Today, I want to introduce you to a fabulous textiles book called ‘Stitchillo’. The book is written and published by Janine Vangool, who is also the founder and editor of ‘Uppercase’ magazine. Janine Vangool is based in Canada but this book features artists from all over the world who work with stitch. forty-four artists are featured and the book contains 350 richly illustrated pages. The book was published in 2017 and was reprinted in 2021.
The cover (pictured below) hints at the colour and texture within. I’ll mention just a few of the textile artists included in the book – with a strong recommendation that you consider getting a copy: it is just full of colour and inspiration! Please note: this is NOT affiliate marketing: I am telling you about the book because I love it.
Mandy Pattullo is a British artist who works with vintage materials to make collages which are embellished with embroidery stitches. Mandy began by making quilts and now uses worn antique quilts in her work. Below you can see Mandy sewing in her Northumberland studio.
Mandy’s multi-layered pieces include, piecing, applique, buttons and embroidery, as seen below. (Look here and here for earlier posts about Mandy.)
Another British artist featured in the book is Janet Clare, pictured below right. Janet is a fabric designer, quilter, embroiderer and author. I heard her give a talk to a local quilt group in Kent since meeting her and it was fascinating to hear how the various aspects of work linked together.
Her work often includes images from her everyday life and she likes to include words on her textiles. As you can see from the images below, hand-embroidery features in her work and she uses traditional techniques of patchwork and quilting. Her palette is soft and subtle .
Harriet Riddell grew up in England but has travelled widely with her sewing machine (as seen below). She sews pictures of what she observes. Last autumn she was demonstrating her skill live at the Knitting and Stitching Show, stitching portraits of visitors to the show.
Below you can see Harriet’s characterful stitched portraits of block-printing experts in India.
Another favourite is American artist Ann Wood (pictured bottom left, below) who uses small pieces of fabric and a variety of threads to make engaging three-dimensional objects, like the small bird in the photo below and the various mushrooms and toadstools in the second image below. Ann also creates layered, appliqued and embroidered pictures.
Ann likes to work with found objects and is inspired by the natural world. There is an element of fantasy about her delicately stitched creations.
You can get more information about the book and order a copy here
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‘Here comes the sun’ is a cheerful baby quilt pattern with pieced blocks. You can get the pattern here
Amanda Jane Textiles 