Weekend Review: Stitching Science

 

Stitching Science / Lauren Wright Vartanian & Keltie Thomas
Richmond Hill, ON: Firefly Books, c2024.
64 p.

I have something very special for you today! This is a book that is a wonderful blend of science and art. It's an alphabet book of scientific topics, all illustrated with hand-stitched images by Lauren Wright Vartanian, an artist who is fairly local to me. 

I watched this book's development on IG, as Vartanian began her stitching during lockdown. These are two of my favourite topics so I was thrilled when it was picked up as a book. The detailed embroideries are photographed very well, with large pages and clear, crisp photos that let you see the elements of each one. There is even a section at the end of closeups of some of the smaller details so you can really appreciate the handwork. 

Topics range from A to Z (haha, it is an alphabet book after all!). Vartanian got creative to find something for each letter, and while X is X-Ray as it often is in alphabet books, in this one it really makes sense to include this scientific discovery. Also, the image for this one is one of my favourites in the book, with the layered organza to represent the see through hand - and it's used on the cover because it is so striking. There are many others that are also stunning and creative and help you see things a little differently. If you want to see many, many of the interior images, check out Vartanian's website with her announcement about the book - so good! 

This is marketed as a children's book but I would say it's a middle grade read at least. Each topic has a one page essay about the scientific principle under discussion. Text was written by Keltie Thomas, and it complements the images well. It's thorough but not overwhelming for a younger reader.

Adults will enjoy this as much as younger readers, and might appreciate the skill in the illustrations a little more as well! I hope that reading this will spur interest among readers in both science and in embroidery. I think it's a gorgeous read that shows how well science and art work together to educate and inspire. 

If you're also in Ontario, you can see the original artwork exhibited at the Idea Exchange in Cambridge, on until March 30,. 2025. 

Weekend Review: Stitched Textiles - Flowers

 

Stitched Textiles: Flowers / Bobby Britnell
Tunbridge Wells, UK: Search Press, c2013.
 128 p.

Another stitching book for my latest review -- this is one I got via interlibrary loan. I've read other books in this series and find them an interesting overview of one specific area of textile art. This particular one features flowers, and there are a few different ways that the concept is incorporated into this book. 

Flowers are just the theme; the book uses them to illustrate varied techniques and ideas. It's a short book but it is fairly comprehensive as an idea book. There are plentiful colour illustrations to inspire and quick mentions of many different ways to get flowers onto your stitched art. 

The book also has a section at the beginning about design, in which the author discusses and gives examples of keeping a sketchbook and drawing designs before stitching. I actually found this part a bit intimidating, as her sketches are beautifully made pieces of art in themselves, and I could never do anything like that. I don't have art training, can't really draw, and like textiles because I don't draw. My initial sketches for any plans I make are more like stick figure symbols to orient myself to where things should end up, not a piece of art ;) 

In any case, the book then shows one example of each technique - including dyeing, monoprinting, block printing, appliqué, foiling, photo-transfer printing, piecing and stitching. I have seen this all before, so there was not much that was new to me, although she talks about painting right on to Bondaweb before sticking it on to your work, with great step by step illustrations - I feel like I understand this concept now, which I was always pretty vague on. 

There are also five mini-projects shared to use some of these new skills on, things like a pincushion or needlecase. I have no interest in the projects but another reader might! I thought this was a good intro to some ideas for those new to textile arts, but I didn't feel like I got that much out of it. The techniques were interesting but I don't use florals much and also felt that some of the shared images were a bit pedestrian. So, not a big hit for me personally, but this is still a good series to begin with if you're just learning and you love the theme of the book you're reading. Maybe I'll try a couple of ideas out and see how they go. 

Weekend Review: Hand-Stitched Oasis

 

Hand-Stitched Oasis / Theresa M. Lawson
Concord, CA: C&T, c2024.
128 p.

I recently found this newer book in my library, and I loved it. The author has an Instagram account where she shares a lot of work, and this book shows some of her secrets to her beautiful pieces. 

I found this to be well laid out, with lots of useful information and lots of great photos, both of the steps to the techniques she shares, and of some finished projects. The focus on the book is on sharing both how to create your own embroidery pattern from your own photos, and the stitches and techniques to use to get the realistic effects you're after. To this end there are only a few complete projects included at the end, if you want to try out her techniques without creating the pattern yourself - it's much more exciting to use her instructions on how to make a cherished image into a design! 

This is not an approach I've seen often, and the section on how to design something is quite complete, sharing all the steps from choosing a good image to altering it into a stitchable design, as well as how to choose background fabrics and good stitches to use for whichever effect you'd like. She talks about some of her designs to illustrate what she means, and I found a bunch of new ideas here. 

