Book1806
The Dyer's Companion
Elijah Bemiss
Compiles practical dye recipes from vegetable, animal and mineral sources for the working dyer, treating dyeing as reproducible chemistry rather than an inherited trade secret.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Textile & Fibre Crafts
Cloth, thread and the crafts built on them.
10 topics · 20 curated works
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Reading in Textile & Fibre Crafts
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The Dyer's Companion
Elijah Bemiss · 1806
Compiles practical dye recipes from vegetable, animal and mineral sources for the working dyer, treating dyeing as reproducible chemistry rather than…
+6 more at this level
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Assumes you know the vocabulary.
The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work
Jane Gaugain · 1840
Introduces a standard notation for knitting instructions in place of prose description, making it possible to publish a pattern that different…
+9 more at this level
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Primary sources and full treatments.
The Industrial Arts of India
George C. M. Birdwood · 1880
Surveys Indian textile, metal and decorative crafts as living industrial traditions with their own systems of transmitted skill, arguing against…
+2 more at this level
12 of 20 works
Book1838
The Workwoman's Guide
A Lady
Gives cutting-out instructions by measured pattern for a household's whole wardrobe, aimed at women with no dressmaker's training who nonetheless had to clothe a family or a parish's poor.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026Book1846
Knitting, Crochet, and Netting, with Twelve Illustrations
Eleonore Riego de la Branchardiere
Introduces a standardised, abbreviated notation for crochet and knitting instructions in place of prose description, making it possible to publish a pattern that different needleworkers would reproduce identically.
about 55 minutes to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026Book1870
Beeton's Book of Needlework
Isabella Beeton
Collects knitting patterns alongside crochet and netting in one illustrated reference, aiming to let a household reproduce any pattern from its diagram and abbreviated instructions alone.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1899
A Manual of Mending and Repairing
Charles Godfrey Leland
Argues that mending is itself a craft with its own techniques rather than a lesser version of making, and covers cloth, china, furniture and leather repair under that single claim.
about 4.5 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026Report1943
Make Do and Mend
Board of Trade (United Kingdom)
Sets out wartime advice for extending the life of clothing through patching, turning and remaking, treating textile repair as an ordinary wartime necessity rather than a mark of poverty.
Video2021
How was it made? Japanese hikihaku obi
Victoria and Albert Museum
Follows the hikihaku technique in which gold leaf is laid on paper, cut into fine strips and woven as weft, showing that the cloth's metallic surface is a weaving problem rather than a finishing one.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Book1840
The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work
Jane Gaugain
Introduces a standard notation for knitting instructions in place of prose description, making it possible to publish a pattern that different knitters would actually reproduce identically.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Book1886
Encyclopedia of Needlework
Thérèse de Dillmont
Sets out plain sewing, embroidery, lace, crochet and knitting as one connected body of needle skills sharing common stitches, aiming to be the single reference a needleworker never has to leave.
about 10 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Book1900
Art in Needlework: A Book about Embroidery
Lewis F. Day
Argues that embroidery design follows laws distinct from painting or drawing, because a stitch has its own grain and texture that a flat design must be composed to use rather than simply fill in.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Book1906
Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving
Grace Christie
Argues that good embroidery design must be worked out in the stitch itself rather than drawn first and filled in, because each stitch has its own textural possibilities a flat drawing cannot show.
about 3 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Book1907
Textiles and Clothing
Kate Heintz Watson
Works from the fibre and weave of a cloth to the garment it can be cut and constructed into, arguing construction choices should follow from a fabric's own properties rather than from a fixed pattern.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
In order written
1806 – 2021- 1806The Dyer's CompanionElijah Bemiss
- 1838The Workwoman's GuideA Lady
- 1846Knitting, Crochet, and Netting, with Twelve IllustrationsEleonore Riego de la Branchardiere
- 1870Beeton's Book of NeedleworkIsabella Beeton
- 1880The Industrial Arts of IndiaGeorge C. M. Birdwood
- 1886Encyclopedia of NeedleworkThérèse de Dillmont
- 1893The Cutter's Practical Guide to the Cutting of Ladies' GarmentsW. D. F. Vincent
- 1899A Manual of Mending and RepairingCharles Godfrey Leland
- 1900Art in Needlework: A Book about EmbroideryLewis F. Day
- 1906Embroidery and Tapestry WeavingGrace Christie
- 1907Textiles and ClothingKate Heintz Watson
- 1912The Priscilla Irish Crochet BookThe Priscilla Publishing Company
- 1913Dress Design: An Account of Costume for Artists and DressmakersTalbot Hughes
- 1915A Handbook of WeavesG. H. Oelsner
- 1916A Book on Vegetable DyesEthel M. Mairet
- 1916Clothing for Women: Selection, Design, ConstructionLaura I. Baldt
- 1917Dressmaking: A Manual for Schools and CollegesJane Fales
- 1943Make Do and MendBoard of Trade (United Kingdom)
- 2021How was it made? Japanese hikihaku obiVictoria and Albert Museum