As the title says, this is essentially a stitch guide to the stitches used in stumpwork. The copious color photos are excellent and show the stitches in progress. The first section introduces the Royal School of Needlework, gives an overview of the history of stumpwork and stumpwork design, reviews materials, shows step-by-step how to frame up, and how to transfer a pattern using prick and pounce. That gets us to page 30. From there through p. 112 are clear photos and text showing how to do individual stitches and whole techniques, with examples of them used in context on a variety of modern pieces.

The spiral binding means that the pages lay flat for referencing while you are working stitches. There is a one-page table of contents (going down to the level of, for example, Needlelace Stitches), but without listing individual stitches and one page of index, where one can find the names of individual stitches.

One thing I found curious - the index sends me to two pages for "Detached Buttonhole stitch", both of which reference that stitch in passing, while discussing other things. There is no pointer to how to do the stitch. The stitch guide for Single Brussels stitch does provide the needed instruction. However, the text never closes the loop on terminology, and does not equivalence "Single Brussels" with "Detached Buttonhole," though there are several references to plain Buttonhole stitch in the introduction to the needlelace stitches. ( )