The Stitching Book: A Step-By-Step Guide to Surface Stitching Techniques

by Various

"Silk shading, crewel, Mountmellick, stumpwork, Hardanger, blackwork, drawn thread, goldwork"--Cover.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts, Sewing

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need this one again too!

[Bookerkc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed instructions. The silk shading and crewel embroideries are my favorites.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit odd, which isn't particularly surprising given that it was published by the same people who brought us Blackwork Made Easy: Techniques, Patterns and Samplers. (Just see my review to see how strange that one is beginning with what appears to be a penis on the cover.)

Don't worry, no phallic symbols here. But the organization is bizarre. It starts out by talking about how to frame the work--using the exact same pictures as the Blackwork book. Then it launches right into the first technique where it shows you what to do by giving you the design and then how to do the generic stitches after that. It just feels backwards not telling you how to do the stitches and then giving you a motif to make.

The techniques are interesting though, including a technique I hadn't heard of before: mountmellick.

The techniques were interesting and well done if not exquisite, but the information was taken from other books so the quality of the instructions varied greatly. I felt the hard anger section was particularly well done. The Blackwork section had the same weird motifs with the happy to see you phallic satyrs and all the acorns.

Drawn thread was done quite well, too, and I really liked the project which was used for both a box and a pillow as opposed to the samplers in some other sections. The gold work section was poor.

So the inconsistency and the weird layout makes me give it 2.5 stars. I'm rounding up because it is a pretty comprehensive book and it taught me something new.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully put together book with sections on 8 different kinds of embroidery: silk shading, Crewel, mountmellick, stumpwork, hardaanger, blackwork, drawn thread, and goldwork. Some forms I had never heard of. Each type has a historical introduction, a section on materials, and instructions for techniques and projects that featured those techniques.

I was most interested in silk shading (really loved the examples) and crewel. I learned that what I thought was a chain stitch isn't; the chain stitch on page 36 is helpful.

[Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, explains stitches per project and style (hardanger, crewel, etc.). But it is a heavy weighted book and it is a bit confusing in the step by step, so you look at th stitch and wonder how exactly it is, you ought to make it, even with the instructions written there. It does have lovely projects and a lot of pictures and ideas. But it's not the best one to check.

[Melanie Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely images which inspire desire to return to needlework, including types I previously had no knowledge of. I might need more instruction that the book provides to do the projects, so without having tried any, 4 stars seems appropriate.