Retro Cross Stitch: 500 Patterns, French Charm for Your Stitchwork

by Veronique Enginger

500 unusual cross-stitch patterns blend gorgeous French vintage with a charming contemporary simplicity.

Enter this deliciously vintage universe of 500 patterns and add a touch of nostalgia to your stitchwork.

• Re-create designs from 1800s and 1900s fashion houses and milliners’ catalogs.
• Take your cross stitch on a bon voyage into the past with traveling motifs like trunk labels of exotic destinations and railroad advertising posters.
• Other sections of patterns feature tea and coffee motifs, and daily life in vintage terms. 
• Many of the designs include multiple scenes and motifs, offering you hundreds of components to use in a myriad of ways.

Throughout, be inspired by "mood boards" of completed motifs, along with photos of projects that will show off your creations in daily life.

• ISBN10: 0764354795
• ISBN13: 9780764354793
• Publish Date: 28 March 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Schiffer Publishing Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Retro Cross Stitch by Véronique Enginger is a big and beautiful collection of 500 charts for motifs with a French retro flair to cross stitch. The designs are varied and include many smaller designs as well as some larger pieces. Scattered throughout are finished examples stitched onto various articles like linens, bags, framed pictures and labels/cards.

There are multiple themes included in the collection, broadly gathered into the chapters:

A Touch of Nostalgia
Chocolate, Tea, Coffee
Fabulous Journeys
Fashion

The entire collection runs to 192 pages, hardbound. There are multiple motifs per page and the charts have both symbol and color, making them very easy to follow.

The botanicals (example pictured on the cover) are really appealing and classy and would make wonderful hostess gifts stitched onto a wine bottle cover or napkin set.

While there are pictured examples of finished projects throughout the book, neither patterns nor instructions are included, they're just guides for further inspiration.

The photography, as always, is clear and high quality.

Five stars

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.