The embroiderer's country album /

The many intricacies and varieties of even the plainest straight stitch lead to fascinating realistic and abstract embroidery work, as documented by these two recent books. Paging through Morrell's is to take a walk through a gallery representing some of the finest stitchers in the world. In all, 38 artists are included. Styles range from Lloyd Banks' colorful but traditional needlepoint to Susanne Klinke's unusual zigzag machine embroidery on webbing. Few of these artisans complete more than 10 pieces a year, leaving readers to wonder whether embroidery is a vocation or an avocation. Stevens' album meanders through woods and over water with a painter's eye and a heavily descriptive, how-to narrative. Each of Stevens' chapters addresses one part of her country vision; filled with her pencil sketches and finished stitchery of both vignettes and full country scenes, the text then counsels the more experienced stitchers on, say, capturing the right shading for a water lily or portraying all the brown and gray tones of a rabbit's fur. A very intellectual yet practical approach to embroidery. --Barbara Jacobs

Embroidery as an art form is the focus of Morrell's beautifully presented collection of the work of some 38 contemporary artists from Britain, North America, Europe, and Australia. At first glance, the reader is struck by the diversity of approaches possible in a medium where any type of cloth can be manipulated and stitched on by anything that can penetrate it. Techniques represented include hand and machine stitching, canvas embroidery, quilting, appliqué, dyeing, assemblage, and fabric painting. In this very personal book, the artists featured describe their own work, techniques, and inspirations. In contrast to the variety of styles in Contemporary Embroidery, The Embroiderer's Country Album provides an in-depth look at one artist. Stevens's luminous silk embroideries portray in realistic detail the country landscape, architecture, birds, animals, and plants of the Suffolk countryside where she lives, but they are more than simply static portraits of the natural world. Her sometimes starkly black backgrounds embroidered with lustrous silk can embue even such simple subjects as a dormouse with a sense of magic. Stevens's The Embroiderer's Countryside (Sterling, 1993) described in more detail techniques of silk embroidery for the beginning stitcher. This album walks the reader through her process of designing, doing preliminary sketches, and executing each piece. Brief appendixes cover basic embroidery techniques and methods of mounting. Contemporary Embroidery is recommended for academic and large public libraries, while public libraries with textile collections should consider purchasing both Country Album and Stevens's earlier volume.‘Janice Zlendich, California State Univ. Lib., Fullerton (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.