Encyclopedia of Needlework

Machines may make hand-sewing seem obsolete—but Thérèse de Dillmont insists plain sewing is the foundation of all needlework. Her test for a good needle? Try to break it.

In the late nineteenth-century workroom, where sewing machines promise to make handwork unnecessary, Dillmont begins with the simplest stitches—and the tools and habits that make them sound. She shows how to sit without stooping, choose a needle and thread, and guide the work through the hands; these skills matter whether you sew for yourself or need to judge another’s work. A bent needle, a fraying thread, a crooked seam: small faults can spoil the result, but careful practice makes fine work possible. What can the plainest stitch teach you?

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