Drawn to Stitch: Line, Drawing, and Mark-Making in Textile Art

by Gwen Hedley

Line is an essential component of all textile and surface art. When used effectively, line and mark-making convey texture, tone, form, movement, and mood. With Drawn to Stitch by your side, learn creative uses of line in embroidery and textile art.Artist and teacher Gwen Hedley shares a series of exercises designed to explore line€™s potential as well as develop your creativity. Drawn to Stitch also covers line and mark-making tools, materials, and processes, including printing and mixed-media techniques. Gwen explores stitch, explaining how to interpret different line qualities from crisp and sharp to soft and diffused and from raised and overlaid to recessed and inlaid.Full of inspiring ideas, Drawn to Stitch is illustrated with stunning examples of stitched-textile work from leading artists.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts, Quilting, Sewing, Reference

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2010

Reviews

[Sue]

A book bursting with ideas and inspiration. There are a series of exercises to do which can be used develop your creativity while exploring line; guides to tools, different processes and materials.
While it is not a how-to book with different projects there is enough inspiration to last a creative person many years. Exploring line in nature is a never-ending wonder, and having the ability to translate some of what is seen to an actual item is a worthy past-time.

[Hannah Jane]

So much inspiration to find here! I love the idea of looking for patterns and colors in unexpected places and replicating those patterns through sketching, stamping, stitching, and other exciting methods, sometimes using several methods for each piece. It's like pulling the world in close and shining a light on the intricacies of life. It's time I start looking a little more closely at all the macro pictures I've taken over the years!

[Beverly]

2018: with a new embroidery project in the works, I found it useful to re-read this book.

I took this out of the library. I can see borrowing it again and again for inspiration.

[Carly]

Meh.

[Karin Bartimole]

Visually stunning, and since I'm a visual learner and inspired mainly by what I see, this book works for me. It does seem to me that this isn't a real beginners book - that it's helpful to have a basic knowledge of fiber materials and dyes, basic mixed media practice, and knowledge of the precautions necessary for safety standards needed to keep all involved safe. (some of these materials can be highly toxic and should not be used in your kitchen, or home unless it's a well ventilated room away from small hands or pets, in my opinion.) Warnings aside, I will refer to this book again and again for both instructive and inspirational reasons

[Tammy]

I've skimmed this book and want to revisit. The concept is to develop a ground or drawing surface using all sorts of cool paper, cloth, etc. The author provides an abundance of ideas for mono printing on fabric or the grounds you create, for altering fabric color. Lots of potential, all new to me. Beautifully photographed and well written.

[Jo]

Sumptuous book. This author takes a macro look at rocks, wood, & nature and recreates what she sees as drawing & stitch. Contributions from other artists shows the range of interpretation. Beautifully inspiring. FYI - Not a how to, no projects. Author assumes knowledge of paint, collage, hand & machine stitch. This is one of my favorite artsy books in a long time.

[Louise Silk]

This is a book about stitchery inspired from nature where the author translates items such as rock and wood into drawn stitches.

The is not a how-to book. The author assumes alot of knowledge about the techniques and so in the end, while I found the book interesting, I think one would find much more variety and inspiration spending time on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bubbewisdom/fibe...

[lauren]

This book about drawing and fiber arts was fun and inspiring. I got it and another seemingly very similar book at the same time, but they couldn't have been more different other than the premise of using drawing as a tool in fiber arts. I enjoyed the pieces in this book, and the process was fun to see.

[Sarah Maker]

Fantastic ideas and instruction, but it just wasn't quite what I was looking for. I really loved her bit about the interpretation of lines, though.

[Lorie]

Excellent reference and inspriation for mixed media and fiber artists. Loved the pictures and commentary.

[Sharon Wildwind]

I liked this book a lot. It reinforced my desire to experiment with unique materials and simple stitches to make hand-sewn art.

[Georgene]

Inspirational