Folk Art Needlepoint: 20 Projects Adapted from Objects in the American Folk Art Museum

We are drawn to American folk art for many reasons—its history, its humanity, and, perhaps most of all, its unaffected beauty. With elements both whimsical and practical, this enduring and beloved art form has become a rich source of inspiration for today’s craftspeople. For needleworkers in particular, folk art is among the most popular styles to stitch. Organized thematically by types of folk art motifs—among them, hearts, flowers, and daily life—Folk Art Needlepoint offers twenty projects and variations, from pillows and paperweights to a door stop and scissors case, that celebrate the best of American folk art.

With an eye to developing the best book for needlepointers attracted to folk art, Ruth Peltason has selected twenty objects from the American Folk Art Museum in New York, the country’s leading museum in the field. This collaboration results in such appealing projects as a multicolored belt taken from an 1890s log cabin quilt or a tote bag designed with hearts and hands based on love tokens cut in paper made in the mid-nineteenth century. Along with exquisite photographs of the pieces in room settings, Ruth Peltason provides delightful notes on the motifs and museum pieces that have inspired her as well as charming asides about decorating with your new needlepoint cushions, picture frames, or even curtain tiebacks. Karyn Gerhard, a talented needleworker, charted the patterns and stitched all the projects in the book, and the American Folk Art Museum supplied insightful commentary on the motifs and original artworks.

Complete with a techniques and materials section to guide you through essentials such as needlepoint stitches, thread and canvas selection, and project preparation, Folk Art Needlepoint provides everything you need to make classic pieces inspired by objects in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum come alive in your home as fresh, contemporary works of art.

RUTH PELTASON runs Bespoke Books, a small book producing company that specializes in books on the cultural arts, including Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry and Kate Spade’s Occasions, Style, and Manners. She has been a hobby needlepointer for a little more than a decade, which, coupled with her interest in the arts, led to the development of this book. She lives in New York City.

KARYN GERHARD has been crafting for more than twenty-five years. Although she has worked in many textile arts, needlepoint has always been her passion, and she has stitched hundreds of pieces in all shapes and sizes, including petit point purses, Christmas stockings, even large, complex tapestries. Karyn Gerhard is an editor of illustrated books in New York.