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The cross stitch book
Demonstrates basic stitches, shows how to prepare design patterns, and suggests a variety of cross-stitch projects.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1982
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May 20, 2014
Tara found a copy in the thrift store, so I figured I'd take a flier on this one. I read the first half of the book, or so, and browsed the second half. This book suffers from a lack of coherent purpose. It's not in-depth enough to keep around as a technical reference, and it's not thorough enough to serve as anything more than a cursory history, and it's not engaging enough to serve as an introduction. Sure, the fact that an Italian stitch exists is worth noting, and it's nice to be able to know how to sew it, but it exists in the book solely to catalog it. There's little discussion of why anybody would choose to use it, or even why it's called the Italian stitch. Was it popular among, say, Italians? Is it of historical interest? Is it a faster technique, or does it offer better coverage?
This book was clearly a labor of love by an enthusiast, and Gostelow has done her reading. There are sources cited here, many listed as obtainable from postal addresses that I have a sneaking suspicion are long out of date now that 30 years have gone by. The collection of patterns from around the world is also rather interesting, but they're maddeningly excised from context here. Patterns are given, and it's presented as, say, Polish, but it's not clear if it's a motif that's used frequently, or if there's symbolism, or if it's merely something the author ran across once at a Polish market. My suspicion is the last, and such work is worth cataloging, but to make it truly interesting or worth replicating, I'd need a bit more context.
If somebody is looking to learn more about cross-stitch, I'd look elsewhere.
This book was clearly a labor of love by an enthusiast, and Gostelow has done her reading. There are sources cited here, many listed as obtainable from postal addresses that I have a sneaking suspicion are long out of date now that 30 years have gone by. The collection of patterns from around the world is also rather interesting, but they're maddeningly excised from context here. Patterns are given, and it's presented as, say, Polish, but it's not clear if it's a motif that's used frequently, or if there's symbolism, or if it's merely something the author ran across once at a Polish market. My suspicion is the last, and such work is worth cataloging, but to make it truly interesting or worth replicating, I'd need a bit more context.
If somebody is looking to learn more about cross-stitch, I'd look elsewhere.
Displaying 1 of 1 review