The Intentional Thread: A Guide to Drawing, Gesture, and Color in Stitch

As told in the preface, the author is an academically trained textile artist who after 35 years of teaching wrote the comprehensive book she wished her students could have had, intertwining “art (expressive), craft (handling materials with care, deftness, skill, and mastery), and design (structure and intent, thought and planning)”. Everything about this book is high quality and sophisticated: the binding, the paper, the fonts, the beautiful photos and layout. The text too is comprehensible and every word counts. I am a painter, not a fiber artist, and fell immediately in love with this book. It’s hard to imagine anyone, from whatever interest brings them to this book, could be disappointed.

As an artist working primarily in textiles, I *thought* I understood the vast potential of stitches...until I opened this book. I didn't fully realize before how limited my scope had truly been. The Intentional Thread is absolutely encyclopedic in its analysis of thread, stitching, color, and design. It is so far beyond a how-to book (though it does include a very understandable appendix of basic stitches at the end). It goes in depth into the expressive potential of stitches and shows seemingly endless variations on particular themes . It also demonstrates the relationship between hand-stitching and hand-drawing. The book could easily be used as a self-directed workshop, with "Try this!" pages at the end of each chapter, with suggestions for applying the content to personal work samples. The best thing about the book, though, is the images. Absolutely every page has full-color photographs illustrating the ideas described in the chapter. Just flipping through the pages is inspiring. This book really is a gift to artists, with the idea of expressive mark-making being applicable not just to textile artists but to all artists.

Unlike many "craft" style books, this incredibly well-written and illustrated book on the topic of stitchery, treats sewing and embroidery as an art form. It covers line, shape, value, composition as well as suggesting "problems" the reader might wish to solve. It is not a project book. It teaches you how to use thread to express what you choose to express. This is not a craft-oriented project book. It's truly a text to learn how to manipulate thread as you would paint, pen and ink, or other expressions of artistic ability and interest. It's wonderful, and I would recommend it heartily to anyone who is interested in really learning about the creative and expressive use of thread.

A major strength of this book is well organized into sections related to design principles rather than materials or specific stitches. The focus is on translating marks and textures of images and drawings with stitch.Thankfully, the details of how to do stitches and achieve effects is at the back of the book. Photos of examples are excellent ( good detail and color) and proposed exercises at the end of each chapter are interesting and clearly described. It would be interesting to see a gallery of some students work from the author's classes, but this doesn't detract from the book's usefulness as a study guide and inspiration. Because I use this book frequently, I would prefer a spiral binding; the binding on my copy is already coming unglued at the spine.

This is an incredible book and clearly a labor of love by a very skilled teacher. It is well written and the photos of the work are large, instructive and easy to follow . This is not a "how-to" for embroidery, but rather, an instructional guide to using stitch for mark-making in textile art. It is designed to help you develop your own creative vocabulary and does an excellent job. The author, Susan Brandeis, has been a fiber arts teacher for many years and it shows; the text is clear and the photos beautifully illustrate both the skills and concepts she writes about. Exploring everything that Brandeis covers continues to be a real joy. I own many textile art books and this is among the best. Very, very highly recommended.

An essential book in my maker's library. Extremely thorough techniques and materials needed. Gives a sort of 'curriculum' to get started. After all, stitch art/work starts in the brain. And so many people think 'where do I start??' This book starts with small sample making to get used to the needle and thread in hand, then progresses to more involved works. It all starts directing your brain. Over time, as you practice technique, you start to discover your voice in your art. This is probably the most important book in my library when i comes to stitch art. This is NOT an 'embroidery book', fyi, so, if you are looking to enhance your skills in traditional embroidery, look elsewhere. This is for the stitch artist inside of you who wants to play with stitch in the creation of art, rather than follow embroidery patterns of birds and flowers and butterflies. All that is fine, just not the book for you if that's what you want.

very inspiring and informative

This book has nice thick pages and great print quality. Its filled with crisp color photos and great instruction.Its best suited to those with some basic art education in their background.It doesnt have embroidery patterns. Its intended to help artists create their work from their own sketches