Micala Sidore’s new book, Tapestry Talking, just came out. It is a beautiful book and I recommend getting a copy. Publication date was May 28, 2026 from Schiffer Craft.

Micala Sidore has done it again. This book is similar in style to her first book, The Art is the Cloth. Both of these books are stuffed full of images of tapestry weaving. Sidore has done us a huge favor by collecting these images in one place.

Here are some of my thoughts about Tapestry Talking: Understanding the language of handwoven art with 326 works from around the world.

What I love:

Great photos. They're clear and there are some with details. The photo sizes are also quite large. I think Sidore tried hard to make the photos as large as possible.
There are short descriptions about each of the images. I didn't mention that in the video, but there is a very short description of each tapestry.
There is an index!! (For some reason many Schiffer books don't have indexes and I think it is a poor choice for a non-fiction book.)
It is a fabulous collection of images of tapestries from all over the world. It is wonderful to see what can be done in tapestry and how different cultures use this medium.
The categories (chapters) are simple and Sidore doesn't try to pretend that this is any sort of rigid categorization of work. It is just a way of organizing over 300 photos.

What I questioned:

There are photos in the gutter. This is my primary complaint, and if that is the biggest complaint I have, then you know the book is pretty great. I didn't count how many photos are presented this way, but perhaps 15% of them?
The subtitle is "Understanding the language of Handwoven Art with 326 works from around the world." Like her first book, I didn't think this book used words to elucidate the language of tapestry weaving. I guess at first glance I think the subtitle is a little lofty for a book with relatively few words beyond the short description of each piece. After looking at the book for about a week, I started to feel that the title plus subtitle were actually pretty accurate. The tapestries are doing the talking and we don't necessarily benefit from a lot of words to understand art.

The book is hardback with a printed cover (no dust jacket). It is 256 pages with excellent printing on nice paper. It is published by Schiffer Craft.

It is a well-produced book and if you benefit from seeing the tapestry art of others, this is a great way to see a huge variety of work with very clear images. Many of these artists don't have websites or images online and I feel it is really important to be able to see what is being made in the world of tapestry. For many of us, getting to see lots of shows is just not possible.

Micala Sidore has done us a huge favor by producing both of her books. I think this book is even better than her first. You can get a copy HERE or anywhere books are sold.

Sidore used some of Sarah Swett’s 99 Noun Project tapestries to be the titles of the chapters.

Some of Sarah Swett’s work in Tapestry Talking by Micala Sidore

The photos are large and the text and layout are very clear. Sidore has a brief statement about each of the works. Many of those I take to be her interpretation and you are free to make your own! Some are not quite accurate, like the James Koehler piece in the book is actually a two-panel piece with no black in the tapestry at all (Sidore stated it was a black and blue piece). He had his work photographed on a black background.

Cover tapestry by Melanie Cros, *Al Mamzar Beach, Dubai*

I made a video showing some of the pages of the book and talking about what I like about the book for my Patreon members. If you’re a member of my Patreon, head on over to see that post from May 27, 2026. If you want to join us, you are welcome to do so HERE.