The Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank

About The Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank

More than 200 key stitches that should form the core of any needleworker’s repertoire, from the world renown Royal School of Needlework.

This comprehensive and easy-to-use reference guide is a complete standalone reference providing the perfect complement to the Royal School of Needlework’s unique Stitch Bank collection (rsnstitchbank.org), an online project to conserve and protect historical embroidery techniques.

Stitchers can use the book’s more 200 stitches – from basic chain worked into fabric through to Florentine work on a canvas – to select stitches for a project and learn how to make it using written instructions, illustrations and photographs for each stitch.

Researchers, curators, historians, and students will learn about the use, structure and history of each stitch in a range of embroidery techniques and to identify a stitch on a textile.

From those embarking on their needlework journey to intermediate and seasoned needle artists, this is the ideal reference guide, from the most prestigious Needlework institution, for anyone interested in needlework.

RSN Stitch Bank (rsnstitchbank.org) launched in September 2021 by revealing the first 150 stitches as the official opening of the renowned organization’s 150th anniversary celebrations. More and more stitches continue to be added as part of the aim to digitally conserve and preserve every stitch around the globe.

The Royal School of Needlework, or RSN, was founded in 1872 with a mission to preserve the art of hand embroidery. To mark its 150th anniversary, the RSN launched the RSN Stitch Bank 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 Stitch Bank currently includes more than 300 stitches, divided across 28 disciplines, from crewel embroidery to whitework.