Several of Pesel's "notebooks" are here brought together in a single volume. It consists of hundreds of embroidery patterns and motifs charted from historical samplers and other articles and annotated to aid the embroiderer. The main chapters are: double-running or backstitch; cross-stitch; canvas embroidery; leaves from an embroidery notebook. Louisa Pesel was a well-known embroiderer and designer who died in 1947. She was the author of several embroidery books, many published by Batsford.