Book Thoughts - Drawn To Stitch by Gwen Hedley

I wrote about how I had hit a 'block' in my reading because I was bored with the 'basics' that come in every first chapter. I'm glad I pushed on though because I really liked this book.

Its in four sections, loosely it covers the basics, the 'ground', interpretations and line. It shows lots of drawings and embroidery and I liked the fact that a lot of the embroidery pictures were samples rather than finished pieces.

There are some nice 'recipes' for things to try though a lot of them require some supplies that I haven't already got in my stash! Perhaps for the future, or maybe I can try similar things with what I already have.

I liked seeing how the author works - she uses a lot of homemade textured papers and goes into detail with them, she attaches her sample pieces to little luggage tags which appeals to my need for some sort of order, and she does amazing drawings then transfers these to stitch fairly literally.

At the end there are a few focuses on other textile designers to show some extra perspective. The book has given me lots of ideas of how I can 'change things up', especially regarding fabric layering, manipulation, tearing and stretching. I liked this book after the initial hump and wish I'd continued with it earlier!!