Reprinted after the quick sellout of the first edition, Stitch-illo highlights the many sides of a resurgence in traditional embroidery and textile arts, as people, indeed a new generation, discover stitching techniques once popular in much earlier times. Embroidery, needlework, appliqué and quilting are now very much in vogue in illustration, fine art and craft.
Stitch-illo demonstrates the textural, labour-intensive works of textile artists who tell stories through their work: illustrators who eschew digital tools and are turning to needle, thread and fabric as a means to communicate, and creative entrepreneurs employing stitching and needlework to build fulfilling businesses. Through techniques that emerge from the domestic arts, practitioners are reclaiming stitching as a medium that goes beyond decoration or simple function. The needle is likened to a pencil or paint brush; thread, yarn and fibre is the paint. The artists profiled within Stitch-illo honour their own histories and cultures while layering upon them. Wielding simple needle and thread, they stitch powerful messages. They push boundaries, both of what society expects of 'women's art', and what the artists expect of themselves. The illustrate the world around them-or conure new ones from deep within their imagination. They create beauty and find peace. They tell deeply personal stories, and in the process share universal ones of connection and feeling.
