Reviewed by: Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.Com
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If you have had your fill with cross-stitch, tapestry and/or free-style and are looking around for something different, why not take up the art of shi-shu, or traditional Japanese embroidery? This primer tells you a bit about the history, what you need to get started, and has plenty of patterns of such traditional subjects as maple, butterflies, falling petals and camellias together with their symbolism.

The pictures are beautiful and ought to tempt any embroiderer to have a go, or anybody else who would like to try this type of work as I wouldn't say that previous knowledge of other types of embroidery was necessary; the instructions and step-by-step photographs are excellent. This is no mere gallery book, which is a treat as more than a few "how-to" books show masterpieces of work but don't back them up with instructions, and this is not a fault here. The biggest problem besetting any would-be stitcher is going to be the acquiring of a floor-mounted wooden frame and some of the essentials for the work such as chaco paper and a stroking needle, although if you write Search Press, they will send out a useful list of mail-order addresses, so maybe even this needn't be an insurmountable problem.