Beading Artistry for Quilts: Basic Stitches & Embellishments Add Texture & Drama Paperback – October 16, 2012

When I first opened Thom Atkins book Beading Artistry For Quilts my jaw dropped faster and lower than a dot-com start-up stock in the 90s on a Monday morning. There are just not enough adjectives to convey the full extent of Mr. Atkins artistry, but I'll try:Vibrant, Colorful, Sparkling: Atkins' luminous palette begins on the cover and does not let up until the final page.Exceptional, Exotic, Exquisite, Thrilling: This is beading fusion like we've rarely seen outside of museums.Incomparable, Unprecedented, Rare, Superlative: Atkins' unique background, skills, and abundant passion result in staggeringly unique artwork.That's just about the photos; the text itself is imbued with Atkins' friendly and humble style. (But back to the photos, I have to point out there are 29 pages (29!!) pages of gallery photos at the end of the book, several with both full and close-up shots.) Atkins also gifts us with a "Bonus Feature" on creating a beaded bezel using cabochons. Throughout, Atkins shares his experience gracefully and enthusiastically; he is clearly an artist of supreme caliber. Somehow he manages to impart a feeling of accessibility and kinship, despite the very advanced level of beading presented here.Instructions, techniques, and tips are plentiful: stretch the thread before beading, know your bead vendor and ask questions about their bead quality, how to make special fringes and picot edge stitches, how to accommodate different hole placements, combining couching with other stitches, how beading is effected by environmental factors, and much, much more. Atkins also freely mentions specific brand names when suggesting various tools and notions, such as Terrifically Tacky Tape 1/2 InchYou might want to know that while Atkins provides a great deal of information about beads and fabric, this is *not* a straight how-to project book. By this I mean there are no project designs with specific step-by-step instructions that will get you from his finished concept to your own look-alike piece. Beading Artistry utilizes more of a generalist "look what you can do" approach, full of wisdom, insight, and inspiration.Prepare to use your own plethora of adjectives when you peruse and study Beading Artistry For Quilts; you might even need a thesaurus.Beautiful.

No matter where you are in your beading or quilting journey, this book is for you. Beginners can use the clear charts to start using the four basic bead embroidery stitches right away, while accomplished artists (and everyone else, for that matter) will find abundant inspiration in the many sumptuous photos of the author's work. Some basic knowledge of how quilts are put together is assumed, but anyone who lacks that knowledge can easily pick it up from a quick internet search.This is not a project book. Instead, there's a discussion of supplies and tools, followed by an explanation of the four bead embroidery stitches that form the basis for all of the author's beaded work, as well as variations on each stitch. Even if you've never attached a single bead to fabric before, the instructions are clear enough for you to understand and get started.Once the basics are covered, the author shows how he's applied them in his work. Well-drawn diagrams and copious close-up photos illustrate each design concept.The writing is down-to-earth and infused with the author's gentle humor. And -- I must admit it -- there's a special spot in my heart for anyone who learned to sew on his grandmother's treadle sewing machine (as I did -- and I still have the machine).Experienced beaders will recognize that this book barely scratches the surface of beading techniques, but that's not really what this particular book is all about. It's much more about the marriage of beads to fabric, and the design considerations involved in finding the perfect balance between the two in any particular art quilt. Although you can certainly learn some technique from this book, it's much more of a concept book than a technique book. Advanced beading (and bead embroidery, and quilting) techniques can be found in many other excellent books. This one is more of a springboard for your own creativity.

The work of Thom Atkins is the most beautiful of its kind.The way he matches beads with fabric design to form his surreal masterpieces is like nothing I've ever seen.There are many large color photos of full designs and detail making it easy to see various parts of the work up close.The reader is also given full instructions on basic stitches plus Fringes,Edging,and Bezels plus many great tips.You will learn how to approach a design,enhance and embellish it with Color,Texture,Scale and Contrast.Learn how to go with the Flow.I love this book.It is not yet available on kindle.I bought a kindle fire because so many of the books I order are about Art Crafting and color is necessary.You will want your own large colorful paperback version of this wonderfully inspirational book.

I purchased this book on impulse because I do many types of fine needlework, including embellishing crazy quilts and surface embroidery. This looked like embellishment 'over the top'! I am really enjoying using this book, after reading it cover to cover. In fact, I recently had a get-together with a few fellow needleworkers for the sole intent of using this book's chapter on working with bezels. We had a delightful afternoon teaching ourselves how to attach cabachons to fabric using the instructions provided. Each of us came out with a beautifully attached cat's eye stone on fabrics of our choice thanks to the good directions and photos in the chapter. And we have taken the author's suggestion for the future to buy beads in several sizes for each color so that we can use some of his techniques from other chapters. Each of us has different tastes in needlework, but the techniques and instructions can be applied to many styles and finished effects. This book is a keeper.