The Encyclopedia Of Stitches

by Karen Hemingway (editor)

It's the ultimate sourcebook for stitchwork a compendium of 245 embroidery stitches photographed closeup, accompanied by stitch-by-stitch instructions, plus hundreds of illustrations and meticulous charts and diagrams. Twenty-four superb projects offer practice-makes-perfect work on every kind of embroidery, from cross-stitching and huck-weaving, crewel and needlelace to smocking and bargello. The finished products? An array of skill-displaying samplers, a Victorian brooch cushion, glittering Shisha bag, silk ribbon floral pane, Hardanger tablemat, and more, in a portfolio of beautiful handiwork. A must-have reference for beginners and experienced alike.

Genres: Crafts, Reference, Nonfiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2005

Reviews

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has just about everything common in the modern Western embroidery world, even things I didn't think of as embroidery like smocking and needlelace. There are instructions from experts in that area--this book isn't written by just one person. The book is organized by tpe of embroidery: Counted thread work like cross stitch, backwork and huck weaving; free embroidery like bead work, crewel, stumpwork, silk ribbon embroidery, and metallic thread work; cut work like Hardanger, pulled thread work and drawn thread work; smocking; and canvaswork like needlepoint and bargello.

Some things are covered that I wasn't familiar with such as insertion stitching and shisha work but not other Japanese techniques that are in right now in the US like Sabori. There isn't any discussion of some of the country specific work I've seen in other books, such as Swedish and xxx, but as those aren't as well known outside those countries, I think that's really beyond the scope of the book.

For a moment i thought there were things missing but by accessing the handy index, I found asissi is covered under cross stitch. Red work and white work aren't included but really these are just variations of black work that came out of different eras.

There are samples of each type of stitch right next to the stitch instruction, and a sampler pattern of some kind for each section (generally ugly though). The instructions are fairly good, although I would have liked to have seen another picture or two for the most complicated techniques. Very few stitches had more than one or two illustrations.

Overall, this is a great reference as well as an introduction to a lot of the possible techniques someone relatively new to embroidery can learn.

4.5 stars

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for eithe a beginner or someone new to embroidery or even an experienced embroiderer who wishes to brush up or polish certain skills. It gives a comprehensive overview of the stitches then provides a project to utilize, practice and display the stitches. I really, really liked this book because it really covers every stitch and/or type of embroidery.

[Daniela Bosque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good reference book

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Color! A vibrant book with large, step-by-step instructions on 245 stitches. That's about all I could ask for.

[Ami]

Skimmed but did not work out of; learned about blackwork and lots of how-to stitch tutorials. Good reference book to go back to when I'm actually doing more embroidery.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference, full color illustrations, dry to read but very helpful