Tapestry Crochet was the first of three books that I wrote to spread the word about this fabulous technique. I couldn’t turn this out-of-print book into an e-book because the publisher owns the copyrights of the layout and graphs – but I own the copyrights of the projects and text.
After Interweave said I could republish the projects, I updated the text and redrew the graphs – this time making separate sets for right handed and left handed crocheters (the written instructions are the same for both right handed and left handed crocheters, but the photos and graphs are reversed).
My second book, More Tapestry Crochet, has expanded history and design sections, so I only concentrated on making the eight most popular projects available online, grouping them together by format.
“Rounds” projects for left handed and right handed crocheters from Tapestry Crochet, 1991.
“Spiral” projects for left handed and right handed crocheters from Tapestry Crochet, 1991.
I actually wrote Tapestry Crochet in the early 1980’s, but it took ten years to get it published! Most of the other pattern books at the time featured expensive fibers, but my Mom and her friends preferred to crochet with inexpensive synthetic yarns, so I made most of the projects with their favorites to appeal to people like them. Unfortunately, most of those yarns are no longer made – but that’s the situation with many published patterns.
I’m an artist and art professor, so the projects were designed not only to teach the basics, but also to provide crocheters with fresh ideas and design tools. I try to encourage crocheters to tweak the patterns, but even when the instructions are followed to the letter, each finished piece is still unique because substituting yarns makes them that way! Links to the patterns are under the above photos of the projects.
What really amazes me when I stop and think about it, though, is that these pieces were crocheted 30 years ago – but they don’t look dated – at least not to me!
This book was my introduction to tapestry crochet in the 90s. I loved it and the technique you introduced to me and now I do tapestry crochet regularly.
Eventually I didn’t really need my copy of your book, so I passed it on to my aunt who became interested when she saw my Waza Purse.
Thanks for publishing that book and republishing. Also, thanks for all the great information you’ve provided online. I send a lot of people there to learn about tapestry crochet.