Master Index Book Review

Master index, Julia Snyder, 2018, self-published

Much as I love stitch dictionaries of all kinds, I often find them frustrating because they can be so hard to use. You know you saw a stitch that would be perfect for your current canvas but how do you find. Often without an index you’re stuck.

This could be why I have stitch books everywhere, usually with dog-eared pages and Post-it flags. This provides only marginal help. What I need is an index.

That’s what I love about Julia Snyder’s newest book, Master Index. Although each of her books has an individual index, this new volume has every stitch in every book listed in an easy-to-use tabular format.

The books are columns across the top. If a stitch appears in a book, it’s marked with a big key in the appropriate box. You’ll never be mistaken about where a stitch can be found. Once you have the correct book in hand, you can use its index to find the correct page.

I love how incredibly useful this is! Because the columns are relatively narrow only shortened titles appear. This may make it hard for you to purchase books that look interesting. Happily the index card on the cover has the full names of all the books listed.

There is one improvement I’d like to see that would make it even more useful. Often I can’t remember the name of a stitch, but I remember the stitch family. I would be so delighted if this information was include in an extra column.

A final problem is one that exists in all of Julia’s books, she does not always use common names for her stitches and sometimes she only identifies them by number. When these names don’t really point back to anything other than the books, I find it difficult to remember them.

For stitchers who love Julia’s books, this is an essential tool.