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Di van Niekerk
Search Press
17 July 2011 / ISBN1844487172
How-To Books/Embroidery
Amazon
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
One of the
high spots of my reviewing year is the publication of the next Di
van Niekerk book. This one has all the features that made the others
so popular and so well loved: the luscious illustrations, the beautiful
heirloom-quality projects, the attention to detail in the instructions
and Di’s lovely watercolor studies.
Roses are the subject of this new book, and they are presented in
the form of a sampler made up of irregular shapes, each one teaching
techniques about this type of work and featuring roses with a variety
of other subjects. These include birds, butterflies, a web, and
a few other flowers and can be stitched as a glorious whole or broken
up into a variety of project adorning sections. There are over sixty
techniques to learn in here, some of them entirely new and the creation
of the author and sixteen different roses. I love the way this book
tells you absolutely everything you need to know (even the author’s
email and website for obtaining supplies) including the sort of
information most writers would overlook. The anatomy of a rose for
example, or how to get to grips with transfer paper and a wealth
of information for those new to ribbon embroidery. The diagrams
are a nice mixture of photographs and drawings and this is the type
of hardback that obligingly lays flat. Another feature is the user-friendly
layout that starts with the basics, moves on to the techniques involved,
and finishes with the actual sampler sections. Each one tells you
what ribbons you need (all from Di’s website or international
stockists listed on the site) the needles, threads and anything
else as well as lots of staged instructions. Search Press publishes
some excellent books for beginners to this type of work but this
one is aimed more at the intermediate/advanced stitcher, who wants
to create the sort of work of art that you can imagine being passed
down through a family. Probably the best craft book I’ve seen
yet this year.
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