Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art

Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art: Colour, Texture and Distortion
By C. June Barnes 
Published by Batsford
ISBN:  978 0 7134 90701
£18.99
Reviewed by Sandra Wyman

I read numerous books on textiles, but rarely have I come across one as exciting as this; within minutes of opening it I was itching to get started on the techniques it describes.

June Barnes has won numerous awards as a textile artist.  In this book she describes the techniques she has developed in stitching and then dyeing fabric to produce vivid and unexpected colour-combinations and fascinating textural effects, including techniques not seen elsewhere.

The first part of the book contains a series of exercises which guide the reader through the various processes involved in producingstitched fabrics, then dyeing and overdyeing them for a variety of effects.  The second section deals with the effects produced by shrinkage of various fabrics and distortions achieved by combining these with items such as zippers and plastic shapes, which resist shrinking.

This book is exceptionally well-written – crisp, witty, to the point and engaging – and sumptuously illustrated.  Above all it is successful in opening up a wholenew area for exploration by art quilters and other textile artists.