Frisian Whitework

What is Frisian whitework? 5
The historical record 6, Stitches 6, Motifs 7, Alphabets 7, Sample bands 8

Historical examples 9
Samplers 10, Shirts 22, Cloths 24, Large letters and other motifs 26

Projects 30
Materials and equipment 31, Where to start 34, Long pendant 35, Runner 36, Silk sampler 38, Square cushion 40, Needlecase 42, Biscornu 44, Monogram cushion 46, Whitework sampler 48, Strawberries 53, Round pendant 56

Stitches and techniques 57
Pattern index 167
Index 168

About Yvette Stanton

Yvette Stanton is the publisher and designer behind Vetty Creations. She has a passion for whitework embroidery, and for sharing it with others. Yvette has written 12 best-selling embroidery books, including Smøyg which was also published by Search Press. Yvette is an accredited tutor with the Embroiderers Guild of NSW, and teaches embroidery classes, specializing in whitework around Australia. She's also an award-winning embroiderer with over 15 years' experience of producing beautiful intricate embroideries. Yvette lives in Sydney, Australia.

Visit Yvette's:
Website at www.vettycreations.com.au
Facebook: vettycreations
Instagram: @vettycreations

Book Threads

This is another in Yvette Stanton's series of detailed books on historical whitework styles, and very much lives up to the standard set by her other books.

Friesland is an area of northern Holland (the Netherlands), which has a style of whitework similar to early style Hardanger from Norway. It dates from the early 1600s onwards, perhaps 100 years before Hardanger work started. It was used to decorate linens, both household and clothing, almost exclusively stitched in white on white. In addition there is an extensive range of samplers left by young girls learning their stitches. which are often stitched at least partially in colours, probably to encourage the poor lasses to keep working!

The book starts with a summary of Frisian embroidery and how it was used, together with a section of beautiful, detailed photographs of examples of pieces from the Fries museum.

Both front and back are shown in many cases, and close-up photos are clear and easy enough to show stitching details. The style of work uses eyelets, satin stitch, line stitches and some cutwork to stitch borders and free-standing motifs, including crowns, tree-of-life motifs, and some very elaborate and decorative alphabets.

This is important because the Dutch laundries from the 1500s onwards insisted that all linens were marked!

Following on from this detailed historical survey are the projects, 10 of them of different sizes and complexity, together with a materials and methods section that does not assume too much prior knowledge. It explains how to identify thread count and evenweave, starting and stopping stitching, and the types of thread and fabric suitable for this work.

The projects are varied in scope, including sewing items, pendants, table linen and cushions. A couple of samplers include coloured stitching as well. All the projects seem well explained: my only (tiny) criticism is that you do need to move between the project instructions and the stitch information, but this is inevitable in a book like this!

The major part of the book contains detailed explanations of how to work the various stitched, produced in Yvette Stanton's signature style of detailed left- and right-handed diagrams of each step. There are even details of starting and stopping threads, working in antique hem-stitch and using a laying tool. The diagrams are clear and east to follow even for quite complex stitches. 

Finally, there are 3 sheets of pattern charts (6 sides in all) for the  alphabets and the project charts. These are in a plastic sleeve inside the back cover and do need to be carefully folded to fit back into the sleeve. However they are printed on proper paper, not tissue, so they are robust enough for repeated use. The charts are large and clear enough to use easily.

Frisian whitework is a decorative and fascinating style of embroidery that deserves to be better known.

This book fits well wit books such as Stanton's Early-Style Hardanger and provides a detailed introduction to this traditional embroidery style. It has excellent stitch instructions, a lovely survey of historical examples and projects both simple and more complex to get you started. For anyone who is interested in historical whitework embroidery, this is well worth getting. It makes a great addition to my shelves, one which I am itching to make use of!

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Customer Review

A really comprehensive guide with some beautiful projects. A fantastic selection of stitch instructions, with really clear diagrams. Complemented by some good quality pattern sheets with clear charts.

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Customer Review

I love this book. It begins with the history of Frisian whitework and antique samplers of the work. There's a variety of projects to consider for various levels of knowledge. Plenty of information on what you need to do. The diagrams and instructions are clear and easy to follow as well as being separated into both left and right handed descriptions, so no confusion there. The pattern sheets at the back of the book are clear and large enough to follow. I have never done this type of embroidery before but I would definitely recommend this book.

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Customer Review

I have several books by the same author, and they're always great embroidery manuals introducing me to new techniques and information. The book begins with a brief history and introduction to Frisian whitework (with plenty of photos of historical examples), followed by a description of appropriate materials and techniques, instructions for ten projects, and a techniques section.

Although there are several lovely projects in here (covering an interesting range including jewellery, sewing accessories and homeware), for me the real value of this book is the extensive techniques section which takes up over half the book. Although projects provide interesting suggestions/starting points on items to make and how to combine stitches, I love a good techniques section as it allows you to then consider designing your own projects. I was pleased to see that as well as clear instructions for the various stitches (with diagrams for both left - and right -handed stitchers), there are also instructions on basic techniques such as starting and finishing threads. A lot of crafting books assume a level of knowledge, and it's great to see this information covered.

I recommend these books to anyone interested in finding out more about the embroidery styles covered, or who are looking for a new challenge. Overall I'm really pleased to have another book from this author, and my fingers are twitching to start stitching on a new project.

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Stitch Magazine

Yvettes latest offering is every bit as precise and crisp as the technique itself. This time she takes whitework to the Netherlands, where touches of colour are added to the mix. Her museum of stitched samples gives a fascinating visual history of the stitches, designs, and uses. There are ten original projects showcasing this style of counted embroidery including classy pendants, a delicately monogrammed cushion cover and a sampler with many bands of stitching to try. Instructions for all stitches are shown for left- and righthanded stitchers.