Needlepoint Stitches: 52 Stitches Explained and Illustrated

Winter 08

This is an excellent book for a beginner in Needlepoint, diagrams and instructions are clear and easy to work from. Altogether a very good book.

Sheila Hosking, Penzance

Oct 07

Susan Higginson has produced a very comprehensive collection of needlepoint stitches. She starts with lots of useful information about materials before going on to explain techniques. The stitches are well illustrated and should provide lots of inspiration for project work. They can be worked in very thick yarns or fine threads depending on the base fabric, but they all show pleasing textures. She explains how these differering textures can be adapted to personalise your work. This book would be useful for acomplished needlepoint workers or as an aid to teaching young people. She includes two projects at the end of the book.

Oct 07

If you think that canvas embroidery begins and ends with tent stitch and cross-stitch, then you need this book to teach you 52 new ways of covering your canvas! This is one of those perennial crafts that never seem to really go away, and with this book it won't be long before you are not only doing some new stitches, but also designing your own work.

How I do love a hands-on book, and this is one of those. Its message is that you can do it, and without breaking the bank if you look at the section on what you need. Here you can find out how to do the basics, including setting up your frame and even threading the needle with that fluffy wool. The stitches themselves are shown worked in bright colors on white canvas, some of which would look better with a darker color behind them in order to see the canvas easier. The diagrams are perhaps easier to follow than the photographs, but what is missing is a needle actually doing each stage - indispensable when learning stitches. A few are shown this way, but not all. The written instructions are helpful, but this is not the easiest book for a beginner to learn from although the mixture of stitches is less daunting and more useful than in many other needlepoint encyclopaedias. Where this book really comes into its own is in that instead of having a few patterns to work though so you can practice your new skills, it jumps straight into designing. There are two projects to work through involving some simple drawing but it is a brilliant introduction to how easy it really is to draw your own patterns for needlepoint. I have never seen this explained better so is worth the price of admission - beginners and improvers will be entranced.

Dec 07

Also known as tapestry or canvas work, needlepoint has more than 300 different stitches. Susan has chosen 52 of the most popular ones, brought to life with the aid of very large, clear, colourful diagrams. This handy reference guide will help with every aspect of this art, including choosing needle sizes, suitable threads, frames and hoops; starting and ending threads and a useful section on how to dsign your own piece. In addition there are two inspirational step-by-step projects, a spectacle case and a landscape piece, complete with templates, tips, material requirements and full colour photography.