Stitching through the Seasons: Evocative Patterns and Projects to Capture the Magic of Each Month

by Yumiko Higuchi

Beautiful guided stitchwork for every season—featuring fall pumpkins and mushroom wreaths, winter skiers, spring blossoms, summer vegetables, and more!

​​With 56 unique embroidery pieces to reflect the seasons, this next book from beloved author Yumiko Higuchi takes creatives on a month-by-month exploration of colorful motifs that can be used on a variety of fabrics and surfaces. Each month starts with an emblem of the month number, such as a vibrant poppy wreath for May, a viny pumpkin for October, and sprigs of mistletoe and Christmas roses for December. Each emblem perfectly captures the spirit of the month, and the subsequent patterns for each month follow the seasonal theme.

​Each design in the book is accompanied by step-by-step instructions for recreating it, including stitch types, thread colors by number, and thread type. There is also a detailed section on how to perform certain stitches and knots to guide beginners.   

Whether embroidering a new dress, a pillowcase, a bag, or even a jar cover for jam, Stitching through the Seasons has charming patterns that are sure to spark creativity and festivity for embroiderers both experienced and just starting out. ​

• ISBN10: 1645471837
• ISBN13: 9781645471837
• Publish Date: 28 November 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Shambhala Publications Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 96
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781645471837

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Stitching through the Seasons is a is a tutorial and pattern book with example projects by Yumiko Higuchi. Released 28th Nov 2023 by Roost Books on their Shambhala imprint, it's 96 pages and is available in paperback format.

The included projects are all stylishly appealing and full of colorful surface embroidery featuring floral subjects arranged by month. All of the tutorials include full color pictures as well as detailed line drawings with stitch guides and directions. Materials are readily and widely available. Although the tutorials are specific to finished projects (eye mask, bags, Christmas stocking, and several others), they could all easily be adapted to whatever finished form the reader wishes, or simply framed as pictures.

The stitch diagrams which are provided include clear pictures of straight stitch, lazy daisy, satin, French knot, chain stitch (used in most of the projects), and other surface embroidery techniques. It would be possible to complete the projects in the book by just using the stitch tutorials, and despite their seeming complexity, they're built up of simple elements and should be accessible to anyone, even beginners. 

Full size templates are included as well as materials lists and suggested finishing instructions. 

It should be noted that this book is about surface embroidery, not cross stitch. It's lovely to see tutorials and an upswing in interest for the other fibrearts; it seems like only cross-stitch had any following for a long long time and it's nice to see surface embroidery enjoying a renaissance.
I enjoyed the book very much. It's a worthwhile and fun introduction and guide to learning embroidery. Many of the designs in the book could also serve as a good jumping off point for dimensional embroidery/stumpwork.

Four and a half stars

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