Susan Sturgeon Roberts, self-published, 2008, $9.
This little comb-bound book is a collection of questions and answers about needlepoint. Without a Table of Contents it can be hard to find what you need to know, but there is plenty of useful information here, especially for the beginning stitcher.
The questions are printed in bold with the answers after them. Often they have illustrations or photos accompanying them. Without organization, the questions and answers seem random, so you will have to browse to find the items of most interest to you. There is some organization, so several questions about canvas are grouped together, but they come between two questions about using older threads and three questions about painted canvases. And some additional questions about canvas occur later in the book.
While I realize that Sturgeon is a fine stitcher, she speaks almost entirely from her experience as a needlepointer, and has not researched her answers. For example, while her explanation of laying tools is fine, if brief, she neglects to mention several popular types. I find information to be lacking over and over again in this book.
I’d be so much happier if Sturgeon had taken the time to organize the book better an de to do some more research. With small things missing, this would be easy to correct, making it all the more frustrating.
The book also falls down on the quality of its production. Pretty clearly this is not a professionally printed book. The photos are often grainy and unclear as is the case with photos done on a copy machine. The paper is 20# bond, so they are not opaque. Happily, because they are only printed on one side, this is less than it could be.
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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