Books
Where to start your search
Dover Publications have a long line of reference titles on many types of needlework and at very reasonable prices.
Your local independent bookseller is also a good person to get to know. Also, don't forget the wealth of information
contained on the shelves of many local used book stores.
Abe Books is a good on-line source for older and out-of-print books.
* * * * * * * * *
Canadian fibre arts book outlets:
Westminster Books, Fredericton (Five shelves of fibre arts titles! and another for origami books and kits)
Guild of Canadian Weavers library collection
Needlearts Book Shop, Ontario
* * * * * * * * *
Maritime and Canadian fibre arts news articles
Hogan, Peggy. “Life and work in the Brigus Knitting Mills, 1953-1970.” Material History Review
58 (Fall 2003): 13-23. Acadiensis journal
* * * * * * * * *
Maritime and Canadian fibre arts books:
300 Years of Canada's Quilts
by Mary Conroy (Griffin House, Toronto, 1976)
ISBN 0887600778
Paperback with 133 pages, colour and black and white illustrations.
Basic Quilting
By Polly Greene (Nova Scotia Museum 1985)
746.46 GRE
ISBN: 0-919680-30-5
Canada Knits: Craft and Comfort in a Northern Land
By Shirley A. Scott (McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1990)
ISBN: 0075499738
Canadian Heritage Quilting: Quick Creative Designs
by Karen Neary and Diane Shink (Formac 2008)
ISBN: 978-0-88780-753-4
(A brief history of Shiela Hugh Mackay's needlework)
Dilettante's Delight; a needlework chronology by Anne Fawcett (paperback, 2002)
Published by Otnabog Editions, Box 101, Gagetown, NB E5M 2W4
ISBN 0-9685999-8-2
Nimbus Publishing; ISBN 978-155109-569-1
Elitekey: Micmac Material Culture from 1600 AD to the Present by Ruth Holmes Whitehead (January
1980)
The Nova Scotia Museum ISBN 0-919680-13-5
Elizabeth LeFort: Canada's artist in wool by Daniel J. Doucet (2010) 200 pages, $24.95, Cape
Breton University Press ISBN 978-1897009-36-9
Fashioning Fabric The Arts of Spinning and Weaving in Early Canada by Adrienne D. Hood
Lorimer; ISBN 1-55028-980-2 ; 96 pages
Pottersfield Press
Fox and Geese and Fences
(Traditional Maritime and Maine Mittens)
By Robin Hansen (Formac Publishing Company 1983)
The Frenchy's Connection: The Pottersfield Guide to Second-Hand Clothing Stores in the Maritimes
by
Pat Wilson and Kris Wood (Pottersfield Press 2001)
ISBN: 1895900441
by Diana Rees
Gooselane Editions, April 2009
A Guide to Some Domestic Pioneer Skills
By Mary Sparling, Curator of Education
Nova Scotia Museum booklet covering carding and spinning
Published by the Nova Scotia Museum in 1972, reprinted 1974
Handbook of Stitches
By Grete Petersen and Elsie Svennas (Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York)
ISBN: 0-442-26533-6
Handweaving in Cape Breton
by Florence Mackley
Commercial Printers, 1967
Head to Toe
by Helene Rush (Down East Books 1989)
ISBN: 0892722762
(A collection of Maine and Maritime-themed knitting patterns)
A Heritage of Canadian Handicrafts
Edited by H. Gordon Green (McClelland and Stewart 1967)
Hooked on Rug Hooking
By Clara Buchanan of Sussex Corner, N.B. (Self-published)
A life-long rug hooker shares her experiences with this addictive craft.
Hook Me a Story; the history and method of rug hooking in Atlantic Canada
ISBN 1-55109-279-4
by Deanne Fitzpatrick
The Joy of Quilting by
Laurie Swim (Viking Canada, 1984)
Keep Me Warm One Night: Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada
by Harold B. Burnham and Harold Burnham (Univ of Toronto Pr (June 1, 1972)
Hardcover: 387 pages
ISBN: 0802018963
(A collection of 25 designs by 20 Canadian designers from across the country.)
