Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art Hardcover – October 6, 2015 by Claire Wellesley-Smith (Batsford)

This is an art book discussing philosophy with a little 'how to' for dyeing with plants and over-dying commercial, recycled fabric, very old linen fabric, lace and thread, as well as new floss & threads in a very simple process. (Basically fill a canning jar with X and water, insert Y's plant's roots and leaves, then add small fabric, thread, floss, etc and set in sunny window with the top on for z's days or weeks.) Anyone who is very committed to acid-free, exacting, and archival processes may be disappointed.

However, this book is fantastic, gorgeous, and put together beautifully as almost all of Batsford's books. It has given me some starting places to think through several questions rolling around in my head about what has been pulling me away from the sewing machine and toward handwork in my art. It has great photos of current fiber installations, plus close ups of beautiful handwork with collaged pieces incorporating old textiles with new. What I found the most fascinating is all the different incredible textures one can make by repeating the same stitches in different densities over an area of layered, old soft fabrics that have been already sewn, used and loved-possibly for a few generations.
And that's just the first 1/2 of the book, as I've not finished yet. I can slam through bedtime kindle novels embarrassingly fast. But this book not only encourages slow thoughtful stitching, but of slow thoughtful reading and thinking as well. It would be a shame to skim the images and ooh and ahh and then relegate it to a bookcase somewhere. I've not had another hour since pulling the book out of the box to sit in a comfortable chair with good lighting and a cup of tea/coffee/wine and finish the book.
There is also some discussion about the new do it yourself and handmade sale website boom philosophies. It makes me wonder if we defeat the process by being caught producing 10 pieces of widgets as fast as possible to get out to 7 different customers ASAP. This is one of my favorite books bought in a while.