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BooksSeptember 2000
I am writing in response to your editorial (The World of Embroidery, May 2000). I very much agree with you about the dearth of good embroidery books currently available. The meaty books of the past - Flowers and Plants in Embroidery by Val Campbell-Harding and Creative Embroidery by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn (to name just two) - are constantly in use as reference books by me in my struggles to improve and I am always eager for more. I also found the Embroiderers' Guild book Embroidery Studio very useful to see other embroiderers' progressions of ideas.
The approaches I would welcome are: (1) more ideas for translating design on paper into stitch (which I find very difficult), (2) how to get work looking three dimensional, (3) different approaches on how to put together ideas and sketch books (I find sketch books often the most interesting parts of a friend's work, or an exhibition).
Angela Haigh
Sherborne, Dorset
...
and ...September 2000
Reacting to your editorial (The World of Embroidery, May 2000), publishers don't know what they are talking about. Just as well there still is a market for these fantasy-killing project books with their 'recipes'. However, the market for the more thought-provoking kind of stuff must be expanded.
Well, no more moaning, but let me tell you of the ways I will back you up in your contacts with the publishers. How about a book written by you on how to achieve the effects shown in Stitch no. 4 (methods, materials, colouring media)?
Books on layering techniques. I particularly like the work of Midge Gourlay (The World of Embroidery, May 2000). Further leafing through this year's issues of The World of Embroidery, Janet Ledsham (January), Sue Sharples, Lis Mann, Sonja Turner, Susan Walker (March). Also, many from 1999. Again, I mention these works not to copy them but to achieve some of these effects apparently by layering.
As I feel too old to start a distance learning course to obtain a City & Guilds degree, I devour books and magazines and embroidery for many hours.
Wishing you success with your mission.
Thea Gerlings
Zandvoort, The Netherlands
...
and ...September 2000
Ah, yes, books needed which point out that techniques are not an end in themselves and that there is an art in incorporating. Do other people agree that the likes of 'projects with guidelines' as found in Complex Cloth are the way to go? While the book is based on dyeing and colour techniques, the project guidelines suggest 'your choice of colour/monochromatic/achromatic' etc. as a starting point but not as an essential, and therefore prior knowledge and experience are required. The actual outcome, after following the procedural steps, will be original. I know this is easier with colour/art applications but project guidelines could also be developed for stitch and other techniques.
Most of my favourite books have ideas and notes scribbled all through them, which I have developed for lessons.
Karin Coldrey
Melbourne, Australia
Those
BooksSeptember 2000
Your editorial in the May issue is very timely for me. I have, since Christmas, been scouring book shops and book lists to find an outlet for an accumulation of book tokens and gift cash, desperate to feed my habit and my already overflowing bookshelves. I do not need instructions on how to make an egg cosy with a few simple stitches (very easy, very quick), profusely illustrated with large colour photographs and the text consisting of a series of one-line-per-page instructions.
I already have several of the type I would like to buy and they cover most of the 20th century. A good example is Crewel Embroidery by Joan Edwards which, in addition to its technical excellence, is also a rattling good read. Publishers are not slow to produce such books for other interests. Books about the life and work of stars of sport, stage and screen, etc. proliferate and are eagerly awaited, bought and borrowed by millions.
I know a probable biography of Beryl Dean is an anticipated plum in the pipeline. Perhaps it is felt that there would not be similar interest in personalities who are no longer contemporary. I don't think this is the case, but a volume of not-too-potted biographies, with illustrations, would whet the general appetite, or a series of articles in The World of Embroidery, including those isolated samples already produced in previous issues.
The answer for me occurs in the May issue in an article about Lilian Dring, a long-time favourite of mine. I wish Suzy Griffith every success in the City & Guilds course, and dare suggest that once this is completed, she might consider a full-scale biography of this interesting artist - with illustrations, of course; lots of them, please.
Hazel Sims
St Mawes, Cornwall
... and ...January 2001
Your previous correspondents have already mentioned some of my favourite embroidery books: Treasures from the Embroiderers' Guild Collection and The Open Canvas by Caroline Ambuter are some of the others.
I regularly feed my book collecting habit by buying from second hand booksellers who advertise in the magazine. Occasionally I also make trips to a certain south coast seaside town with excellent bookshops and a lovely small museum. Lately I have moved into buying self published books, mainly on new slants to 'old' techniques, via the internet.
Whatever the format, some large pictures can be inspirational, but good diagrams are crucial, and unfortunately some new books are disappointing in this area.
Could there be a market for an annual volume of edited chapters or sections using some of the contributors from The World of Embroidery?
Mary Robins, by email