Weekend Review: All Panic, No Disco

 

All Panic, No Disco / Emily Wall 
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, c2026.
272 p.

Ok, I picked up this book from my library, because how could I not? Look at that cover! I thought this would be a fun one to read, and I was right. The projects are both cute and amusing, and the instructional content is also strong. This one is a winner, especially for younger stitchers who are looking for something contemporary. 

It has lots of opossums, raccoons, hedgehogs, disco balls, and lots of sayings to stitch. There is an intro to basics - techniques and supplies -- and a stitch guide for the stitches she uses in the book (a limited range, which can do everything here). And then there are the projects. 

Twenty detailed projects are included, with contemporary flair. One of my faves is the cover image but there are so many different ones - I also liked "Panic at the Desk-o" which is very work related LOL. Each project has the full image, an explanation, then a stitch guide with colour suggestions and stitch directions on the image. It is a very thorough way of sharing the project and makes it really accessible to newer stitchers. 

She also uses some interesting threads and stitches that add a lot to the pieces. The disco ball technique is used a couple of times and I learned from it. The order of stitching and stitch choices, plus metallic threads, give a great result. She also includes tips about how to best work with different kinds of metallic threads to help out the reader. 

In her stitch discussions, she gives the best explanation on how to do long and short stitch that I've ever seen. Not just the technical how-to, but extra hints about how to stagger the stitches for best results - you can tell she is speaking from experience and wants everyone to benefit from what she knows. I think she'd be a great teacher in person. 

I'm always interested in lettering in my embroidery projects, and in this book she usually recommends 2 strands and backstitch for most of her wording but has a few exceptions for when you want to emphasize something or fit more words in or something like that. I often use stem stitch for my lettering but that stitch doesn't appear in this book; backstitch works quite nicely and I will probably try that sometime as well. 

I found this book entertaining -- the projects are quite funny -- but it's also very solid with instructional content. The projects are so extensively laid out! Any ambitious beginner could use it, and because of the fresh and contemporary feel of it, I think it would be great for beginners who might be interested in modern embroidery. Definitely recommend this fun book.