Embroidery Stitches: Over 400 Contemporary and Traditional Stitch Patterns [Hardcover]

Mary Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

The most exhaustive reference guide to embroidery stitches ever published.

In a small format for easy portability, this book contains detailed information on more than 400 embroidery stitches-easily more than twice as many as found in earlier books. From the basic to the more intricate and from traditional to contemporary, each embroidery stitch is demonstrated through clear, colorful illustrations and detailed, easy-to-follow instructions.

Stitches are grouped according to type, making it easy to locate a specific stitch, and presented in order of difficulty, from beginner to advanced. The stitches are further divided into fabric stitches and canvas stitches, and include:

• Line and border stitches
• Straight and slanted stitches
• Filling and detached stitches
• Composite and isolated stitches
• Crossed and insertion stitches
• Edging and hem stitches
• Motif stitches
• Single- and double-canvas stitches
• Plain- and even-weave fabric stitches.

This book is the perfect handbook for the relaxing and enduring hobby of embroidery.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Webb is a professional needlecraft and textiles designer. She studied embroidery, knitting and textile design at a London college, where she now teaches. Her designs have been published in a number of magazines in the UK, and she has written widely on a range of knitting and needlecraft topics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554072115
• ISBN-13: 978-1554072118
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty pictures but needs more detail, February 27, 2009

By 

R Kirk - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embroidery Stitches: Over 400 Contemporary and Traditional Stitch Patterns (Hardcover)

Before I purchased this book, I was hoping for some detailed instructions on embrodery stitches. The book has some detail, but not enough. The most basic stitches are detailed, but then when the patterns get more involved the visual step-by-step instructions disappear and there is only the written instructions with a picture of the stitch, and unless you are very familiar with embrodery jargon, you could get lost. I was wanting to duplicate the embrodery stitch on the front cover and the instructions just weren't explicit enough, so I had to stare at the picture to figure out how the pattern was accomplished. It would also be more helpful if the book had some sort of index. You have to go page by page to find the pattern you want. For instance, I just wanted to find out what a whipped back stitch was, and I had to go through the pages one at a time to find the diagram. I don't recommend this one for beginners unless you can figure out how to do something by looking at the pretty pictures.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference Tool, June 28, 2008

By 

Cindy Powell (Morton, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Embroidery Stitches: Over 400 Contemporary and Traditional Stitch Patterns (Hardcover)

Embroidery Stitches by Mary Webb is a very useful reference tool. After a basic overview of materials, and tools, the author does a wonderful job of demonstrating different stitches. The multicolor threads on each illustration make each stitch easy to follow. Also the author includes a few notes about the uses of each stitch which is very helpful.

The stitches are also organized well. Stitches for borders are together, filling stitches are together, etc. The author also included stitches used for ribbon embroidery.

My only criticism of this book is it's size. It is 5.75" wide by 6.75" high by 1" thick, and perfect bound. While the smaller size may make it easier to carry around in one's stitching bag, I would prefer something more like 8" x 10" and spiral bound so it wouldn't be so thick and I could lay it open flat.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars quality, January 13, 2008

By 

Douglas A. Dorson "d dorson" (St Paul, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Embroidery Stitches: Over 400 Contemporary and Traditional Stitch Patterns (Hardcover)

This book was everything that my sister wanted in content and information about all the stitches that she has used and wanted to use, Thank you so much