June McKnight, self-published, 2011.
This book is a must if you like to stitch Halloween canvases, but I think it’s a wonderfully clever stitch book even if you’d rather die than stitch a jack o’lantern.
That’s because so many of the stitches and ideas will work with any canvas.
Like her previous book on stitches for overdyed threads (previously reviewed), two pages are given to each stitch. On the left is a picture of the stitch, on white canvas, done in Haloween colors. The threads used are below the picture. On the right is a diagram of the stitch along with stitching notes or an explanation about how to use it.
At first I wasn’t sure about doing the open stitches on white canvas, they looked so bare. But as I thought about it, it made wonderful sense, I won’t be using them on white canvas, but on colored areas, so the open canvas and my threads will work together beautifully.
Beyond the many open stitches, some of which will make fantastic borders, there are plenty of inventive solid stitches. My favorite is a Scotch Stitch variation called Clinker Brick.
June also has a delightful introduction about the challenges of Halloween stitching, in it you’ll find more great ideas.
But the most useful part of the book is a section called “Pumpkin Stitches.” It puts together three coordinated stitches, in different scales that you can use to stitch the curved sections of a pumpkin to give you a sense of distance. But I immediately kept thinking of other common situations: hills in the distance of a landscape, buildings in a town, or even the sides of a house.
This is great and useful stuff.
Besides this, there are delightful and inventive ideas for stitching spiders, witches, bats, and cats. And lots of east ways to incorpoarte something different in your stitching.
This book is a real gem.
I like the nice pocket size of the book and the sturdy glossy paper. I only have one small quibble and that’s the sppoky font June uses throughout. While it certainly sets the tone, it might be hard for older eyes to read. I’d have used it for the stitch names only and switched to a more conventional font for the text.
Please note: A copy of this book was furnished to me for purposes of review.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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