There are 35 techniques covered, from using varied base cloths, to painting the backgrounds to begin and then stitching on top, to using layered stitches to make new effects. There is a stitch guide included and I thought that was also clear and useful. 

I liked the style of her stitching; the varied stitches and open designs appeal to me. They feel quite natural, with variety in the number of strands she's using and a great eye for colour. The textures and colours really worked together well to create an artistic piece, in my opinion, and hopefully that's something you can pick up as you work on your own designs using her process. I had to return this as there was someone else interested in it as well, but I really wanted to keep it longer! I may have to buy myself a copy to work through all the steps and see what comes of it. I was impressed :) 

all photos via C&T Publishing

Weekend Review: How to Embroider Texture and Pattern

 

How To Embroider Texture and Pattern / Melissa Galbraith
Mount Joy, PA: Landauer, c2023.
160 p.

It's nice to see an embroidery book that moves beyond the basics to something more unusual and challenging. This one lives up to its title -- it has many ideas for creating texture and pattern with stitch.

This was a really great read. It explores many areas that are fresh, and has a definite style of its own, one that's intriguing and colourful. I was inspired! It starts with an overview of the basics (supplies, transferring patterns and so on). Despite this, I think this book is aimed at the intermediate stitcher, one who is ready to learn new techniques and add to their repertoire.

There are 20 projects included, growing in difficulty as you go. The focus is on landscapes, using a variety of stitches, which are all outlined in a glossary. One of the ways that these stitches can create movement and variety is to pay attention to stitch direction - she shows how it can change a piece and create vibrancy. The book also explores how to use fabric prints to add to the effect of a landscape. 

But she also uses other elements to create striking pieces. There is tufting (textured stitching) and using 

organza overlays and stitching in layers to create depth and shading. I found this particularly lovely, and I haven't seen it done before. She's not just stitching an image and then shading with a piece of organza; the background has some stitching, then the organza is added and more stitching as well. It creates visual depth and is really effective. I'd have read this book just for this technique! 

She also goes into framing and finishing. This assumes that you'll be framing most pieces in a hoop, so there is guidance on finishing the back of your piece neatly. This is a useful element that isn't always found in an embroidery book. 

I would definitely recommend this to any stitcher who wants to learn some new stitches or techniques. The way that Galbraith approaches her embroidery is focused and artistic, and I think gives a wider view to what's possible for a newer stitcher. I thought the projects were well laid out and beautiful as well. Great ideas if you are a landscape lover! 

Weekend Review: Daydream Journals

 

Daydream Journals / Tilly Rose
Tunbridge Wells: Search Press, c2022.
128 p.

This was an unusual read for me, a book of embroidered projects which I found via the library. The title and cover make it clear that this is a book about making cloth books! But there are a few other 'wrap' style projects as well. 

The first half of the book is made up of instruction - tools, techniques, and lots of inspiration. The second half then shares projects for readers to make themselves. There is also a small stitch guide section included at the end. 

There are 8 projects in total:  a journal wrap (cover), sewing case, project bag, jar cozy, and 4 kinds of books/booklets. There is nice variety and some intriguing artistic concepts here. The projects are heavily photographed and simple enough to people to follow along. Some of the steps require hand sewing along with the embroidery to finish up a project, but it's all easily done by someone with fairly basic stitching skills. 

But the book is in the 'messy' English style of textile work, and so includes more than the stitches as part of these projects. The design and decoration of many of these textiles includes painting fabric with watercolours to give a gentle wash effect, solar dyeing and even using squished berries as ink sources. I wonder a bit about the lasting power of these techniques but they do give an interesting effect! 

If you like this kind of shabby chic English aesthetic, you might find some appealing ideas for techniques to try in this book. I'm not sure I'd make any of the actual projects in full, but some of the parts of the projects could be adaptable to other things. It's not 100% my style of making but still interesting enough to look at and see how someone else approaches this kind of project and technique.

The "Stitch Wrap" - probably my favourite idea in the book!

Weekend Review: Mindful Embroidery

 

Mindful Embroidery / Charles Henry & Elin Petronella
Salem, MA: Page Street, c2020.
157 p.

I have followed Charles & Elin on IG for a long time, and was pleased to find their book recently. This is a book focusing on sketching with thread, essentially -- it is a series of projects in their most well-known style, street scenes from across Europe. 

It begins with a short intro and a guide to fabric, transferring patterns, and stitches. They are proponents of simple stitches to create work with impact -- all the projects can be completed if you know five basic sttiches: straight, backstitch, split, satin, and french knots. Instructions for all five stitches are shown, with photos, at the beginning of the book. It really is accessible to beginners, although to get the polished results of their final projects, some practice will likely be necessary. 

