The Geometry of Hand-Sewing

December 18, 2017
Chanin (Alabama Stitch Book) adds something extra to this comprehensive anthology of embroidery stitches: plastic prepunched grids that crafters can use to ink fabric for the exact execution of embroidery. Chanin explains that geometry plays a large role in her design work, noting that she loves “the relationship among points, lines, and surfaces.” This appreciation for spatial relationships inspired her to develop a grid-system approach to embroidery that breaks down stitches into equidistant dots and parallel lines that enable a “stitch-by-number” mode of instruction. She lays out tools and materials, followed by directions of how to work the stitches themselves, then how to enhance those stitches by working in, for instance, twists, curves, or eyelets. Most helpfully, Chanin shows not just the threaded needle’s movement from right to left but also left to right, plus the backsides of patterns. Her tone throughout is as measured as her grids and as serene as the gray backgrounds appearing in the photos of each stitch.