needlenthread.com
March 2015
A-Z of Embroidered Motifs, newly republished by Search Press, focuses primarily on small embroidered motifs and vignettes that incorporate bullion knots. The book appeals to embroiderers from lots of different angles. If youre a crazy quilter, if you like dimensional embroidery, Brazilian embroidery, stumpwork, and the like, if you love to stitch gardens, or if you just like stitching small things here and there, now and then youll love this book! The book begins with the basics, including general information on threads, needles, fabrics, hoops, how to transfer designs, and tips for lefties. From there, it launches into step-by-step instructions for starting and ending threads, and for working various types of bullion knots the basic bullion, bullion loops, couched bullions, tapered bullions, very long bullions, and different bullion roses. Throughout the book, youll find short articles on bullion embroidery from various contributors. The rest of the book? Its devoted to the motifs, of course! The motifs are divided into the following types: An alphabet, animals, Australian animals, Christmas, Flowers, Food, Miscellaneous, Nursery, Roses, and (no, really!) Transport. Transport might sound like a strange category for embroidery, but its filled with delightful little transportation-related motifs, from sailboats to airships (or blimps) to hot air balloons, bi-planes, helicopters, and rockets! Each motif in the book is accompanied by a materials list (if you want to re-create it exactly as shown in the book), a stitch layout guide (what stitches are used where), a pattern, a photo of the finished motif, and, often, a small watercolor rendition of it. Some of the motifs are larger than others and can stand alone as little embroidery projects, like the flower cart aboveor my favorite! the fishing frog. Other motifs are smaller, perfect for accenting childrens clothing, for adding to larger projects like samplers or embroidered gardens, for making embroidered ornaments and the like, or just for a little special embroidered touch on just about anything! The animals in the book, by the way, are all just adorable from cats to butterflies, bees to squirrels, ladybugs, poodles, ducks, bunnies, sheep, lions, wombats and more there are heaps of bullion animal motifs! In the back of the book, youll find a section of clear line drawings for each motif, so that you can trace out guidelines on your fabric. All in all, A-Z of Embroidered Motifs is a jolly fun book! The instruction is excellent, and with over 120 motifs to embroider, it offers a glorious amount of stitching entertainment!
Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts
March 2015
A great companion book to the A-Z of Embroidery Stitches. Over 120 miniature embroidered motifs for any level. You'll find information on threads, needles, design transfer and how to stitch. The designs are created with the use of bullion knots. Motifs include animals, Christmas, flowers, foods and a miscellaneous section that includes figures, nursery ideas, roses and more, transport. I love the frog, robin, poodles, squirrel, Australian animals, flower cart, single rose and heart of roses. Templates and an alphabet are also provided. Easy to follow and use, it should prove very useful.
Popular Patchwork
February 2015
The latest reissue of this lovely volume from the evergreen A-Z range by Search Press is a must have, if you don't own it already. It's a no-nonsense but comprehensive little guide, with 120 flowers and other embroidery hasn't piqued your interest before, the this book is assure to entice you; its well-chosen collection of motifs is irresistible. There's a huge array of floral motifs, but a good section of less predictable subjects too; there's a whole section on food, for example which contains beautiful little stitched figures that look good enough to eat, and also a pleasingly diverse miscellaneous section containing clowns, beach huts and animals. The designers of each section give their advice and tips (some of which are invaluable, even to experienced embroiderers), and overall the book provides pleasing, well-rounded coverage of the subject at a good price.
