Hoopla
The Art of Unexpected Embroidery
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
A Library Journal Best Book of 2011Hoopla, by the co-author of 2009's bestselling Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, showcases those who take the craft of embroidery where it's never gone before, in an astonishing, full-color display of embroidered art. Hoopla rebels against the quaint and familiar embroidery motifs of flowers and swashes, and focuses instead on innovative stitch artists who specialize in unusual, guerrilla-style patterns such as a mythical jackalope and needlepoint nipple doilies; it demonstrates that modern embroidery artists are as sharp as the needles with which they work.Hoopla includes twenty-nine innovative embroidery patterns and profiles of contemporary embroidery artists, including Jenny Hart, author of Sublime Stitching; Rosa Martyn of the UK-based Craftivism Collective; Ray Materson, an ex-con who learned to stitch in prison; Sherry Lynn Wood of the Tattooed Baby Doll Project, which collaborated with female tattoo artists across the United States; Penny Nickels and Johnny Murder, the self-proclaimed Bonnie and Clyde of embroidery; and Alexandra Walters, a military wife who replicates military portraits and weapons in her stitching.Full-color throughout and bursting with history, technique, and sass, Hoopla will teach readers how to stitch a ransom note pillow, mean and dainty knuckle-tattoo church gloves, and create their own innovative embroidery projects. If you like anarchistic DIY craft and the idea of deviating from the rules, Hoopla will inspire you to wield a needle with flair!With a foreword by Betsy Greer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Duckies in puddles and Southern belles with crocheted skirts don't look for them here. You expect these designs on tea towels and pillowslips, but Hoopla is about "unexpected" embroidery: U.S. Army-issue drop cloths, aprons with knife and fork as crossbones beneath a skull, and Canadiana with maple leaves for fig leaves. Prain (co-author of Yarn Bombing) offers out-of-the-ordinary designs, starched with humor. As Betsy Greer writes in the foreword, "Embroidery allows us to be silent but not subservient." Informative and inspirational interviews with embroiderers, such as Liz Kueneke, Ray Materson, and Tumim & Prendergast, prove they don't sew like their grannies. But Grandmother would approve of the practical sections -- on history, tools from needles to the humble thimble, types of embroidery, and finishing techniques. Prain includes resources; relevant blogs become stitching bees. The projects range from Allison Tunis' "Bosom Buddies," using 35 different colors of skeins, to Joanne Arnett's modern cuckoo clock. Directions for all projects are clear and helpful, with lists of tools, materials and required skills set off and highlighted. Full-color throughout.
