I saw a book at Chapters yesterday called "The New Crewel" by Katherine Shaughnessy. It had been such a long time since I had seen anything on crewel, I couldn't resist finding a chair and browsing. Although it calls itself "new", the designs are, to me, very fashionable retro-fifties. The designs are mainly abstract, with quite a few repeat patterns, some of which were very interesting monochromatic designs which relied on texture. A bit of a quibble--the book shows the designs, with notes on the stitches used, then repeats them in a "projects" section, giving the actual colours used, more detail on the stitching, and a bit about the making up (into cards, pillows etc.) Seems a bit like trying to look like there is more than there is--but the close up pictures in the first section were quite good. I'm considering buying it--couldn't help envisioning new retro design seats for my dining room chairs, given that our house was built in the early 1060s. Dawne
- posted
18 years ago