Backgrounds and Such reference book by Julia Snyder. 54 pages. As reviewed by Janet Perry. Snyder opens the book with a short section of useful tips. Then she has a page of stripe patterns which should get you started on these particularly useful backgrounds. The next section is “Patterns” which are the main backgrounds in the book. These are backgrounds which are done in Tent and Reverse Tent with stitched patterns in them using a different color or thread. I call them Needlepoint Damask because the end result looks like damask fabric. The patterns, range from simple to complex, small to large and include corners and borders. Before going to the decorative stitches (many of which will also work for backgrounds), there is a short section on stitching plaids. About half the book is devoted to decorative stitches. Some of these will be familiar, some are unique. The book is very useful too with open grids on all the right-hand pages for charting your own stitches, and with a spiral binding to lay flat. There are lots of ideas packed into this little book.
