About a year ago, I wrote a post about Colbert Embroidery, which is a technique that combines surface embroidery, counted stitches, and voided areas on even-weave fabric. The technique interests me, because it provides a nice balance of color with bold, voided (blank) areas. As I mentioned in the last article on the subject, it seems like it would be a great technique to combine with Wessex-style stitchery.

The technique keeps floating about in my head, and one of these days, I’m actually going to sit down with the book on Colbert Embroidery and the book on Wessex Stitchery, to see what I can come up with!

In the meantime, though, I thought I would point you to a great online resource – the very same book on Colbert Embroidery, available for free online at Antique Pattern Library. The catalog at APL is absolutely stuffed with terrific resources, but for those who are interested in Colbert embroidery in particular, you might want to download the PDF:

DMC Borderies Colbert, edited by Therese Dillmont (PDF)

Had I only known at the time I bought the book…!

I hope you get a chance to take a look at it, and that you can indulge my fancy to do some Colbert embroidery by doing some yourself. I think it would be fun to try out!

It’s great to find these works online. Thank goodness for resources like Antique Pattern Library, eh?!