Hoopla: The Art Of Unexpected Embroidery

"Hoopla," by the co-author of 2009's bestselling "Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti," showcases those who take the craft of embroidery where it's never gone before, in an astonishing, full-color display of embroidered art. "Hoopla" rebels against the quaint and familiar embroidery motifs of flowers and swashes, and focuses instead on innovative stitch artists who specialize in unusual, guerrilla-style patterns such as a mythical jackalope and needlepoint nipple doilies; it demonstrates that modern embroidery artists are as sharp as the needles with which they work. "Hoopla" includes twenty-eight innovative embroidery patterns and profiles of contemporary embroidery artists, including Jenny Hart, author of "Sublime Stitching"; Rosa Martyn of the UK-based Craftivism Collective; Ray Materson, an ex-con who learned to stitch in prison; Sherry Lynn Wood of the Tattooed Baby Doll Project, which collaborated with female tattoo artists across the United States; Penny Nickels and Johnny Murder, the self-proclaimed Bonnie and Clyde of embroidery; and Alexandra Walters, a military wife who replicates military portraits and weapons in her stitching. Full-color throughout and bursting with history, technique, and sass, "Hoopla" will teach readers how to stitch a ransom note pillow, mean and dainty knuckle-tattoo church gloves; and create their own innovative embroidery projects. If you like anarchistic DIY craft and the idea of deviating from the rules, "Hoopla" will inspire you to wield a needle with flair! With a foreword by Betsy Greer.