A-Z of Wool Embroidery: The Ultimate Resource for Beginners and Experienced Embroiderers

by Sue Gardner (Editor)

Book by R. Quilters

144 pages, Spiral-bound

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Catherine]

I've had an interest in sewing ever since I was a kid; my mother and nanna have always tried to encourage me to be creative. Though I don't necessarily have the money to take it up as a full-time hobby, I still like seeing the stuff that can be created. I have Pinterest boards dedicated to crafting and I adore seeing all the complex things one can make. I would say that I'm an intermediate stitcher. Personally, I think it's best for people at a beginner or intermediate level. However, I do encourage anyone at a higher level to give it a read; there's still a ton that I'm sure you can learn. I think this book teaches users very well. It breaks down each stitch with photographic examples and shows you how to create each one. Towards the middle of the book, it also gives examples of scenes to create, with the back dedicated to templates for the creation of such scenes. They're mostly wildlife; animals and flowers. However, if you're creative enough, I'm sure you can suit the templates and stitches to whatever you want to make

I know, in the title, it specifies wool. However, you can possibly do it with other mediums, such as cotton. It just depends on the pattern/ stitch you're trying. For example, Page 41 has a tutorial on how to make pompoms. I would recommend wool for this; as it provides a fluffier result. But, if we go a few pages further to Page 44, there's a tutorial on Roumanian Stitching. For this, I reckon it would be possible to achieve with cotton embroidery thread. Another interesting thing is that the book provides little bits of information. Pages 44 and 45 have notes on "Why Wool Shrinks" and "Caring for Wool Embroidery" respectively. I think these are good things for people to know. I'm sure a lot of people will find these and the other notations to be quite useful.

Overall, I think it's definitely worth 5 stars. It's got some great information and it really gives me, as a user, the inspiration I need to create my own scenes. Obviously you won't get perfection on the first try, but keep on practicing and I'm sure you'll get better! I borrowed this copy from my mother; however it is certainly a book I would like to buy for myself in the future.