I enjoyed this book - it's different from many of the embroidery books I have looked through recently, as it's focused on images that are black and white and sketched, mostly, although colour is included in some of the projects with a bit of satin stitch or french knot detail (often florals, but also a cool tile detail). They talk about combining stitches for different effects, ie: multiple rows of straight stitch give a different look that just one row, and also show how the number of strands you choose can affect the visual result. (they use DMC stranded floss as their main thread), It's a different way of approaching stitching, rather than simply covering ground with full strands of floss. I'm really impressed by the artistic impression of this style of stitching. 

Each of the projects has a pattern you can trace off, plus a colour and stitch guide. There are easy ones, are more advanced ones, with the levels marked - and I found them all appealing. I like this style of stitching, and have always enjoyed following the authors' embroidery journey. This book has solid, unique content that makes it worth owning, even if you already have a bunch of stitching books! 

Framing Up an Embroidery Project at Long Last!

This week I finally had a chance to frame up the embroidery project I finished in October of 2022 -- it was a stitchalong, and a fundraiser for Ukraine, designed by Embroidery Art by Nat. 

I've been looking for the right frame for this for a long time. I wanted the right size but also a shadow box style, so that there is space between the stitching and the glass. I finally found this frame at Goodwill, with a commercial image still in it. It has three spacers inside, and I removed the middle one so that this piece could still right in the centre, with plenty of space before the glass. It's perfect! 

I started by steaming and pressing my embroidery carefully to get all the crinkly bits out. It's been sitting a while! Then I cut a square of foam core just the size of the frame spacers. I centred the embroidery on it and was planning on lacing the back but I didn't have quite enough fabric to do that well. 

So I used painter's tape to tack it down so I could try lacing, but realized that painter's tape was holding really well. So I just stretched the whole thing with tape. I carefully did it on all four sides to make sure it was being stretched evenly and the embroidery stayed centred. This is not heirloom framing -- the foamcore probably isn't acid free and the tape is not going to stay forever. But it doesn't bother me. I'm just happy to have it done and ready to hang!

 I had to redo a bit of it a couple of times but finally got it nice and even without any big ripples in the fabric. I think it looks pretty great, and am now just trying to decide where the best place to hang it up is. It's not that heavy so I have lots of options. It looks nice on my sewing table in this picture...but I need that space! I will hang it somewhere where I can see it often and think of Ukraine. 

Weekend Review: Embroidered Lettering

Embroidered Lettering / Debra Valencia
Mount Joy, PA: Design Originals, c2019.
176 p.

This month I'm all about lettering. I was looking forward to this book on embroidery, as I really like lettering and the cover example is really nice. I found it a good read, with some useful tips, but it's really more of a project book than a technique book.

The lettering is almost entirely done with the same techniques; primarily stem stitch outlines with various fill stitches. I also like - and often use - this combo, so I don't feel anything new or groundbreaking was learned here -- for me. That said, this book does include various alphabets for you to use for your projects, which you can incorporate into anything you please, not just the ideas given here. And there are a number of simple sewing projects, so those new to both sewing and embroidery won't feel overwhelmed by complexity. 

There are 25 simple projects -- zipper pouches, coasters, tote bags and the like -- and 7 full alphabets. Unfortunately they aren't to scale so you would have to photocopy to scale if you wanted to follow these patterns exactly. There are fairly solid instructions for the stitches she uses to embroider the lettering, so if you haven't tried this before you might find it helpful. Overall, a pretty book with nice photos, entertaining to look through but unlikely to be a keeper for me. 

 

Weekend Review: Creative Mending

 

Creative Mending / Hikaru Noguchi
Rutland, VT: Tuttle, c2022.
104 p.

One more Japanese mending book for this month's featured theme! I also found this one thanks to the library and it was really sweet to look through. Lots of photos, lots of repairs shown as examples of the different techniques on real items -- including a cat-scratched armchair. In fact there are lots of repairs made where it's noted that the damage came from cats chewing on fabric or playing with clothing ;)  

This book has a lot of solid content, some of it familiar from other books but some more intriguing as well. As with any Tuttle book, there are many clear and colourful photos to illustrate everything - this is pleasing just to flip through and look at them all. But it starts off with an intro to tools and threads then moves to four Basic Techniques: Goma-shio (basically seed stitch), Basket Darning (traditional weave) and two based on the buttonhole stitch, Honeycomb and Tambourine. Then examples for each. 

