Embroidered book cover

Today's pictures are from an embroidered book cover I made from blue silk. In the sixteenth century (and earlier) embroidered and decorated book covers were a status symbol and reflected the high value of the books they contained and protected. I recommend the following e-book for a drool-worthy read and source of inspiration:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17585/17585-h/17585-h.htm

One of the beautiful examples of embroidered book covers from the site above

My piece was designed to be relatively simple because it was my first attempt at a book cover. I wasn't sure how the embroidery would stretch or sit. The design is a stylised Griffon in a wreath of leaves.

The piece when it was taken out of the frame

The main stitches used for the book cover were chain and split stitch. This project was completed in 2006; I honestly can't remember if the floss was silk or DMC cotton. The piece was for a gift, so I suspect I used silk.

The design was taken from a woodcut that I found online. I padded a notebook cover with a thin wadding and covered it with the silk.