Shapes of Needlepoint series 3 – Book Review

Sandra Arthur, 2012, https://www.duodesigns.com

If you are like me, you’re a stitcher who mostly avoids borders (and therefore corners), and odd shapes such as ovals, hexagons, and parallelograms. After reading Sandra’s book, I’m ready to jump right in because it’s packed full of clever ideas and stitches.

Of all the shapes covered in this series, the choices for these shapes in the usual stitches are so limited. Even if you “know” something like a Rhodes Stitch can be an oval. You may be unwilling to try it, I know I am. After looking at this book, I feel confident I can do this and adapt many other stitches to ovals, even simple ones such as Upright Gobelin or Hungarian.

This book has a detailed table of contents, showing areas by size and listing the stitches diagrammed for this shape and size. The stitch diagrams are large, clear, and numbered. In the section on corners, about 1/3 of the book, there are diagrams for each corner. This is perfect for people who don’t want to turn either their canvas or the book. In many of the later sections, two stitches are shown per page, allowing more stitches be packed into this volume.

The section on parallelograms is the shortest in the book. Arthur says that “My creativity was stymied on this shape.” All I can say is that if this is stymied, I could wish to have stitcher’s block like this. Her solutions to this odd shape are so creative that I’m ready to go do a project with mostly them.

Look for it on your iPod/iPhone/iPad later in the year. In the meantime, the printed boo will energize your needlepoint.

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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