Carolyn F. (seeford) -
I would have given this one star, except that some of the designs inside are pretty enough, and there is a nice variety. If you don't have much of a basic motif library, you might want to pick it up, but it has some serious flaws. There are also better books for a basic motif library, such as "2001 Cross Stitch Designs: The Essential Reference Book" (Better Homes & Gardens)
I've been stitching for over 20 years, so I was extremely annoyed to read through the book right from the first page and find that it was written by people who don't seem to know much about cross stitch beyond the most basic level of information and products available in Europe. (Noticed that 'color' was spelled 'colour', was this written/edited overseas?) The text could have been written in the 90's for all the new information that was lacking!
It seems like when they address products available (and gives supplier contact info), that only what is sold by the 'sponsoring' companies is profiled.
Bottom line - this book is misleading at best in the general info it gives out about cross stitch - at least for here in the United States! If you like the patterns, then it might be worth adding to your library, but they do not supply a stitch count for any of the patterns. They do the math for everyone in a little chart on each design, but since they limit what count fabrics they like to use, and don't say whether the size is the size of the actual design or if it includes the 2 inches (total!! only 2 inches border fabric recommended! - 1 inch per side!) I wouldn't recommend stitching any of them without counting the height/width for yourself!
I pity the person who gets this book as a novice stitcher and actually believes what it says. For a much more thorough guide (and FREE!) go to this site: http://home.comcast.net/~kathydyer/
----------------------------
Here's some stuff they got wrong or left out (not comprehensive, there's more!):
First of all in the section on Fabric -
-Aida and Linen are NOT the only fabrics available, there is a fabric generically referred to as 'evenweave', (though in fact all cross stitch fabrics need to be an evenweave in order not to skew the design.) Evenweaves come in a variety of blends of cotton/rayon and others. There are also linen/cotton blends and aida in cotton/rayon blends, not just in cotton or cotton/linen. There are dozens of colors, not just the few represented in the book, and besides the basic colors, there is a strong market for hand dyed fabrics that start with a base and have colors all over the spectrum, so they are widely available.
-The fact that evenweaves and linen can be woven with a metallic thread (gold or silver) throughout is true, but no mention was made of the far more common (and popular) linen and evenweave fabrics woven throughout with an opalescent thread. It adds a general sparkle to whatever color the fabric is, without having to be so harshly metallic.
-Aida comes in more sizes than just 14,16,18, it also comes in 11 and 22!
Section (or even a paragraph!) on Needles: totally omitted - no information about different types of needles (beading, tapestry, regular, petite, double-eye, easy-thread, etc.), or needle size recommendations for different counts of fabric. Most basic info on cross stitch has at least a chart on the sizing!
Stitch Count - They omitted this as well, so no explanation of it as a tool. With the immense variety of fabric counts (threads per inch) out there, they should have just given the formula on how to figure out the size of a design, using the stitch count of the pattern and the count of the fabric you'd like to use. Fabrics come in everything from a 6-count to a 40 count - the same design done on different fabrics will change the final size of the project.
I also think it is just flat out wrong to tell a novice stitcher to add only 2 inches to the size of the design to find the size of the fabric needed. The MINIMUM recommended by every designer, stitcher and other book I've seen on the topic is a minimum of 2 inches PER SIDE - that means add 4 inches to the height and width, each! The most common recommendation is to add 3 or even 4 inches to each side, which adds anywhere from 6 to 8 inches to the final size of fabric needed. Trying to stitch the edges of a piece on which you only have an inch of fabric next to it is annoying and difficult, unless you are stitching 'in-hand', which a novice would not be. Your framer/finisher won't thank you for it either!
Threads - no mention of silks at all, only a mention of one of the DMC variegated ranges, no mention of the huge variety of hand-dyed/overdyed/variegated cottons and silks available to stitchers nowadays.
Hoops/Frames - only mentioned hoops and stretcher bars, no mention of scroll frames or Q-snaps. Only photos of the hoops (product placement??). No mention of in-the-well stitching or how to protect the rest of the fabric not in the hoop/frame from getting dirty.
Stitching on existing knits like sweaters is called DUPLICATE STITCH and has been since the 70's, so its glaringly apparent that they don't seem to know this, as the term is not used once on a whole page of instructions on how to cross stitch onto sweaters!
