I have found two ebooks the first is John Taylor’s The Needles Excellency: A New Booke wherin are diuers Armirable Workes wrought with the Needle (1631) includeds the Poem In Praise of the Needle and contains needlework patterns for blackwork, cross-stitch, and lace designs.
The other is in the collection held in the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics . If you are unaware of this resource do check it out.
La vera perfezione del disegno di Giovanni Ostaus [True Perfection in Design] (1561) contains patterns embroidery and lacemaking. (This link goes to a PDF file)
thank you for the Needles Excellency link! Did you get the chance to see Linn’s shamrock on The Embroideress blog? Too cute!
Sharon,
Such fascinating things to read especially “Perfection in Design 1561”.
Judy