire.

This book contains a total of 144 pages and 2 fold out pattern sheets.

Our Guild Library has a copy of this book.