Machine embroidery is a versatile technique which offers a creative method of interpreting a design in colour, line, texture or all three. The sewing machine becomes, in effect, a paintbrush, and can produce a wealth of beautiful and striking effects. In creating pictures with thread, the worker mixes dots of pure colour in the same way as the pointillist and impressionist painters.;Taking landscape pictures as a theme, Alison Holt draws on her own fine art training to produce this manual of design. Beginning with the basics, such as choosing a sewing machine, she guides the reader through gathering source material and the techniques possible together with the effects they offer. Information on use of fabric and colour provides a sound basis for translating source material into thread painting, illustrated with examples of the author's own work in various stages of development.