Jan Beaney

I found it particularly useful as a textiles student, as it shows how to take inspiration from an original natural source, for example, the surface texture of a rock, or a rusty surface, and shows how to take that idea through from orignal photogragh to drawings, and finally to finished textile samples and finshed pieces.

Students will find it a good resource book for that reason alone, as textiles coursework usually ask that you show how you have taken ideas from original sources, and show more reinterpreted them into textiles pieces.

The front cover of the book it a little misleading as it seems that the book will be full of very traditional types of sewing like the slighlty old fashioned quilted cushions on the cover! and may put off the more daring stitcher! however the inside of the book is full of interesting, quite abstact pieces, including some wonderful textural hand stiched samples and free machining, (all in full colour pictures) The textile examples inside stand up to more up to date textiles books too! (except for maybe the hairstyles of the models) show less

I've had two workshops with Beaney and Littlejohn, one on trees and one on stones. Jan and Jean are without peer when it comes to exploring textile arts, experimenting with new techniques, and rethinking established techniques.

the strength of this particular booklet is the way it makes you rethink the boundaries of a particular stitch. Truly amazing, what can be accomplished once you let your preconceptions go.

I've had two workshops with Beaney and Littlejohn, one on trees and one on stones. Jan and Jean are without peer when it comes to exploring textile arts, experimenting with new techniques, and rethinking established techniques.

This is probably my favorite booklet of this series. The way techniques are combined to explore organic forms is really inspiring.

If you've learned to do a bunch of stitches from classic embroidery books and wonder how fiber artists can get effects that don't look like anything you've seen before, this book explains it. It's full of mind-stretching ideas about what can be done with the very simple techniques.