Customer Reviews

A Stitch in Time: A Comprehensive, Practical Guide to Needlecraft Techniques

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You know how there are all these hip knitting books on the market now? Well, this is a hip needlecraft book, and beautiful to look at, too. There is a nice section on knitting, true, but the main focus seems to be on the crafts related to sewing. It opens with a section on embroidery,and there are also ones on needlepoint, quilting, patchwork, and applique. There's also a section on crochet and one on miscellaneous techniques ranging from dyeing to braiding rugs. There are lots of projects in the book, with directions and patterns. It has many color photographs and a range of projects for all skill levels. Projects are designed to suit tastes from the funky to the conventional.

The subtitle says it all: "The Perfect Introduction to Numerous Needlecraft Techniques." Lucinda Ganderton's book is certainly comprehensive, encompassing techniques both common and obscure: blackwork, emobroidery, cross stitch, needlepoint, crochet, knitting, freeform machined lace, 3-dimensional quilting, couching and laid threadwork, stitching on paper, smocking, rug-braiding, dyeing, and ribbon-weaving (among others). The stitched examples are all beautiful and original-looking, and cover a wide range of styles from folk-art to abstract. Even the traditional patterns have a refreshing twist.

The book does include basic instructions on how to perform each of these crafts. However, beginners won't find the instructions to be comprehensive. The cross-stitch section would get you through a project, but (for example) the crochet instructions are woefully inadequate. I already know how to crochet, but I still couldn't figure out some of her patterns. Other, more complex projects suffer from the space limitations of the book; more illustrations would have been helpful to explain some of the techniques.

I find this book is best as overview and inspiration. It also pointed me in several new paths - for example, I'd never heard of couched thread work or 3-D embroidery. Although I'll buy a specialized book to help me with the technique, I still consider A Stitch In Time a good resource and starting point for new skills.