LISBETH PERRONE'S FOLK ART IN NEEDLEPOINT AND CROSS-STITCH

In The New World of Needlepoint (1972), Lisbeth Perrone introduced 101 attractive designs, identified according to difficulty. This new book, just as ambitious, offers somewhat less striking designs. Perrone spent a year in Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art and has adapted many patterns from the embroidered textile collection--a Palestinian bride's dress, a Mexican sampler, a Chinese ankleband, a Hungarian pillowcase. As seen in full color, they are a varied, distinctive group, many taken from cross-stitch originals and reproducing those angular lines. The diagrams are quite clear, and the how-to material--on tools, stitches, finishing, etc.--extremely helpful.