| If
you think that hand embroidery is old fashioned, complicated
and not for you then this book might make you change your
mind. As the subtitle says “Modern projects from traditional
stitches” and this is what happens when patterned fabric
meets embroidery and gets its style from a boho hippy trend.
I have been a keen hand embroiderer since the age of seven
and am always on the lookout for new ways of doing it. This
book taps into the current fashion for using embroidery hoops
as frames, and for embellishing patterned fabric with stitches.
The result is a fun, colorful piece of work that draws on
appliqué and even coloring skills, mixes in some basic
freestyle stitches and results in one of the most enjoyable
ways I have yet seen to use up a lot of bits of fabric. Each
of the eight chapters is called Let’s Talk About…and
you can see what the author has to say about tools, stitches,
fabric plus making accessories and looking for inspiration.
Every page is filled with bright photographs of materials
and finished work and it is easy to get carried along with
the author’s enthusiasm; I couldn’t wait to get
started! Discover what thread, materials and tools to buy,
learn how to do sixteen simple stitches, choose your fabric
and lay it all out. You can add paint and other embellishments,
find out about composing your work and how to attach appliqué
cutouts. The stitch diagrams could be larger and more colorful
for easy use and tend to look rather lost on the page but
fortunately they are all chosen for their simplicity. I love
the way very basic stitches like the running stitch, straight
stitch and backstitch really come into their own. All the
work in here has a bright, 60s vibe about it but all the methods
would work equally well whatever style you are into. If you
don’t want to adorn your walls with hoops there is a
chapter dedicated to applying the methods to making bags,
jewellery, embellishing garments and more and if you live
in the US you can find a list of stockists at the back. There
is also a section of appliqué patterns (these mostly
need to be enlarged) and a list of useful websites if you
want more information about embroidery stitches, broderie
perse and crazy quilting. This new trend taps into several
hobbies and ties them all together in one fun package and
the author is adept at showing how simple and enjoyable it
all is, regardless of your skill level.
If you cannot find a good range of fabric and embroidery floss
locally visit www.searchpress.com
for a list of suppliers.
Some of the harder to find threads can be bought at https://wonderfil.co.uk/
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