Stitchcraft: An Embroidery Book of Simple Stitches and Peculiar Patterns

I am brand new to embroidery, and I have been struggling to find a corner of the embroidery world that fits my aesthetic. When I stumbled upon this book I knew I found that unique corner! These projects are beautiful and weird and a little dark and just PERFECT. And as someone that is brand new to the craft, these patterns are someone not intimidating. I can’t wait to start working through this book

I purchased this for my daughter and let me tell you this book is very interesting, "Floral Skulls", "Botanical Hearts", "Skinned Rabbits", "Death Head Planchette" and "Lamb to Slaughter" are some examples of the art you have to work with. All the artwork in this book is beautiful and they give detailed instructions and a diagram for each one so you can replicate the work. In my opinion the artwork is very eccentric, I like it and my daughter loves it and is working on the introduction piece to start, she is a novice at embroidery but the instructions are easy to understand so she is about a quarter of the way done with the first project. I would definitely recommend picking this up if you enjoy embroidery or just like art because the book is beautiful just by itself.

Gorgeous book, gorgeous patterns, enough guidance to get you the results you want without micro-managing your embroidery process. I've done at least 6 patterns from this book and they all turned out pretty awesome.

I really enjoyed this unique take on embroidery. It has funky subject matter and rich detail with unique beautiful designs. Definitly Non traditional patterns, no geese or sun bonnet sues. My daughter is a lover of all things quirky and science related and she is going to be super jazzed about these patterns I plan on making into throw pillows for her! I would not recommend this book as an educational tool. You can definitely find numerous website to research the different stitches you may want to use. But, having said that I am excited that the book leaves room for a stitchers own interpretation on using creative filling stitches and even stumpwork to complete the patterns.

That's what's good about it. I saw a review about how "thick" this book was, but its honestly because there's colored photos of the finished pattern and the blank patterns in the back for transferring/tracing. I thought there would be more to it, but it really is just a pattern book. The patterns are what made me want to buy it, so I'm happy with it. Its not instructional on the stitches the author uses. It just tells you which stitches to use for them, assuming that you already know all of the stitches its referencing. I'm semi-new to embroidery, so I also ordered another book on nothing but stitches called "Creative Stitches for Contemporary Embroidery" that's also available here on Amazon and it has all the stitches "Stitch Craft" uses, plus many more complex stitches. If you already know what you're doing and are knowledgeable on at least 10 different stitches, Stitch Craft is a good book on its own. If you're just starting to really swim with it, definitely get another book that's instructional on stitches. Or just Google them, I guess. This author really inspired me to come up with my own patterns for embroidery and I love the patterns in Stitch Craft. I especially like the anatomical patterns because I blend human and plant anatomy in my own artwork and I resonated with her style. Its definitely worth the money for the patterns and it features quite a bit of them! I'm quite happy with it. Only giving it 4 stars because there's already the blank patterns next to the completed ones the author did (that's basically just a diagram of where to put which stitches), plus the blank patterns of the same things in the back of the book. I hope that makes sense. In actuality, this book could be half its thickness and still get its point across. Still love it, so don't let that deter you.

I love this book, it is a feast for the eye of someone into this ‘off the wall’, acquired-taste style of free-hand stitching and experienced enough to not need stitch-by-stitch instructions. The book is printed in good quality paper and the color photos are clear, showing all the different stitches employed. The type of fabric used and possible substitutes, as well as type of embroidery threads are discussed. The end pages contain full size, pull-out charts of almost every design shown. There are just a few, quite interesting designs in the covers that do not have charts or explanations, but the photos clearly show the stitches used and it would be possible to duplicate them.

Love this book. Very self explanatory. Gorgeous images. Give So much ideas . Simple stitches. Love the book!

I love this embroidery book and will keep and get in hard copy also. If you love Halloween, anatomy, and weird. This is the embroidery book!

Love this book, it has a Dia de los Muertos (mexican celebration of the dead) vibe and human autonomy vibe. Slightly creepy but cool. It reminds me of my trip to mexico and the human autonomy books that I used to look at my grandmothers house because she was a massege theripast. Shows the patterns and stitches used. Pretty straightforward.

Je suis enchantée de ce livre, j'avais envie d'un livre qui me surprenne et m'inspire, pas d'un recueil de points; comme l'explique très bien l'auteur, tous les points s'apprennent facilement en ligne. Malgré cela tous les schémas des broderies sont inclus. Ce livre répond parfaitement à mon attente.

Update: As I mentioned that the designs should have been in full, I realized that the Author speaks about using your imagination for the patterns without solely copying. That is why the images are not as big. Thankyou to Gayla Partridge, Such a beautiful book, well explained steps, patterns given at the end can be printed. Beautiful embroidery can inspire you in many ways to create. Only if the full designs in the frame were zoomed in more, the stitches could hv been seen more intricately. A great gift For people specially who love studying peculiar designs, human body in detail, forms and stitches. This book was a gift from my husband and I will cherish it, it has definitely inspired me to create. 😍

Tolle Inspirationen und Vorlagen!! Man benötigt Kenntnisse zu den Sticharten, aber sonst ein heftig schönes Buch!

Simplesmente maravilhoso!