Redwork from The WORKBASKET: 100 Designs for Machine and Hand Embroidery [Paperback]

Rebecca Kemp Brent (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2010

100 Vintage Designs to Embroider by Hand or Machine!

Redwork embroidery, long admired for its simple, homey designs, is more popular than ever. And what better source for great redwork designs than The WORKBASKET®, a classic magazine with a 60-year tradition of providing readers with great, do-able crafting projects. Now Redwork from The WORKBASKET makes it easy to re-create the warm, nostalgic feel of vintage redwork designs on your linens, aprons, even quilts, whether you embroider by hand or machine.

With Redwork from The WORKBASKET you get:

• A CD-ROM containing 100 vintage designs digitized for machine embroidery in seven common machine formats
  
  
  
  
• All designs in JPEG and PDF formats so hand embroiderers can create their own transfers
  
  
  
  
• 12 projects, from an apron and wall art to a bed quilt, presented in easy-to-follow steps
  
  
  
  
• How-to basics for both machine and hand embroidery, a design index plus features on the history of redwork and The WORKBASKET®
  
  
  
  
• See for yourself - 100 embroidery designs mean 100 reasons to love Redwork from The WORKBASKET!

Please note that the digital version of this book does not include the accompanying CD-ROM.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rebecca Kemp Brent is a freelance writer, educator and designer who specializes in creative uses of computerized sewing and embroidery machines and software. A regular contributor to Creative Machine Embroidery, Quilting & Embroidery, Paper & Embroidery and Holiday Embroidery, her titles for Krause Publications (an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.) include Fill in the Blanks with Machine Embroidery (2007) and Machine Embroidery Wild and Wacky (2006), which she co-authored with Linda Turner Griepentrog.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Krause Publications; 1 Pap/Cdr edition (March 24, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896899721
• ISBN-13: 978-0896899728
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rebecca Kemp Brent grew up around the textile mills of the deep South, and developed a love of needlework and crafts early on. She has studied clothing and textiles in an academic environment, and worked in the varied worlds of theatre and mass-market manufacturing. Her writing has appeared in newspapers and many magazines, including Creative Machine Embroidery and Sew News.
A resident of Oak Ridge, TN, Rebecca enjoys teaching, writing, and designing for both embroidery and sewing enthusiasts. She enjoys sewing on Brother machines, using and promoting Schmetz needles as a member of their Designer Portfolio, and working with a variety of creative software, including PE Design, Creative DRAWings, and Kaleidoscope Kreator.
Visit her website (always under construction!) at rkbrent.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!, March 6, 2010

By 

Suzy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redwork from The WORKBASKET: 100 Designs for Machine and Hand Embroidery (Paperback)

I love this book. Received it this week. I love the designs. It includes a CD so that you can choose hand/machine embroidery. There are a variety of patterns with an updated vintage look if that makes sense.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but not a good value, May 29, 2011

By 

G. Tappan (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redwork from The WORKBASKET: 100 Designs for Machine and Hand Embroidery (Paperback)

The first thirty-three pages of this book include very brief descriptions of Redwork and The WORKBASKET Magazine plus the usual discussion of threads and techniques for both machine and hand embroidery. The next section has a dozen projects: two quilts, two totes, pillow case, pillow, apron, banner, towel, Christmas ornaments, a table runner and framed sentiments. The last section is a discussion of the included CD-ROM that contains 100 designs that can be used for hand embroidery and for a number of different machines.

I embroider by hand, so the emphasis on machine embroidery was of little interest to me. Regardless, each project seemed to have some handy little tidbit: Turkish corners, heirloom hemstitching, recycling commercial tote bags. But there were also clunkers that seemed to be included only to cut down on the white space: "Add more squares to make a larger quilt."

I was intrigued by the illustrations of finished projects. I'm not sure the simple outline aspect of redwork design is the best way to use machine embroidery. The thread sinks into the material and so the designs don't stand out the way they do if done by hand.

I was disappointed that there wasn't more history of this embroidery style that was so popular during the early to mid 20th century. I know items with redwork are still readily available at antiques stores and online auctions. I would have loved to have seen pictures of vintage work.

So for hand embrodiery, the designs on the CD-ROM are easy to use but probably available cheaper through other sources. For machine embroidery, outline stitchery doesn't seem an attractive use for an expensive machine. For textile history lovers, the history portion just isn't there. I bought my copy from Amazon so I'm pleased with what I got for the money I spent. If I'd paid the full $32.99 (USD), I think I'd feel cheated.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed this book, January 2, 2011

By 

nana claus - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redwork from The WORKBASKET: 100 Designs for Machine and Hand Embroidery (Paperback)

I would rather have all the Workbasket Magazines through the years, but that isn't to be. I liked the book and enjoyed the reading, the patterns look nice but have not used any yet. Does come w/ a CD to use but I do my embroidery by hand. There are 100 patterns of line drawings to trace. It has instructions on thread, tracing, use (rather hand or machine) plus history of the Workbasket Mag. It would be a good beginner book bec' of the well written instructions.