Crewelwork Then & Now

Exploring traditional designs and contemporary stitching

Hazel Blomkamp & Phillipa Turnbull

Search Press

For those of us who shudder at perfectionism - maybe we are scared by it - this book may at first yes, frighten you. But hold on - it gets interesting.

How To Live An Artful Life: 366 inspirations from artists on how to bring creativity into your everyday

Katy Hessel

Hutchinson Heinemann

Art is a gift, just as life is a gift. We can choose to notice it, or keep our head down - survive. We are not all going to be famous artists - we do not need to be, but we do however need to see. See what? Let Hessel guide you.

Layer, Paint and Stitch

Create textile art with machine and hand stitching

Wendy Dolan

Search Press

May I begin this review my making sure you are aware that this is a reprint of a book, initially published back in 2015. You might ask a few questions, given a decade has gone by. Namely, is it still relevant for us today? Was it a moment in art time, something past not present? I will explore my own highlights of this book within my review and show why this book is not a time related title.

crochet girls

10 SWEET & SIMPLE FRIENDS TO CROCHET & APPLIQUÉ

Colleen Lynch

Flat-Lay Crochet in a Day

Better Day Books

What’s your Crochet memory? Most of us will have had one. As a child, my grandmother's closest friend was a keen house decorator - of the crochet kind. Filled with cushions, waistcoats, tea cosy, those old fashioned armchair protectors…oh and the ahem toilet seat cover (warm eh). Then there was my own mother. I am still awaiting my blanket…..one day…..

Cozy Stitches: 12 Calm & Creative Embroidery Projects for Absolute Beginners & Beyond

Celeste Johnston

Schiffer Publishing Ltd

As I am writing my review isn the autumn, this book sits will all around me in a marriage of the pumpkin spice, red golden fallen leaves vibe. It is 168 pages long and has a consistent colour palette, of pastel and apricot and all things in this wheel. Think of all the beauty of the season from September - that is this book.

Field Guide to the Soul

An Inspired Activity Book to Help You Find Peace, Purpose & Connection through the Magical Teachings of Nature

Mandy Ford

Better Day Books

My introductory thoughts

Life matters, yet it is so easy to let the rush in and the rest out. Through this title, Ford endeavours to suggest ways we can let the natural surroundings - our environment which has been there all along, into our lives.

Kawaii Appliqué Quilts from Japan: How One Country’s Love of All Things Tiny Powers Today's Most Intricate Quilts (With 5 Projects from Top Designers)

Naomi Inchikawa and Teresa Duryea Wong

Schiffer Craft

Quilting can be seen as so many things, it is the chameleon of the textile world.

Fabulous Flowers with Acrylics, Paint 22 Blooms from Delphiniums to Dandelions

Ruth Alice Kosnick

Schiffer Craft

Only twenty two when there are so many flowers out there….I said to myself quietly. Wouldn’t it have been nicer to have a bigger more page ridden bible of a book, filled with all the flowers one can imagine?

Textile Fine Art: Conversations with Artists Creating by Hand

Helen Adams

Laurence King Publishing

My own thoughts and notes

A fellow artist, Helen Adams has long since been sitting well and truly on the edge of the arts. Her website, her name Textile Curator, so simple and obvious, and so memorable

Making Matters: In search of creative wonders

Clare Hunter

Sceptre

In a society where we obsess over recycling, get fined if we get it wrong - paper, plastic….goodness depending on your catchment area, you will be led down a different law path. Let me ask - do you get great joy from separating the lids from the bottles, the papers from the non recyclable plastic ready meal dishes….do you meditate while doing it thinking, wow, I am saving the earth, what beautiful materials?

Design Then Quilt: A Dynamic Guide to Creating Stunning Modern Quilts

Irene Roderick

Schiffer Craft

Dynamic. That is the word that stood out to me in this most recent tile, by Irene Roderick. It suggests fresh, new, enthusiastic, full of life. How does this relate to making quilts? It is a traditional craft, one which could have been done by Prairie women and modern artist alike. However it depends on the style. It is, as I seem an exciting genre.

The Cumulative Cloth: A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment (Wet Techniques)

Susan Brandeis

Schiffer Publishing

Basic idea behind this book

This is a real get into it book - it is in my opinion, not a “read and leave it on the page” - the whole point is to use its education to provide you with the ability to surface design yourself. It is a book with a direct intent, a purpose. If you are not wanting to use it, do not bother to buy it.

Unfolding Cloth

Inspiration From Historical Textiles

Hannah Lamb

Batsford

Inital insights

Hannah Lamb has long since been a vocal shout to the fragile, broken and beautiful cloth and fibre family, which may reside in our own homes, in our own drawers - you know the ones - filled with grandmothers white tablecloth and napkins, the ones which only see shades of light on holidays or Sundays.

Master Your Craft: Strategies for Designing, Making, and Selling Artisan Work

Tien Chiu

Schiffer Craft

As an artist myself, I know I have worked out my practice, I know who I want to be…but do I know how to successfully promote this to an audience? Do I understand how to make money from what I do? Or do I know how to sell my work? I may struggle to balance these areas, but for those of which art is a career, the way we, you both make sense of the world and manage to have enough financially to remain in it - this is vital.

So in comes this title and maybe, just maybe this will be the tool, the chip to elongate for career in a practice you love.

The Red Dress Conversations In Stitch

Kirstie Maclead and voices from the embroidery project

Quickthorn

What is the red dress about?

This is a project, directed and brought into fruition by Kirstie Maclead, which offered a vocal visual pathway for women to be able to speak their truth through embroidery.

The project involved the cross land pulling of fifty one countries and three hundred embroiderers, all with one fabric - the red dress itself.

Textile Protest

Artists, Activism, and the historical power of cloth in protest

Julia Triston

Batsford Books

I would like to begin by revealing to you my first noted thoughts…..

Resistance. Itchy. Universal language of stitch can convey message of weight more than its fibrous cloth.

Abstract Textiles: Colour, shape and pattern in textile art

Anne Kelly

Batsford

First thoughts?

I meet many students who find the idea of creating something which does not look like a likeness difficult - no matter what technology has come into fruition there is always the narrative in the background of making what we see, what we know. But how risky would it be, if one day we came out from under that protection - the known and walk into some excitement? Because that is how I see Anne Kellys new publication.

Magical Crochet: 13 Charming Patterns for Imaginative Crowns, Wings, Unicorns, and More (Step-by-Step Crochet Patterns - DIY Fantasy Craft Ideas for Children's Costumes, Dress-up, Decorations, and More

Jeanette Bøgelund Bentzen

Schiffer Craft

First thoughts

The first word I came up with? Charming, I felt it was simply a charming book. I read many creatively based books for review purpose.

Shedding the Shackles

Women’s Empowerment through Craft

Lynne Stein

Herbert Press Ltd

Overview

With its coffee table luxe vibe, this book is set for more pickups than you may imagine. It is set in two halves, the first documenting the preservation of the traditional craft practices, the second is set around women’s craft initiatives.

The Cumulative Cloth Dry Techniques

A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment

Susan Brandeis

Schiffer Publishing

Who is the author?

She is a well known presence within the arts. She has 35 years in the game, it is not just about the art, it is about the research, the work behind her practice - I love her description of making on her website - simply put: ‘making a textile is a kind of magic’.