Victorian Needlepoint

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful designs, worth the troublesome charts
Review: I'll start by saying that I LOVE Beth Russell's interpretations of Arts and Crafts designs in this book as well as her other two. She's chosen wonderful motifs and arranged them into lovely, unique needlepoint projects. I speak from experience, as I'm now working on my third project from her books, the orange border design shown on the cover of her latest volume, worked on large canvas to make a rug. I highly recommend all three books for lovers of needlepoint, other charted needlework, arts and crafts design, or William Morris.

This book is beautifully laid out and lovely to page through and read, but its loveliness is one of its downfalls: The charts are printed in often washed-out color, without utilizing symbols to indicate yarn colors. Although this choice makes the charts pleasant to look at, the subtle differences between yarn colors are sometimes very hard to see in the charts, making working from them difficult. I spent too much time squinting at the latest chart, making little pencil dots on it to differentiate between LIGHT grey green and MEDIUM-LIGHT grey green!

I'll be proud of the resulting product, and will forgive Russell's editorial choice. Do consider buying this book, but be prepared for some challenges in using it.

Rating:
Summary: A must for William Morris afficionados
Review: If you are a needleworker (or thinking of becoming one), favour the richness of tapestry and are looking for William Morris designs to reproduce, then the work of Beth Russell is exactly what you're looking for. She has adapted classic William Morris pieces for tentstitch in Appleton tapestry wools and produced easy-to-follow colour charts for cushions, chair upholstery, and rugs. I have a number of needlework books I purchased for the sake of one or two patterns I couldn't find anywhere else. With this book, I cannot decide which of all the designs to work first.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful designs, tricky charts
Review: The designs in this book are terrific, and very adaptable. The difficulty is in the charts: the colors used in the design keys are different from the colors used in the charts, or the patterns are all outlined and the hand-drawn outlines are not along the graph lines. With patience, you can sort it out - the designs are so wonderful that it's worth the time.

Rating:
Summary: For the very experienced
Review: The projects in this book are excellent to say the least; I have done 3 of them; they take between 400-500 hours, but are simply elegant. The designs are beautifully done by Beth Russell, and they need to be done in Appleton tapestry. I am very glad I bought this and all of her books. They were all purchased through Amazon.com since Barnes & Noble and the other large suppliers do not have them in stock.

Rating:
Summary: For the very experienced
Review: The projects in this book are excellent to say the least; I have done 3 of them; they take between 400-500 hours, but are simply elegant. The designs are beautifully done by Beth Russell, and they need to be done in Appleton tapestry. I am very glad I bought this and all of her books. They were all purchased through Amazon.com since Barnes & Noble and the other large suppliers do not have them in stock.