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Title: Embroidery Stitches: Quilt Savvy
Author: Joan Waldman
Spiral-bound: 127 pages
Publisher: American Quilter's Society; Spiral edition (October 15,
2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 157432862X
ISBN-13: 978-1574328622 |
Joan Waldman's book, Embroidery Stitches: Quilt Savvy, was published by
the American Quilter's Society in 2004, so many readers surely have
experience using it. But for those of you who have not yet considered adding
this book to your crazy quilt reference library, I decided to "give it a
test drive", using it as the basis for a crazy quilt project.
The book is a well organized collection of charted seam treatments; each
is grouped according to a basic stitch used in the seam's foundation.
The basic stitches are diagrammed for both right and left handed stitchers
at the front of the book, which is very helpful to our "lefty" friends.
These stitches are: Running, Straight, Stem, Chevron, Blanket, and Cross
Stitch; Herringbone, Chain, Holbein, Holbein Straight Stitch, Lazy Daisy,
Half Chevron, Feather, Double Feather, and Cretan Stitches are also
included, as well as the Colonial and French Knots.
The seam diagrams are combinations of the above basic stitches, with each
stitch having its own symbol, as presented in a chart in the front of the
book. Two pages are devoted to "breaking down" an example of the seam
diagrams and "reading" their components. This enables the embroiderer to be
able to decipher and execute any of the seam combinations in the book.
Suggestions of how to evenly space one's stitching are also included,
including how to do perfectly stitched circle designs. There are six pages
of motif designs at the end of the book as well.
So what was it like to use this book?
I very much appreciated that all the seams were charted, the seam
diagrams superimposed on graph paper. I tried Joan's method of basting a
thin strip of graph paper to my block and stitching over it, using the paper
as a stitch guide, and really liked that. It was a simple matter to remove
the graph paper after my seam was completed.
 
I also tried her suggestion of tracing a motif onto translucent paper,
basting it to my block, and then stitching through the paper along the
outlines I had drawn. This also worked quite well.

I used Golden Threads brand Quilting Paper, which is an excellent product
for this application. It tore away very easily, leaving no fibers or little
bits to pick out of my stitching.
Joan's designs are all very traditional, as her stitch combinations were
inspired by the crazy quilts of the 1800's. In using these designs on my
project, I attained a lacy, Victorian feel; one that is quite formal. So
while the combinations are not all that imaginative, they will give a
classic feel to any crazy quilt project.
For some reason there are no seam combinations based on the feather
stitch, which I found disappointing. And I would have loved to have the
different sections of seam combinations easier to find...I ended up using
sticky note paper to make tab divisions along the edges of the pages to make
flipping back and forth through the book easier, as I tried to locate
different stitch groupings.
But these are small quibbles. I would recommend this book as a great
resource for easy (though some are quite time consuming) stitch combinations
that are well diagrammed. If you want a Victorian feel to your stitching, and
get stuck for ideas for new seams, this is the book for you.

This quilt was made by Allison to honor our retired editor and the
founder of CQMagOnline, Nora Creeach. Joan's seam ideas, or some that were
inspired by Joan's style, were used throughout this piece.

Details from Nora's Quilt showing seam treatments from
Embroidery Stitches: Quilt Savvy . |