Books in Brief: Bandweaving, Tapestry, Artists at Work, and Wild Baskets

Looking for weaving ideas? Here are some books that have recently crossed our desks.

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The Bandweaver’s Project Book: 34 Stylish, Practical Designs + Clever Finishing Techniques
By Heather Torgenrud

With Nordic-inspired bandweaving projects using warp-faced tabby (but readily adapted to other techniques like pick-up or tablet weaving), this book is a resource for all bandweavers regardless of loom type, and is intended for readers with prior bandweaving experience.

The projects in the book range from belts, key fobs, cord keepers, and fasteners, to pockets, neckpieces, hat bands, bracelets, mug rugs, and so much more. Heather is also a masterful colorist—you may find yourself turning to her palettes for other bands you weave.

The second half focuses on 16 finishing techniques used in the projects, with instructions and wonderfully clear illustrations for each.

She has written two previous books about pick-up techniques used in bandweaving.

PODCAST: Heather talks about her work—and the gift that launched her into bandweaving.

Atglen, PA: Schiffer Craft, 2026.
Hardcover, 120 pages, $34.99.
ISBN 978-0764371424
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Tapestry Talking: Understanding the Language of Handwoven Art with 326 Works from Around the World
By Micala Sidore

An exploration of 326 tapestries from around the world, using 13 of the most basic weaving concepts (including yarn, sett, line, grid, time), to help weavers better understand the outcomes of their choices based on their tapestry’s components, techniques used, woven effects, and creative strategies. The pieces range from pictorial to evocative to fully abstract, and from tiny to gigantic, woven in all sorts of shapes, and using materials common and uncommon. If you’re looking for inspiration, you will find it here.”

The Art is the Cloth, by the same author, was published in 2020. In her review of that book, former Handwoven editor Susan E. Horton wrote, “This book isn’t what I expected, it’s better. I assumed it would be simply a coffee table book of beautiful photos of tapestries, and to be sure, it could function as that. Within the pages are photos of more than 300 tapestries of various types. ... You can open any one of the nine chapters, read its introduction and then lose yourself in the images and descriptions...”

Atglen, PA: Schiffer Craft, 2026.
Hardcover, 256 pages, $49.99.
ISBN 978-0764371417
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Textiles x Art: How Textiles Are Shaping Contemporary Art
By Ramona Barry and Beck Jobson

How 44 contemporary artists around the world are turning to traditional fiber techniques (including weaving, embroidery, quilting, and dyeing) as they address social and environmental themes in their compositions.

Photos of each artist’s work are shown alongside essays describing them and their practice. As a whole, the group reveals the shifting boundaries between craft and fine art.

The book’s Table of Contents lists the artists by name, with no information about the techniques they work in. There is no index—but if you enjoy looking at all types of current textile art, you will find weavers among them (including Misako Nakahira, Britt Salt, and Jacqueline Stojanović).

New York: Thames & Hudson, 2026.
Hardcover, 304 pages, $50.
ISBN 978-1760765514
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Weaving Wild Baskets: Techniques and Projects Using Foraged Leaves, Grasses, Vines and Bark
By Katie Grove

This guide teaches how to create 14 beautiful baskets with foraged materials—from leaves and grasses to vines, woody stems, wild fibers extracted from plants, and even barks. Techniques used in the projects include coiling, looping, twining, weaving, plaiting, and more.

A foraging calendar tells you when to get outside to gather materials.

Detailed instructions and step-by-step photos will ease identifying, harvesting, and weaving with over 50 plant types.

North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2026.
Paperback, 320 pages, $39.99.
ISBN 978-1635868883
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