This is followed by seven sections on Advanced Techniques: Patching on top or from inside a garment, Repairing Damage to an Inseam, Underarm, or Edges, Darning using Wool Roving (ie: needlefelting) and Darning Large Holes. Each of these is a compound technique - they use the Basic Techniques and then apply it to the particular situation. She discusses small things to keep in mind, like inserting a finger darning stick into your gloves before stitching so they hold their shape, or using a long needle for larger holes so it's easier to pick up threads, or choosing fabric for patches that suits the garment,  especially for underarm mends. And this is all followed by some "darning samplers" -- more examples of how her techniques have been used on actual garments. I like the use of embroidery to cover stains, personally.

There is a lot of info and inspiration here, with the caveat that you have to share this aesthetic to really benefit from the many styles and examples. It is all Very Visible Mending, with colourful circles, either solid or radiating stitches, spread across the front of a shirt or jacket, or blocks of stitches covering ravelling edges, or "frankenstitches" (here really meaning they resemble Frankenstein's stitches) running up a seam or tear. I like the idea of patches, but I would have to tone it down a little for myself. I still enjoyed this one and particularly liked that she shares photos and info on many threads that can work for darning - I feel that sometimes people hesitate to start mending, thinking they need some special and unobtainable materials to begin. Not so! 

I've learned a lot from mending books this month but still have lots in my mending piles...thankfully nothing too bad that would need the kind of intensive care of the items in this book, though. This one is entertaining but best for those who love the idea of Visible Mending. 

Weekend Review: All That Glitters

All that Glitters / Martine Desjardins;
trans. from the French by Fred Reed & David Homel
Vancouver: Talonbooks, c2005
160 p.

I'm a big fan of Quebec writer Martine Desjardins, who has a novel about Medusa that has recently been translated. This made me think of some of her older books that I've read, and realized I've never shared this novel here; it includes quite a bit of unusual embroidery, so I think some of you might enjoy it too! I first read this book over 15 years ago, but I recall it very clearly. This review first appeared in slightly different form on my book blog way back then. 

All That Glitters is set in Flanders during WWII. It is the story of Canadian and inveterate gambler Simon Dulac, who has enlisted in the military police. His interest in the war is that it gives him the chance to roam around an unsettled France, looking for the treasure that the Knights Templar left buried somewhere in Flanders centuries before. It is a nod to the codes and mysteries of books like The Da Vinci Code, but told in the surreal manner of her previous novel. The two supporting characters are Dulac's Lieutenant Peakes, a man obsessed with metalwork as well as rebuses and secrets, and nurse Miss Nell, who became a field nurse in order to practice suturing wounds, something nurses were not normally permitted to do at the time. She sutures them not with neat black stitches, but with fanciful embroidery, usually in a form of a rebus related to the patient's name. She also practices on herself; she has a feather stitched into the interstice between her thumb and forefinger, and eventually shows Dulac the rebus embroidered within her cleavage - a many-rayed sun with an "N" in the centre.

Dulac struggles to interpret the clues he serendipitously comes across, and thinks he has figured out where to look for the fabled treasure. His lieutenant, injured by a bomb blast and then fitted with a metallic half mask, is now behind lines and has time to use his genius at codes to puzzle out the revealed clues. He finally reveals to Dulac the 'true' interpretation of these clues, and it is a sudden revelation of how the things Dulac struggled to invest with meaning can be seen in a completely different manner. He should have kept in mind the proverb suggested by the title! It's a bit of wink at the obsession with mysterious treasures and conspiracies, but it does feel a bit abrupt, leading to a quick and dire conclusion.

I liked the war setting; it made sense to use this time period for this story, and she paints a clear picture of opportunists at war. The writing style is brief and unsentimental, which adds to the feeling of dissociation from society that all the participants seem to feel. The combination of war, secrets and codes, hidden treasures, and the strangeness of embroidered skin are woven together to make a fascinating reading experience.

Weekend Review: Modern Japanese Embroidery Stitches

 

Modern Japanese Embroidery Stitches / Noriko Tsuchihashi
Clarendon, VT: Tuttle, c2022.
112 p.

I really loved this book that I found in my library's online collection. I hadn't seen it when it was first released, so am really glad it appeared there -- it is a great book. 

The embroidery style here is a bit different than many of the stitch styles found in books over the last few years. It's motif based (with fabulous alphabets) but it has an ornate, dark & mysterious feeling too. Most of the examples are either unusual, like insects or symbols, or use dark fabric grounds or threads. I like the layout and the feel of this book. 

In her foreword, the author says she was always drawn to little things as a child, and with this book she's trying to share that connection and wonder. She says, "while [these designs] are not a precise rendering of that beauty, they recreate for me that sense of wonder, and I'm happy. I think this is what handicrafts such as embroidery are all about." 

