World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques [Import] [Hardcover]

John Gillow (Author), Brian Sentance (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd (October 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500019509
• ISBN-13: 978-0500019504
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,751,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Introduction to World Textiles, July 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques (Hardcover)

World Textiles is an encyclopedia of textile techniques. The text is very accessible (virtually no footnotes or unexplained jargon) and punctuated with beautiful color photographs, artfully arranged on nearly every page of the book. Typically, a picture of a textile is overlaid with someone wearing the garment, which puts the textile, and its description, in context. World Textiles is organized like a book of lists, so techniques are easy to find, but a bit tedious to read from cover to cover. It also has some nontraditional categories (multi-colored knitting is in a category separate from plain knitting and textured knitting) and several categories that seem arbitrary or nonparallel (for example, the only dye that gets its own category is indigo, and indigo is listed with a range of dye techniques as if it were itself a dyeing process). However, each category includes a description of the technique, it uses, and often, some factual tidbits and sketch drawings to show how the textile was made. The book seems to be aimed at the amateur collector or professional textile-maker who wants to know how a particular technique compares and contrasts with other ways to create or embellish cloth. I would recommend it as a good introduction to the world's textiles.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars World 'O Textiles, March 8, 2007

By 

Mary E. Tevington (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques (Paperback)

This is the clearest, most comprehensive guide to the techniques used to produce textiles. The examples are photographed beautifully and make you want to get to work. I'm so glad I spent the money on this first-class book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference Book, December 11, 2007

By 

Mary D. Yerrick (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques (Paperback)

I discovered this book in a wonderful little shop in Amman, Jordan that sold antique furniture and textiles. They identified a piece I was admiring as coming from a particular country and then showed me a picture of a similar piece in the book. I was intrigued by the book and wanted to purchase it, but they said it was not for sale as they use it to identify textiles they acquire. I came home and purchased one of my own on Amazon and am now able to identify many textiles or embroideried pieces from their country of origin. It's not only a great reference book, it's also a beautiful book to browse.