I'm deeply grateful to Jen Hewett and the work she's done assembling This Long Thread. Needle arts is an area that's inadequately explored by those studying and writing about women's lives—and what little that's out there is dominated by white norms and expectations. Too often, the story we have of needle arts is the story of white women engaging in needle arts. This Long Thread takes a thorough approach to looking at needle arts as learned and created by women of color and mixed-heritage women.

Hewett uses an extensive survey of women of color doing needle arts, both professionally and for their own pleasure, as the spine of her book, focusing chapters on topics like how needle arts have been passed down in families, the gradual shift from doing needle arts out of necessity to doing them by choice, and the ways needle arts spaces can be welcoming or exclusionary for women of color. She pairs these chapters with interviews with women of color who are needle artists, allowing for rich, individual perspectives, as well as an overview of the community.

For anyone serious about needle arts—either engaging in them or studying and documenting the work of others—This Long Thread is an essential text. It's an opening to a conversation that allows a more inclusive, and more *true* picture of needle arts and the roles they play in the lives of many women.

I received a free electronic review copy of this text from the publisher; the opinions are my own. ( )