Stumpwork is one of those embroidery styles that is somewhat obscure. You don't see it a lot in the realm of contemporary embroidery and when I started researching it I realized that there weren't a lot of great books or tutorials either. I looked through a few books that my local library offered, cruised Amazon and eventually got my hands on this book via the library in the town adjacent to me. It was one of the few books I looked at that gave instructions that I felt like a beginner could really wrap their head around.
The author, Kay Dennis, is a prolific stitcher and creates amazing embroideries with her stumpwork. And although this book comes off as possibly difficult from the cover, she has loads of photos and even drawings of how to do the stitches she is describing.
She starts out giving a brief history of stumpwork (which is stunning by the way) and then gives a good list of supplies and materials to have on hand.
I appreciated how she laid out her directions. As I mentioned, she provided lots of step by step photos and also drawings of specific stitches too. In addition to some basic stumpwork directions, she also had a section on needlelace and another section on making stumpwork faces.
Overall, I found this book to be super helpful with providing some basic and advanced ideas for learning stumpwork. I didn't realize it, but this particular version is actually out of print. You can find some used copies on amazon, but she also has a newer version that looks to be set up exactly the same way with loads of photos and drawings. Happy Stitching!
What are you stitching? Please share in the &Stitches Flickr group. We'd love to see it!
Hey!! Thanks for this review. I've been on the fence about buy the new version of the book. You have definitely helped me make a decision.
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