Kit for Elizabethan needlework - A Schole House for the Needle Facismile Book, silk thread & white linen

Tudor Tailor exclusive!

Everything you need to try your hand at Tudor embroidery!

Kit contains:

• A Schole-House for the Needle: 17th century embroidery & lacemaking facsimile book
• Silk thread (available in red, blue or black - or choose all three)
• 18in (48cm) square of white linen
• Information sheet with historic background and basic stitches

A Schole-House for the Needle is a facsimile of a 1632 original book now in the private collection of Elizabeth Mason. It contains over 60 illustrations of lace and embroidery patterns from the 16th and early 17th centuries. The earliest patterns in the book date back to the 1540s and resemble the designs embroidered on shirts and smocks shown in English portraits of the 1530s and 1540s.

Extant shirts and linen coifs include examples stitched with monochrome blue, red and green silks, as well as black and white. Blue and red was especially popular during the 1550s and 1560s.

Designs become more complex as the century progressed and featured natural motifs such as birds, insects, plants and fruit. The patterns reproduced in the last section of the book fit into this category and are both charming and inspiring.

Please choose your silk thread colour(s) below.

We also offer A Schole-House for the Needle separately as a book without the other kit contents.