Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To
Issue #29
By Jenny Hart (Chronicle Books, 224 pages, $19.50)
By Kristina Francisco
Published: September 1st, 2006 | 12:00am
Sublime Stitching’s Jenny Hart, who’s credited with single-handedly reviving the art of embroidery, follows up 2004’s Stitch-It Kit with her latest, Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To.
In this instructional book that comes with 88 (!) iron-on patterns, Austin-based Hart offers everything a newbie needs to know to enter the world of embroidery and encourages you to get creative yourself. With plain English and a conversational tone, she explains what tools you need to start stitching and what tools you don’t need but may want to have on hand. Through diagrams and easy-to-understand instructions, she shows you how to do more than 10 different stitches, from the chain stitch to her own bamboo stitch, and even includes an iron-on stitching guide to practice what you’ve learned.
But even with all this, it’s the little things Hart includes — like her advice on how to untangle and store your floss (the thread you use to embroider) and how to iron on the book’s patterns so you get the most use out of them — that make this an educational read. For the already crafty who know how to embroider, the pages and pages of iron-on transfers, from maracas to poodles to teacups to the alphabet, make this book worthwhile.
Unlike the Stitch-It Kit, which included floss, an embroidery hoop, and a needle, along with embroidery instructions and patterns, Sublime Stitching isn’t a complete starter kit, but it’s definitely the next best thing.
--
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To
(Chronicle Books)
Jenny Hart
224 pages
$19.95
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more