Oh, there's more, but I'm getting tired of typing! Basically, skip all the text, because it leaves out so much that it is misleading. I pity the person who gets this book as a novice stitcher and actually believes what it says. For a much more thorough guide (and FREE!) go to this site: http://home.comcast.net/~kathydyer/
I've been stitching for over 20 years, so I was extremely annoyed to read through the book right from the first page and find that it was written by people who don't seem to know much about cross stitch beyond the most basic level of information and products available in Europe. (Noticed that 'color' was spelled 'colour', was this written/edited overseas?) The text could have been written in the 90's for all the new information that was lacking!
It seems like when they address products available (and gives supplier contact info), that only what is sold by the 'sponsoring' companies is profiled.
Bottom line - this book is misleading at best in the general info it gives out about cross stitch - at least for here in the United States! If you like the patterns, then it might be worth adding to your library, but they do not supply a stitch count for any of the patterns. They do the math for everyone in a little chart on each design, but since they limit what count fabrics they like to use, and don't say whether the size is the size of the actual design or if it includes the 2 inches (total!! only 2 inches border fabric recommended! - 1 inch per side!) I wouldn't recommend stitching any of them without counting the height/width for yourself!
I pity the person who gets this book as a novice stitcher and actually believes what it says. For a much more thorough guide (and FREE!) go to this site: http://home.comcast.net/~kathydyer/
----------------------------
Here's some stuff they got wrong or left out (not comprehensive, there's more!):
First of all in the section on Fabric -
-Aida and Linen are NOT the only fabrics available, there is a fabric generically referred to as 'evenweave', (though in fact all cross stitch fabrics need to be an evenweave in order not to skew the design.) Evenweaves come in a variety of blends of cotton/rayon and others. There are also linen/cotton blends and aida in cotton/rayon blends, not just in cotton or cotton/linen. There are dozens of colors, not just the few represented in the book, and besides the basic colors, there is a strong market for hand dyed fabrics that start with a base and have colors all over the spectrum, so they are widely available.
-The fact that evenweaves and linen can be woven with a metallic thread (gold or silver) throughout is true, but no mention was made of the far more common (and popular) linen and evenweave fabrics woven throughout with an opalescent thread. It adds a general sparkle to whatever color the fabric is, without having to be so harshly metallic.
-Aida comes in more sizes than just 14,16,18, it also comes in 11 and 22!
Section (or even a paragraph!) on Needles: totally omitted - no information about different types of needles (beading, tapestry, regular, petite, double-eye, easy-thread, etc.), or needle size recommendations for different counts of fabric. Most basic info on cross stitch has at least a chart on the sizing!
Stitch Count - They omitted this as well, so no explanation of it as a tool. With the immense variety of fabric counts (threads per inch) out there, they should have just given the formula on how to figure out the size of a design, using the stitch count of the pattern and the count of the fabric you'd like to use. Fabrics come in everything from a 6-count to a 40 count - the same design done on different fabrics will change the final size of the project.
I also think it is just flat out wrong to tell a novice stitcher to add only 2 inches to the size of the design to find the size of the fabric needed. The MINIMUM recommended by every designer, stitcher and other book I've seen on the topic is a minimum of 2 inches PER SIDE - that means add 4 inches to the height and width, each! The most common recommendation is to add 3 or even 4 inches to each side, which adds anywhere from 6 to 8 inches to the final size of fabric needed. Trying to stitch the edges of a piece on which you only have an inch of fabric next to it is annoying and difficult, unless you are stitching 'in-hand', which a novice would not be. Your framer/finisher won't thank you for it either!
Threads - no mention of silks at all, only a mention of one of the DMC variegated ranges, no mention of the huge variety of hand-dyed/overdyed/variegated cottons and silks available to stitchers nowadays.
Hoops/Frames - only mentioned hoops and stretcher bars, no mention of scroll frames or Q-snaps. Only photos of the hoops (product placement??). No mention of in-the-well stitching or how to protect the rest of the fabric not in the hoop/frame from getting dirty.
Stitching on existing knits like sweaters is called DUPLICATE STITCH and has been since the 70's, so its glaringly apparent that they don't seem to know this, as the term is not used once on a whole page of instructions on how to cross stitch onto sweaters!
Oh, there's more, but I'm getting tired of typing! Basically, skip all the text, because it leaves out so much that it is misleading. I pity the person who gets this book as a novice stitcher and actually believes what it says. For a much more thorough guide (and FREE!) go to this site: http://home.comcast.net/~kathydyer/
