200 essential stitches, curated by the most prestigious embroidery institution in the world: the Royal School of Needlework (RSN).



Embroidery is a living art. The aim of the RSN Stitch Bank is to ensure that hand embroidery is not just kept alive, but flourishes into the future. The 200 stitches in this book are a mix of practical and purely decorative, carefully selected to provide a broad and varied basis for any embroiderer. This book aims to empower every embroiderer to create contemporary works informed and supported by centuries of experience.





All 200 stitches are fully explained with written instructions, illustrations and photographs.
To make the book as easy-to-use as possible, each stitch details the embroidery disciplines it is used for, and any alternative names.
The stitches have been divided across seven chapters, each covering a particular usage, from shading to edging, to make them easy to apply to your own work.


This sumptuous book also showcases historical pieces from the RSN’s unparalleled Collection and Archive, with stunning photography and expert insight, bringing the skills, work and experience of the past to life.



The book is designed to complement the unique RSN Stitch Bank (rsnstitchbank.org), an online resource created by the Royal School of Needlework to conserve and preserve every stitch around the globe.



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The Royal School of Needlework, or RSN, was founded in 1872 with a mission to preserve the art of hand embroidery. To mark the RSN's 150th anniversary, RSN Stitch Bank (rsnstitchbank.org), was launched to continue this mission; digitally conserving and showcasing the wide variety of the world’s embroidery stitches and the ways in which they have been used in different cultures and times.



The RSN Stitch Bank is an ongoing project. More stitches are added regularly and the RSN work with partners around the world to include stitches from different traditions. The Stitch Bank currently includes more than 400 stitches, divided across 28 disciplines, from crewel embroidery to whitework.