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The Royal School of Needlework, or RSN, was founded in 1872 with a mission to preserve the art of hand embroidery. To mark the RSN's 150th anniversary, RSN Stitch Bank (rsnstitchbank.org), was launched to continue this mission; digitally conserving and showcasing the wide variety of the world’s embroidery stitches and the ways in which they have been used in different cultures and times.

The RSN Stitch Bank is an ongoing project. More stitches are added regularly and the RSN work with partners around the world to include stitches from different traditions. The Stitch Bank currently includes more than 300 stitches, divided across 28 disciplines, from crewel embroidery to whitework.