Reviewed by annieb123 on
200 Embroidered Flowers is a lushly illustrated freehand surface embroidery tutorial book from first time author Kristen Gula, published by F+W Media and due out 5th June, 2018.
Aimed at beginners, she spends a fair bit of time introducing materials and includes a good basic compilation of stitches with photos and descriptions. Roughly 14% of the page content is devoted to thoroughly explaining the basics and techniques as well as material selection.
The majority of the content is devoted to the individual flowers, ~60%. The sections are arranged by seasons and further subdivided into flowers and foliage sections. Each of the individual entries is accompanied by a basic pattern line drawing, suggested colors and stitches, and a picture of the potential finished project.
It's a very systematic and organized book and fun to look at.
The individual flowers and plants are followed by suggested projects, including some surface embroidered clothing (jeans, blouse, hat), a nifty canvas tote, and some really appealing and colorful espadrilles.
The author's style is chatty and encouraging and very informal. I also really liked it that many of the individual flower entries included botanically accurate names for further research and reference photo hunting.
The book ends with a short author bio and artist statement, along with a no-nonsense basic index.
Very good, very basic, very appealing embroidery book. 144 pages, ebook and softbound formats.
Five stars
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 27 May, 2018: Reviewed