Embroidered Treasures: Birds

This fabulous book highlights some of the exquisite works done using birds as their inspiration. This aesthetic book provides an eye opener into the surprisingly wide-ranging, attractive and interesting embroideries which can be created showcasing birds. 

Embroidered Treasures: Birds provides a real learning experience allied to the sheer pleasure of viewing the superbly photographed examples Dr Collinge has selected from the Collection. The embroideries range from small mats, sachets and panels through bags, tea cosies and cushion covers to wall hangings, sleeve bands and samplers. 

* SEW Region Magazine (December 2019) *

You'll be amazed by the stunning array of colours inside this book! Sewing enthusiasts will be blown away by the history of the embroiderer's guild and its collection - learn all about the use of metal thread, birds in art and every stitch variation you could possibly think of! 

* Sew Magazine (December 2018) *

Following on from Embroidered Treasures Flowers, which examined floral embroidery, Annette Collinge turns her attention to our feathered friends, selecting examples that intrigue as well as inspire. She highlights pieces from cultures around the world, dating from the 17th century to the modern era - from realist renderings to fanciful interpretations, from practical items to contemporary artworks - and which take in a whole wealth of techniques from Berlin wool work to modern machine embroidery. The Guild was founded in 1906 and since then its collection, now housed at Bucks Co Museum, has grown substantially. This book offers amazing insight into its many riches. 

* Embroidery, The Textile Art Magazine (Nov/Dec 2018) *

Subtitled 'Exquisite Needlework of the Embroiderers' Guild Collection', this book showcases the best embroidered birds from the extensive collection. The embroideries cover a period dating from the 17th century to the present day. From abstract to naturalistic, the variety is wonderful and the book covers many forms of embroidery from crewelwork to contemporary. The imagination, skill and detail in portraying birds will provide much inspiration to everyone interested in this subject. There is a brief history of the Embroiderers' Guild followed by twelve chapters: Monochrome Embroidery; Metal Thread; Applied Materials; Machine Embroidery; Silk Embroidery; Evenweave Backgrounds; Bags; Art; Samplers; Fanciful; Birds From Many Lands and finally Stitches. A short paragraph of text opens each section, with each photographed piece of work having a title such as 'Crewelwork Panel' and descriptive text plus technique, date, place and size highlighted in a box. On some pieces, it also gives the maker's name and who gifted the piece to the collection. All pieces have a EG number. I found the techniques of most interest, but this is not a book of techniques - it merely informs us of the technique used. Work as varied as rug hooking, felt applique and numerous embroidery techniques are included from all over the world. There is some overlap of the chapters, for in Chapter One on Monochrome, you will find Metal Thread and Silk Embroidery even though these have chapters of their own. Almost every manner of bird is to be found. This is a wonderful resource on how birds have been used to inspire embroidery over the centuries. Recommended.

-- Karen Platt * www.karenplatt.co.uk *

Way back in January, I reviewed the book, Embroidered Treasures: Flowers, a wonderful compilation of embroidery pieces held by the Embroiderers’ Guild of the UK. Like the Flowers book, Embroidered Treasures: Birds promises to be an exciting and inspiring look at a wide array of embroidery projects from different eras that feature our feathered friends. If you love birds and you love embroidery, and if you’re fascinated by the history of embroidery, you will love having this book in your library! Better yet, it is such a pretty book that it doesn’t need to be consigned to a bookshelf. It’s a perfect “coffee table” book, one that you can pick up and browse through at leisure, gleaning striking bursts of beauty and helpful bits of information every time you meander through it. I’ve had the pleasure of perusing an advanced copy of the book, thanks to Search Press, and it is everything you’d want – beautiful, informative, and inspiring! Throughout the book, you’ll find embroidered birds from a wide spectrum of artistic eras, covering a wide variety of techniques. All sorts of birds populate the book, from stylized birds to realistic renditions of birds in needlework. With each featured embroidery, you’ll find dates, provenance, and all the details of techniques and materials used to create the embroidery. What I love about this new series of books from the Embroiderers’ Guild of the UK is that you can learn much from each book, just by studying the pieces in it. No, it’s not an instructional project book – you won’t learn how to recreate, step-by-step, the embroidery pieces you see. But you will learn a lot about the history and development of embroidery, and you’ll see, at a glance, what kinds of techniques can be used to produce a certain look or style of embroidery. This is very helpful, if you have ideas in mind for a project, but you’re not sure what techniques to use to get the look you want.

