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Bring landscapes
and flowers to vibrant life in hand embroidery with the twelve
projects in this beautiful book. You don’t need to swallow
a stitch encyclopaedia either as the author only uses six
simple stitches plus a few variations. Her approach to embroidery
is also a very green one, as her approach involves using up
lots of different threads and yarns, fragments of fabric and
small beads. Here’s how…
I
love the hands-on approach to embroidery in this book. There
are no dreary rules here, only the freedom to express yourself
in stitches (and beads). You can see why this method is known
as freestyle; this author has her own approach and explains
how it is done, together with advice on designing your own
work. As well as the various threads and small beads, she
uses a lot of organza, both for backgrounds, torn up for flowers
and in various other ways, all to great effect. The book starts
with a short guide on what you need for this type of work
before arming the reader with some useful tips on composing
a design and transferring it to fabric, choosing colors, adding
the organza and then stitching. It sounds beautifully simple
and it is; just the thing to explode myths about embroidery
being difficult to learn. There are pages of photographs showing
the stitches (all very clear), how to work with organza, sewing
on beads and the 3D work. This is done by stitching a motif
on organza and burning around the edge with a needle heated
in a candle (or see below for what I use). Achieve other 3D
effects such as rocks, trees, woolly sheep and flower centers
in various other innovative ways, and then have a go at putting
it all together with the twelve projects. These are lovely,
and a great way of learning through doing. Stitch pictures
of poppy fields, sunflowers, a wood filled with bluebells,
cow parsley in a hedgerow, hydrangeas and a buddleia covered
with bees and butterflies. Most are pictures, but one is a
fun pincushion. Turn to the back for templates, and visit
the website for kits of all these projects plus many more.
One for the keeper shelf.
If
you cannot find a good range of embroidery and needlecraft
materials locally try www.searchpress.com for a list of suppliers.
Visit
the Rowandean website www.rowandean.com/ for kits and other
things.
If
you don’t fancy using a needle and candle you can opt
for Antex’s Fabric Master. Buy it at Amazon or here
www.craft.antex.co.uk/products/fabric/fabric-master/
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