Carole Lake & Michael Boren, 2016, ISBN:978-0-9971066-1-9, $30
In the second volume of this series the authors take on borders. Borders are often sources of anxiety for stitchers, I know they are for me. We worry that the stitches won’t fit. We worry that the stitch would fit, except we counted wrong. We wonder whether to count threads or holes. And we wonder if the border will look good.
Is it any wonder that when face with needing a border we just give up and do something simple?
Beginning with a tip-filled introduction, you’ll learn why borders are important, the types of borders covered, and how to plan your border. Many stitchers will love, I know I did, the first colored page, which has the Rules for Divisibility. Instead of complicated calculations you can use these to figure out the size of stitch that will fit in border lengths of any size. If you hate math, you’ll find this a Godsend for planning borders.
Following this come the borders themselves. There are six chapters with borders of specific types from continuous borders, such as a border of Smyrna Crosses, to borders with specific motifs in the center of each side. A final chapter, taking up a third of the book, has pages of bands of stitches that could be used for borders. These are grouped by width from 1 to 10 threads. Each of these chapters has an introduction on a colored sheet that talks about this type of border, how it is stitched, and how to create it. These are especially useful because they refer to specific borders in the chapter so you see examples of how it is done.
The borders in this book are all composed of needlepoint stitches; they do not include charted motifs. You can use the principles here to create dozens of unique borders. Substitute one stitch for another the same size. Replace a corner or center motif with a small chart. You have here the tools you need to do this.
No matter how experienced a stitcher you are, you’ll find plenty of tips and ideas here.
With this wonderful little book most concerns about borders, except for the counting thing, will be swept away. Reading it makes me feel as if Mary Poppins just came into the nursery, snapped her fingers, and everything got cleaned up. I now think I can plan and stitch borders without fear.
I’m getting my counting pins out for the counting problem and am planning on adding borders to many of my projects.
The book is distributed by Rainbow Gallery and is available in needlework shops
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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