Soooo…. bird lovers, historical needlework buffs, and general embroidery enthusiasts – this book’s for you!

-- Mary Corbet * www.needlenthread.com *

I was very keen to read this book being a member of the Embroiderers' Guild for about 25 years and a lover of bird embroideries in particular. The book does not disappoint. Stunning photography enhances every page with information about each piece, the technique, the date and place of origin, together with the actual size of the piece of work. It is pure joy discovering how each piece was formed in a plethora of techniques, including works gathered from across the world across the centuries up to the present-day including birds by the author Dr. Annette Collinge. Techniques are well explained but not in great depth so the book means you can dip into it for short or long spells of reading time. It is perfect to inspire you in making your own work or simply just to enjoy the skill and craftsmanship of the embroideries. As others have commented, it is not a book to tell you step by step how to do it yourself; it is a book to love for its amazing photography and know that it will give you hours of enjoyment by reading it. You cannot fail to be inspired by looking through this book, whether your love is for hand or machine embroidery, mixed media or traditional - this book has it all. Highly recommended.

-- Jude Lovatt * Amazon *

If you love birds and love embroidery, I highly recommend this book. It’s full of colourful eye candy in the form of quality images, along with interesting and useful text relating to the pieces. It covers a wide range of embroidery techniques and provides inspiration to anyone interested in the subject. It’s a wonderful resource book showing how birds have been used to inspire embroideries over the years. A definite favourite in my collection.

-- Gwenda Culkin * Amazon *

Beautiful coffee table book, full colour pictures and history of embroidery. Doesn’t have patterns or how to do any of the stitching but love it.

-- Ellen Rose Perkins * Amazon *

Lovely informative book, well written with excellent photography.

-- Diana Connor * Customer review *

'Embroidered Treasures - Birds' by Dr. Annette Collinge is truly a treasure to behold. The artwork and skill are absolutely stunning and something I imagine all artists strive to work towards with their own creative work. This book is made on behalf of the Embroiderers' Guild and displays some beautiful examples of the creativity of people through time. It has a large table of contents split into different sections, e.g. on bags, on silk, samplers, metal threads, etc. It also has an index. Each piece has an EG number, a date, size and a few paragraphs about the piece. The pieces range from intermediate to way, way, way advanced! It is a shame there are no mini tutorials in the book, but this is purely showing the historical pieces they have in their collection. I absolutely love the peacock piece on page 23, and the Berlin work Budgerigar on page 90. It gives you so much inspiration when you look at the pieces and how they have included birds in so many different ways. I love the Cockerel Sleeve Band with the two cockerels looking at each other, hand embroidered in bold silk threads.
I would highly recommend this book if you enjoy looking at embroidery and are looking for some inspiration - there is a lot to be had from this book. 10/10

-- Kaiserin Maggs * Amazon *

I loved the photography in this book and there are some exquisite pieces of work in it. If you want a reference book containing stunning pieces of art, then this is it. It’s also very informative about the history of embroidery and the different techniques used throughout the ages and from around the world. I especially liked the collage owl kit. The page explains how embroidery kits were very popular in the 1970’s and 1980’s and reminded me of my first embroidery project that I completed in the 80’s as a child. If you are unable to attend an exhibition, then this is the next best thing.

-- Joanne Gardener * Amazon *

This is such an informative book with some stunning photography of many pieces from the Embroidery Guild's collection that feature birds. Each piece is accompanied by information on technique, date of make and the area that it comes from. This is not a technique book that will teach you how to create these wonderful pieces, but certainly such a lot of inspiration here that will encourage you to experiment and find your own project to work on. As a needlecrafter and general crafter this book is right up my street, however it's the type of book to leave readily available as non crafters will find it just as interesting. It was interesting to see my husband, definitely a non crafter, pick the book up for a token flick through and half an hour later he was still engrossed and commenting on the photographs. Love it and will be looking out for more.

-- Louise Blackah * Amazon *

I have received my embroidered birds’ books. I am so pleased with the look of the covers, which are bright, colourful and eye-catching. The instructions are so clear and helpful that anyone can understand. Also, some are for beginners and you can do more intricate ones as you feel able. Lovely templates too. The birds are done in such beautiful colours, some of which I would never have thought of putting together which is so helpful as I am not good at selecting colours to put together. Great book all round well worth buying.

-- Pam Butterfield * Facebo