5 BEST Embroidery Books I Wouldn’t be Without

I was tidying up my post on the 10 basic embroidery stitches for beginners and realised I have a lovely collection of books on embroidery (and other embellishment techniques) that you might be interested in learning about.

My most prized book about embroidery is a wonderful (and old) book that was my Mum’s… which I’ve shared more on below.

This list has five books that I consider to be the best embroidery books, based upon my experience using them. There will likely be others out there that prefer other books, and that’s cool. Perhaps leave your recommendations in the comments for my other readers to learn more!

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. This means that I may receive a fee at no extra cost to you if you purchase a recommended product.

The Complete Encyclopaedia of Stitchcraft – Mildred Graves Ryan

This book covers all things stitch craft up to and including the early 1980s, and the embroidery section alone has 160 pages of techniques to try!

My copy of the book is natty at over 40 years old – it’s the one I inherited from ny Mum! – but it’s one I do return to again and again. There are a few copies available here online if you fancy picking one up yourself!

This is the book which my mum used to teach me knitting back when I was just a young girl, so it holds fond memories.

Encyclopaedia of Needle Work – Thérèse de Dillmont

This is a very old book – c.1900! – that was kindly gifted to me by a resident in the same estate as me when I lived in London. So old in fact that it has the original price for the English edition written on the inside as 3 shillings! Imagine!

And the table of contents is tucked away at the back instead of the front, so for the longest time I thought there wasn’t one! The embroidery section covers ‘white’ embroidery (pages 75-104), ‘flat stitch and gold’ embroidery (pages 105-126) and ‘tapestry and linen’ embroidery (pages 127-152).

Below is an example spread with information on tools used back then!

And don’t get me started on the other needlework topics included!

The old version I have is available online from here (and incidentally, there is a wonderful review with extra information about the original 1880s author on that page!) but there are more modern copies available like this one.

The Embroidery Book – Christen Brown

Any technique more modern than the 80s is probably inside this book which is full of colour photos. It’s a nice size to have close to hand for easy reference too.

I love that it has examples of embroidery along with a table on the stitches and threads used. This is way too advanced for me at the moment, but it is something I aspire to achieve.

Fine Embellishment Techniques

Jane Conlon’s book Fine Embellishment Techniques is specific to clothing which is why it’s been in my stash since 2010. I think it will also come in very handy for the embellishment work I plan to do for my wedding gown.

Creating Couture Embellishment – Ellen W. Miller

I had my eye on this book for over five years before I finally succumbed – it was a reward for a big project in 2024!

It is full of information, and I love to pull it off the shelf and take my time with it. It’s a great one when feeling stuck and in need of inspiration, as it’s not just embroidery based but covers many other ways to embellish fabrics.

I hope you enjoyed this quick peek at the five books I find the best in my stash for embroidery. I would love to hear your recommendations if you have anything that differs that has helped you on your embroidery journey – please do share in the comments!

And in the meantime, do take a look at the other books I’ve talked about on the blog too!