Hand-Stitched Flower Garden

Learn how to create beautiful and understated decorative stitching motifs. The designs feature surface and dimensional stitches and bead embroidery; with motifs inspired by nature ranging from roses, sunflowers, asters and daisies to little bumblebees, ladybugs and dragonflies. All 20 projects include step-by-step instructions and actual size templates. Learn how to make brooches, small bags and purses, cushion covers, picture frames and more. The variety of motif combinations will keep you stitching all year round.

Take up freestyle hand embroidery and use your new skills to adorn twenty projects. There are some imaginative choices for items to decorate in here, ranging from the ubiquitous cushion, egg cozy and pin cushion, to a hair barrette, decorated coat hanger cover, oven mitt and sewing machine cover. The book is divided into four seasonal sections, starting with a few pages showing the featured embroidered flowers. Then follow the projects, although not all of the flowers are used -- some only appear at the back as patterns. Each project has staged photographic instructions that are easy to follow even for those fairly new to sewing projects, together with a picture of the finished item in situ, a list of what fabric and thread you need, plus a list of stitches. The color palette is shown as a key with actual photographs of stitches worked with the thread (DMC), a nice touch. Some patterns can be measured out directly; others appear as patterns in their projects or at the back, either full sized or requiring sizing. This does not need to be done on a computer or copier, but dimensions are listed so you can draw out the patterns yourself. All the embroidery stitches are shown at the back and have been chosen to suit the subjects, so range from standard freestyle stitches, such as long and short, French knots, and chain to more exotic offerings like granitos stitch, ghiordes knot stitch, and double drizzle stitch. There are also projects involving beads, even a bit of ribbon embroidery, and stumpwork to add interest to the embroiderer and show what a bit of hand stitching can do. At the back are also all the drawn patterns for the flowers etc., with indications as to which stitch goes where, plus how to do the various types of fancier work. Under the heading of "Getting Started," you can find out about threads, transferring methods, resizing, and what you need to kit yourself out as a hand embroiderer. As for the patterns, choose from mimosa, plum blossom, yew berries, cosmos, safflower, wild strawberries and others, along with bees, butterflies, snowflakes and other accents (over 45 of them). This is a lovely book destined for many a keeper shelf that would be ideal for beginners upward., Inspired by nature, Yuki presents over 45 exquisite embroidery designs and 20 projects in this beautiful book.  The designs reflect the seasons and include something for everyone, from Acorns to Witch-hazel! Full-size templates are included together with step-by-step instructions, and detailed stitch techniques will ensure success for all abilities., May 2016 This book provides over 45 beautiful floral designs to embroider, plus 20 projects to make, giving endless possibilites for you to mix and match motifs and create designs of your own too. Split into four chapters following the seaons, the flowers for each season are shown stitched on to a plain linen background, followed by a selection of stylish projects, incorporating the motifs, with full clear step-by-step instructions. Comprehensive tools, materials and stitch guide can be found at the back. This book will give you an endless source of inspiration., 'The Hand Stitched Flower Garden is a reflection of my passion for flowers and embroidery, designed to encourage others thinking about trying embroidery to get started and introduce techniques beyond the basics to those looking to advance their skills. The book consists of two parts: a collection of motifs to stitch and project ideas for using those designs. The motifs section is arranged by season and features a variety of botanical motifs with insects here and there, for fun. These motifs range in difficulty from simple ones using just a few easy stitches to ones that use materials like ribbons and beads or dimensional techniques. So there’s a little bit of a variety of things to provide a taste of different avenues to explore and to show that knowing one extra method can really expand the possibilities. The projects section features items for the home and fashion accessories, namely, things that can be used in everyday life. I tend to be a practical person and wanted to offer ideas that would be useful in some way, so an embroiderer can enjoy using the finished piece as much as the stitching process. The projects are generally simple and straightforward to construct to make it easy to adapt them to different motifs and materials. They are intended as blank canvases on which an embroiderer can stitch her favorite motif.' - Yuki Sugishima For the full article visit: http://www.needlenthread.com/2015/11/yuki-sugashima-on-the-hand-stitched-flower-garden.html, I love stitching and I love flowers, so this book combines two of the loves of my life. I know many stitching friends, who like me, will appreciate this book. There are 45 embroidery designs accompanied by 20 projects to make. You can mix and match flower motifs to make your own designs. This book will provide an endless source of inspiration. Apart from the introduction and tools and resources, the book is split into four chapters – following the four seasons of the year. The embroidered flowers are shown in colour, 3 to a page. They include beautiful flowers like tulip, lavender, magnolia and mimosa, but also ladybirds and butterflies. The projects are practical yet beautiful. I love the sewing machine cover, the butterfly pincushion, the oven mitt, all the projects are handsome. Step-by-step instructions are given for the projects. An elegant book of embroidered projects that will appeal to a wide range of stitchers. Highly recommended.

Yuki Sugashima is a floral designer turned handcrafter with experience in knitting, spinning, natural dyeing and embroidery. Creating under the name Y * Handmade, she designs and sells her work at her online shops and at handcraft events in Japan. She shares her creative life on her blog at http://yhandmade.wordpress.com