Modern Embroidery

A Book of Stitches to Unleash Creativity

Written by Rachel Dobbins

Published by Yellow Pear Press

As a regular reviewer, I have page turned my way through so many books on Embroidery.

Creative Wanderlust

Unlock Your Artistic Potential Through Mixed-Media Art Journaling Techniques - With 8 sheets of printed papers for journaling and collage

Written by Kasia Avery

Published by Quarry Press

This artist and writer guides us through the pathway of how to Art Journal. To be honest, I think I have myself as an artist always used this method, yet I have never thought about what it was or what it could be titled as.

Treasure Bookmaking

Crafting Handmade Sustainable Journals

Written by Natasha Marinkovic

Published by Mango Press

This book is one of a few similar titled books, however this was my first insight into the printing house and their publishing style. The book itself is a soft back and feels very much made by the author themselves.

Counted Sashiko Embroidery: 31 Projects with 80 Kogin and 200 Hishizashi Patterns

Written by Keiko Sakamoto

Published by Schiffer Craft

On the first observation of this title, one may be put off by the mouthful of wording; yet words do not have to indicate complex content.

Lets review this title right from the introduction, as personally I feel that this beginning is rather worth a pause and reflection.

Textile Portraits

People and Place in Textile Art

Anne Kelly

Batsford

What can a portrait be? Often when we hear the word, we think of a styled self portrait, something achieved by a fine artist, or something special we may get done by a street artist on a holiday.

This title really provides what I discern as a joyous insight into the subject in such a three dimensional way, its a really flurry of frivolity to behold in my hands.

dentity and the needle arts

Johannah Amos, Lisa Binkley (Anothlogy Editors)

Bloomsbury Publishing

Self expression through the tactile genre of art is not a new realisation. As humans, we all crave a pathway in life, a foundation and the inner knowledge of who we are. whatever art type we favor, it is much more than a sketch or stitch, it is about the emotional aspects too, the reasons we create and the feelings which evolve from creating.

365 Days of Stitches: Keep a personal embroidery journal: motifs, techniques, templates

Steph Arnold

Search Press

Looking at this latest embroidery offering, I witnessed a lightness, it looks a happy, maybe pointing to a younger market as a target with all the little symbols on the front cover. Yet within its approachable visual look….its actually a bit of a guise. This book stems from an artists need for repair mentally within themselves.

Simply Stitched with Wool

Yumiko Higuchi

Zakka Workshop

If you step into the woods today…what will you find? From foraging finds to berries and birds of paradise, this instructive guide leads us through a selected 24 projects on embroider and use to develop into wearable or home bound items.

An Apothacary of Art - To soothe your soul

Ravenous Butterflies

Batsford

I will openly admit that I had never heard of Ravenous Butterflies until I received this book. We get used to book titles and authors, yet this name instead of an authors intrigued me.

Personal thoughts surround her honest first person narrative throughout. She is not perfect, she has not had a perfect life, yet she has found her imperfect yet golden ‘place’ as it were. She does not give us a filtered view, or at least she endeavours not to, I of course and all you future readers do not know the real life this book character worthy pixie leads; she admits to anxiety, to needing to change and create the life she is now living.

Within this title, Seton sets out a personal, truistic and relatable narrative, evoking completive rumination on what our own garden room can mean to us - what stories have we already created or can create in the future? What warm memories do we own of family past and present, nature finds and nature owned, who have all resided within this creative masterpiece?

Contemporary Applique

Julia Triston and Rachel Lombard

Batsford

If you had told my sixteen year old self that I would be sitting down, reading a book specifically on a method I had just learned - I would have let our a rebellious laugh. I was no stitcher, yet on this virgin stitching experience, Triston had unknowingly to me at the time, worked her stitchery magic.

Exuberance An Embroiderer's Perspective

Edited by Carol Cooke and Sharon Peoples

What did you get up to during the COVID19 lockdown? Many of us turned to one of three things, banana bread, hobbies or nature.

The Embroidery Stitch Companion

Coline Bavois

Search Press

This simple little book is an ideal turn to for anyone who wants to either learn stitch types or who need to refresh their memories. I know when I go back to teaching the embroidery basics to students, I often need to remind myself how to do certain stitches. So this book is ideal.

Forage & Stitch - Using natural materials in textile art

Written by Caroline Hyde-Brown

Search Press

‘Nature is my safe space’ - Caroline Hyde-Brown

The above opening words of this book drew me to its author immediately. As a fellow artist, I too have tasted the healing power that a walk in the outside world can provide. This artist has chosen a niche area to really hone in on, the idea of exploring…..with a point.

Kneelers: The unsung Folk Art of England and Wales

Elizabeth Bingham

Published by Chatto & Windus

Mind burned by all the usual titles, mass produced by the usual publishers, maybe you are looking for something new or that little bit different.

Mandell’s anthology here reveals how fabric can be more than fibres. It can strengthen our human times, our social complexities. This title is not directed at a homey cosy audience, it craves the thoughtful, the engaged citizens we can all become if we so desire. I will put it this way, a needle and thread will never be simply observed by you the reader as cold silver and floss again.

Couffe shows how this method can be practical and of use, with many hood bound samples and also some gift related pieces, such as purses and mobile phone cases.

Of mind or matter, mending a mind, mending a material….now more than ever, we all yearn for more vital forms of repair than finding a hole in ones’ sock and locating a way of patching it together again. It isn’t just our visual outerwear which needs cared for - it begins inside. We now live within a society of mental health matters, of a relieving openness surrounding those formally uttered in ‘whisperic’ (yes I have just made that one up) tones. Within this title, Smith connects the requirement for inner repair to the outer repairs which are textile art inclined.

Textures from Nature in Textile Art: Natural inspiration for mixed-media and textile artists

Written by Marian Jazmik

Published by Batsford

This is her first published title. As an artist her focus seems to be on incorporating mixed media with her embroidery offerings. We will come across such methods as using heat distressing to develop highly fruitful textures, how to focus on details from nature to inspire our art, heat guns, soldering irons, dyeing…..the list goes on.