Rebecca Ringquist's embroidery workshops A bend-the-rules primer

Ringquist came to embroidery through fine art-it's a skill she learned in a feminist art history class-and her take on the craft is that it's not a pursuit of tidy perfection but a way to tell stories and to connect with our past. In her first book, Ringquist teaches basic hand and machine embroidery stitches and techniques, applying these skills to diverse projects that will appeal to the contemporary crafter. There aren't any fussy alphabet samplers and there's no focus on keeping the back of your work free of knots-rather, this is a celebration of the range of ways that embroidery can be used to embellish everything from paper to T-shirts to linens. A printed cloth sampler is included with the book; when it disappears (as it inevitably will), there's a full-color photograph that can be transferred to fabric using the techniques provided in the book. VERDICT Ringquist is a skilled instructor with a great deal of experience. Crafters who are intimidated by embroidery will find her free-spirited approach refreshing. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.