Embroidery Library is an online store where customers can buy embroidery patterns. It was established in 1994. Its headquarters are located in Plymouth, Minnesota. The company is employee-owned and currently has 20 employees. Embroidery Library has four artists and five digitizers that help with the creation of new pieces. The company creates original pieces and does not use clip art or routinely license other artist’s work. Designs begin as a pencil sketch and eventually become an art piece ready for digitizing.http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/AboutUs.aspx

The Embroidery Library website offers designs by category along the left side of the page.http://www.emblibrary.com/el/Default.aspx The site offers a New This Week tab which offers brand new designs that may also be one sale. Best Sellers and Previous Releases can be browsed by customers. For the frugal customer, there are the 99 Cent Designs and Free Designs categories. Free Designs are pieces for which there is normally a charge but the company is offering them free for a limited time. Another way of buying the pattern is through Design Packs. This offers a number of designs in a set for one price. The Design Packs are usually themed.http://www.emblibrary.com/el/designpacks.aspx

Embroidery pieces can be simple or more elaborate as in such techniques as appliqué, freestanding lace and Sashiko. Appliqué is when a crafter takes a cutout and applies it to the piece they are going to embroidery and then embroideries the original piece and the cutout together. Sashiko embroidery is an Asian style that was used to decoratively stitch extra layers to clothing for extra warmth. It has now become an art form.http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/ELProjects/Simpleproduct_ELP.aspx?productid=PR1448

The Tudor Kings in the 1600s where known to wear extravagant displays of clothing that included embroidery. Embroidered clothing and bags continued throughout history for both men and women. During the 1600s, embroidered decorative pieces for the home were also created.http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=28256&URL=http%3a%2f%2fheritageshoppe.com%2fheritage%2fessays%2fhand_emb.html An example of this is the sampler. Samplers were a trend in the past and have continued to our day. A sampler usually contains embroidered pictures as well as a saying, a verse from a book or the bible.