Book Review: HOW TO EMBROIDER ALMOST EVERY CUTE THING:

Title: How to Embroider Almost Every Cute Thing: A Sourcebook of 550 Motifs + Beginner Stitch Tutorials
Author: Nihon Vogue
Publisher: Quarry Books
Pages: 128
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

The book contains 550 motifs and beginner stitch tutorials. The categories are assorted patterns, simple flowers, folk art flowers, fairy tale flowers, breakfast foods, fruits and vegetables, favourite foods, sweets and treats, zodiac animals, dogs and cats, favourite animals, animal friends, fairy tale animals, everyday life, sports and games, hobbies and activities, border designs, flower alphabets (in upper and lower case), food alphabets, letters and numbers, childhood favourites, and people and things.

At the bottom of each page of embroidery motifs is an indication about the page numbers to turn to for instructions and the person responsible for those patterns.

If you are interested in embroidery, it helps you tap into your creativity and see motifs all around you.

I particularly liked the page on border designs. The food alphabets were quite creative. All these designs would look lovely on a baby’s clothes, or even to help personalise a garment. The author has included some photos of socks, baby clothes, T-shirts etc to show how a little bit of embroidery could enhance a garment.

The latter part of the book contains some basic instructions and tips on what a beginner would require in order to get started on an embroidery project. This part of the book brought back fond memories of the embroidery lessons my mom used to give me when I was little, If you didn’t have an elder in your family to show you the ropes, the author has you covered. There are instructions on how to thread a needle, trace a design from the book and transfer it on to the fabric, how to separate the embroidery floss and how to start and finish stitching.

There are lessons for the straight stitch, running stitch, outline stitch, back stitch, chain stitch, French Knot, Lazy Daisy stitch, satin stitch, The lessons for the stitches are accompanied by easy instructions and helpful photos.

The stitch guide suggests the type of stitch to be used while embroidering all the patterns provided in the book. The book ends with the profiles and Instagram handles of the people who have contributed their patterns to the book.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)