Turkish Embroidery
Several years ago I bought a copy of Azade Akar’s _Treasury of Turkish Designs: 670 Motifs from Iznik Pottery_ because I loved the images in it. Eventually I transferred one of them to cloth and embroidered it. It was, in my biased opinion ;), quite lovely. But it didn’t quite look ‘right’, in an Authentic sort of way. The piece was given away, and I didn’t think much about it afterwards.
There are quite a few people who like to create new pieces of needlework according to older techniques and methods. Lately I have been reading through various essays and articles on Medieval needlework, and noted reference by several authors to a
book on Turkish Embroidery. I was able to find a copy (used) on Amazon. 
by Gülseren Ramazanoglu.
While I haven’t read every last scrap in this book, I already know it will be an invaluable resource for stitching Turkish Embroidery. It has how-to guides, illustrated!!!, to stitch the assorted traditional stitches necessary to give your piece an authentic flavor.
I not only feel motivated to design a table runner or handkerchief or some other “I’ll never use this but I’m going to make it anyway” item, but I picked up _Authentic Turkish Designs_ by Azade Akar to further expand my library of motif Inspiration. It is tempting to also acquire the Dover ClipArt book of Traditional Turkish Designs. If you want to stitch a piece that has a rich feel to it, look no further than some traditionally stitched Turkish Embroidery.
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POSTED IN: Magazines and Books, Needlework in Culture, Needlework in History, Surface Embroidery
5 opinions for Turkish Embroidery
Ternezia
Mar 25, 2006 at 10:34 am
Would be a nice book to have indeed. Especially if it has illustrated guide to all those other types of stitches (which me has no idea how to do). For sure there are designs for blackwork, and I love those.
I have a very old book with Moldavian cross stitch patterns. Most were used to enchant traditional garbs, and the patterns are interesting. They could be turned into nice bookmarks or tablecloth. Will scan someday, depending on interest.
Deb
Mar 25, 2006 at 1:06 pm
There aren’t any blackwork stitches that I could tell- maybe one of the stitches would end up being the same sort of stitch but the picture example for that one was not as helpful as most of the rest were.
Much of the stitches in this book are techniques for filling the various motifs commonly used in the older art form. :)
I used to have a bookmark for a site that was excellent in its “how to” for blackwork, plus lots of patterns. If I find it again I’ll pass the link on!
Grace
Mar 25, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Hey, thanks for the comment! Ms. Rowling is great, isn’t she? I heard that she does a ton of donation activity. Personally, my role model is Amanda Tapping (SG1). And that idea for the cross-over is crazy!
Deb
Mar 26, 2006 at 10:03 am
I would rather have the next HP book, than a cross-over any day! :)
Laura
Feb 22, 2007 at 8:35 am
I am very interested in Turkish culture and was looking for a good book on Turkish embriodery. Thank you for making this post.
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