Edited by Cindy Nichols; published by Briggs and Little Woolen Mills
Natural Dyes
by Hermine Lathrop-Smit (1978)
ISBN: 0-88862-0 paperback 72 pages
New Brunswick Pieced Quilt Patterns
compiled by the New Brunswick Women's Institute
Copyright 1977 paperback
Nova Scotia Patchwork Patterns
by Carter Houck (Dover Publications 1981)
ISBN: 0486241459
Old Nova Scotian Quilts
by Scott Robson and Sharon MacDonald (Nimbus Publishing 1997)
ISBN: 1551091186
A Nova Scotia Work Basket (Some needlework patterns traditionally used in the province)
by Marlene Davis, Joanne Creelman, Joleen Gordon, Mary Roddis, Mary Saunders, and Doris Wentzell (Nova Scotia Museum 1976)
746.4 NOV
One Handkerchief Makes a Small Quilt
by Margo Takacs Mashall (Glen Margaret Publishing 2008)
ISBN 978-1-897462-06-5
Pardon my Frenchy's
by Pat Wilson and Kris Wood (Pottersfield Press 2007) The sequel to the popular The Frenchy's Connection
The Quilt of Belonging: Stitching Together the Stories of a Nation
by Janice Weaver (Maple Tree Press 2006)
Written for young readers
Quilting
Quiltworks Across Canada - Eleven Contemporary Workshops
by Gail P. Hunt (Pacific Quiltworks Ltd, 1996)
ISBN 0968042309
Quilts of Prince Edward Island; The Fabric of Rural Life by Sherrie Davidson 256 pages,
paperback, ISBN 978-155109-768-8, Nimbus Publishing $35
Rags to Riches: The Quilt as Art with an Introduction by Mary Pratt
Vegetable Dyes from North American Plants
by Douglas Leechman
Toronto, Southern Ontario Unit of the Herb Society of America, 1961
by Bill Eagan (Korby Publishing 2004) $21.50
Released Nov 2004; available in Charlotte County, at Coles and the NB Museum
New Brunswick theme projects:
* * * * * * * * *
Reference books we recommend:
A Handbook of Weaves
by G.H. Oelsner, printed by Dover Books
by Therese de Dillmont
The Open Canvas, An Instructional Encyclopedia of Open Work Techniques
by Carolyn Ambuter
Traditional Samplers
by Sarah Don (Viking Press)
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth and Society in Early Times
by Elizabeth Wayland Barber; published by W. W. Norton & Company; New Ed edition (September 1, 1995); ISBN
0393313484
Web sites of interest:
Etsy an online marketplace for handmade items
Ravelry an online community for knitters and crocheters
* * * * * * * * *
Books about the international fibre arts scene:
******
Want to give your kids a fun start to fibre arts? Here are a few books to get them going.
by Kim Werker (Watson-Guptill Publications 2006)
by Judy Ann Sadler (Kids Can Press 2005)
The Weaver's Gift
by Kathryn Lasky (lots of great photos, showing the making of a blanket from sheep to finished product)
The Workshop Book of Knitting
by Ursula von Wartburg
Pattern books (for not so ordinary projects)
ISBN - 13: 978-0-7611-4617-9 Workman Publishing
ISBN 1-933308-16-8 Breckling Press
Bazaar Novelties and Gifts by Beehive (Patons, booklet 115) patterns for small dog coats
******
Websites
Marvelous historical books available for download
The New Brunswick Museum houses one of the most significant collection of quilts and related
textiles in Canada. Since the early 1920s, quilts have been an important area of study at the New Brunswick Museum and the
collection currently comprises 273 quilts, 252 quilt blocks, 30 quilt tops, 5 quilt fragments and 8 miniature or toy quilts.
A significant component of the collection, over 175 quilts, was added in 2003 with the acquisition of the John Corey Domestic Textiles Collection. In addition to the textiles themselves, there are 89 quilting clamps, 1 quilting frame and 2 quilting stamps in the
collection.
Vanity and Virtue: the NB Museum display on 19th century women's fashion in New Brunswick
Education opportunities
* * * * * * * * *
Magazines
Embroidery
The Needleworker Magazine
Fashion
General
Fibrearts
an on line magazine covering Textile and Fibre Arts in Canada.
covering the fashion, art and culture of PEI
Piecework Magazine
Threads Magazine
Knitting
Quilting
Rug Hooking
Rug Hooking Magazine
Weaving
Handwoven Magazine
Electronic Media
Movies/Video
Chandler's Mill - A tale about the plight of workers, particularly child workers, in the New Brunswick wool
industry in 1889. A National Film Board production. Filmed at King's Landing and Briggs and Little Woolen Mill. (29 minutes)
Maille Maille/Stitches in Time - Enjoy this touching story by award-winning Moncton filmmaker Monique LeBlanc. Two women discuss
their lives as they enjoy some companiable knitting.
Radio
Stuart McLean's classic Canadian radio show, the
Vinyl Cafe, recently included a story on the power of sewing in its Story Exchange. The series' Dave and Morley stories also has
a touching tale of when their young son takes up knitting.
