
Long & Short Productions, LLC, Falls Church, VA) 2023,
ISBN: 979-8-218-09453-9, spiral bound, $90
This book, finishing up the planned series, has plenty of stitches arranged in categories. It completes the categories of stitches from the first book and is compiled from stitches used and developed in the past by the group’s canvas embellishment classes. Most of the stitches in the book are ones you won’t find elsewhere.
Instead of an index, there is a detailed Table of Contents. It lists every stitch in the book under the category where it will be found. The one-page index at the back of the book lists only the categories and sub-categories, including the volume where they can be found. I think some thought could have been put in by the authors to provide some index tools for the reader. Perhaps a table of where the stitches were used initially. Or an index by stitch family. I’d really like this because in this volume for example, the section on Hungarian Stitches mixes straight, diagonal, and oblique stitches, even though there are categories for those stitches elsewhere in the two books.
A book like this that’s written by popular teachers with lots of unusual stitches should feel as if you had a teacher looking over your shoulder. For the high cost of the book, the reader should be able to expect some stitching notes or hints. There is some text on the page about starting and ending threads; otherwise, there is almost nothing. I find this very irritating. It’s almost as if the authors wanted to hold back their knowledge to sell more classes. Other national teachers, and even one of the authors, have provided stitchers with real useful knowledge. You won’t get ideas about threads to use, places where these stitches work, or even much help on how to make the stitches. Surely, with the trio’s many classes, there must be more to say about the stitches than just the diagrams. Would it have been so hard to do that here?
Although the diagrams in almost all of the book are consistent and understandable, complex stitches have difficulties. In cases with multiple steps, the completed stitch is shown in the large diagram, with each step’s stitches shown underneath without a grid. This does not make them immediately understandable, but it will require the stitcher to study and puzzle out what’s happening.
The varying symbols make the steps and components clear on most of the others, but even this is inconsistent. The symbols are so similar on some stitches that steps cannot be discerned, even with the key. Another problem is inconsistency in coloring diagrams. One stitch might only have hollow symbols, usually with tiny stitch sequence numbers. But for the stitches on the facing page and for many other stitches, the diagrams show three rows in white, dark grey, and black — for no apparent reason. Other stitches have multiple colors to show multiple steps. It adds to the reader’s confusion.
The final category, Trellis Patterns, starts helpfully enough with two trellis foundations. One of these never is used again. I kept looking for a stitch using it, but there were none. Why was this here? How do they use it?
Whenever I look at this book, I feel as if the authors have cheated me. Like many stitchers, I won’t get to take an in-person class from The Stitch Squad. Like many stitchers, I would like to learn from them. But stitch diagrams by themselves don’t constitute teaching. And $90 for a book that does not give me an opportunity to learn beyond the stitch diagram is not a good value for the money. However, no matter how different the stitches might be, this book has little of their knowledge.
I recently talked to a friend about outmoded opinions in the needlepoint world. This book certainly betrays evidence of old thinking on the part of the authors. It has the unexpressed idea that the only folks worth more than just diagrams are those who pay big bucks for their classes and stitch guides. It assumes the reader knows enough to determine where a stitch will work and what thread should be used. And finally, it assumes we all have unlimited funds to buy expensive needlepoint books. I don’t live in that world, do you?
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
Thank you Janet! I thought the same thing about their first book.
What a rip-off!
Janet, thanks so much for the thorough review of this stitch book. It sounded quite good until you added your specific comments. $90 is considerable for a spiral notebook that doesn’t give you all the details you need. I have been stitching for years, and still struggle with some of the stitches as shown in Jo Ippolito’s book, so the squad book would probably be a disappointment. I will have to go back & see what your best recommended book is.
Starting & ending threads in open areas seems to be a real problem.
Thanks again for the honest review. I would like to share on the FB needlepoint arena, but that didn’t work out well on my last attempt.
Love an honest review. I didn’t buy their first book but I gave it a good long look at my local needlepoint store. Here’s my ‘thing’ about needlepoint books I want to see the stitches stitched. I get a true idea of what the stitch really looks like and if it will work where I need it.