The book is organized into motifs; each chapter simply shows gorgeous photos of projects, framed or made up into other items, with a brief into to the subject and a few words on each design. These 8 sections are followed by a section on materials, tools and a stitch guide, and all the designs and instructions are at the back of the book. She includes recommended stitches and thread colours for all the designs. In her recommendations, threads are DMC, and the ribbon embroidery ideas use Mokuba ribbon, while the beading elements use Delica. But as she says, you can use whatever you like. 

The chapters are: 

• Embroidering Patterns
• Embroidering Plants
• Embroidering Animals
• Embroidering Lucky Symbols
• Embroidering A Journey
• Embroidering Alphabets
• Embroidering on Patterns
• Finishing (pouches, brooches, bags etc)

I was particularly taken with the alphabet designs. I love a good letter! These are block letters with filling stitches and they are beautiful. She shows them in different colourways with differing backgrounds and I love them all. There is even a set of numbers to go along with this. 

I also liked the lucky symbols she included, and can think of ways to adapt some of her ideas to use any of your own favourite signs and symbols. All in all I really liked this one and found it fresh and interesting. 

Weekend Review: Creative Embroidery: mixing the old with the new

 

Creative Embroidery / Christen Brown
Lafayette, CA: C&T, c2023.
159 p.

I picked up this new book on creative embroidery via my library; Christen Brown is a well respected and prolific embroiderer and author, and so I was intrigued. 

The book itself is quite well done. It has 19 project ideas, 3 step-by-step projects, and a ton of inspo pictures. The approach in this book is to use your 'stashed treasures'. By this, she is referring to vintage buttons, lace, doilies, trims, notions, hankies and more. If you love Victoriana or country styles, you may really connect with this book! 

Unfortunately the projects are a bit too fussily vintage and whimsical for my own style, but even if I'm not intending to copy any of these actual projects, I still enjoyed reading the book. The techniques are interesting, and alongside the photos and projects, she includes a stitch guide (pretty standard but well illustrated) and of more interest to me, there is also a guide to using trims and buttons in new ways. 

This covers rickrack flowers, zipper embellishments, braids, rosettes, yoyos and more. And the button section shows different stitching and combos to really use buttons creatively on any project. These guides take up a large part of the book and are useful to anybody who can adapt them to their own kinds of projects. Brown is an expert on embellishment and it really shows here. 

There is one simple project from the book that I am planning on adapting however -- she has used vintage buckles and ribbons to make bookmarks, which I think are so cute, especially since I have quite a few old buckles in my stash from thrift store trips. She puts buttons on the ribbons, which makes them unusable as actual bookmarks, so I'd simplify and just use a nice flat ribbon or fabric scrap.

Anyhow, this was a book I enjoyed and sifted out some interesting ideas, despite the style of the stitching and projects not really being my thing. It's a well designed and thorough book, however, so if it is YOUR thing, you will love it. Fun to browse through in any case! 

Weekend Review: 365 Days of Stitches

 

365 Days of Stitches / Steph Arnold
NY: Abrams, c2023.
128 p.

February is also National Embroidery Month, and I'll share a few books on embroidery that I've been looking at lately! 

The first one is this clever little collection of motifs -- although it's probably a book best approached at the beginning of the year. Steph Arnold of OhSewBootiful has an online shop that sells embroidery patterns and kits, and is known for her embroidered journal process. This book explains how to keep a year long stitched diary, gives a few different examples of people's projects (showing daily or highlights or special event styles), and then most of the rest of the book is given over to small motifs that can be added to your own daily stitch journal.

These are sorted by theme - seasons, holidays, sports, etc - and are all notated with stitch and colour suggestions. She also suggests that you use one or two strands only, to keep the motifs small enough for a daily hoop. There are a few different kinds of hoop designs suggested there is also the preprinted colour blocked kit she sells in her shop, if you want to start with full colour and supplies. 

It's a fun idea, and would be a fun project to do, but like I mentioned, probably best to get this as a Christmas gift and be prepared to start on Day One. You could also just do a similar thing for a month, or a holiday, or something in particular, but the year-long model is what this is aimed at. The book is a little light on text or added content, it's mainly examples of finished projects for ideas and then a massive collection of motifs to inspire and use. If you are thinking of taking up embroidery, or want to do it in a group, this would be a fun way to do so. Just be aware that this is definitely a project book with not too much else to it. 

Weekend Review: Cross-Stitch, a novel

 

Cross Stitch / Jazmina Barrera
trans. from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
San Francisco: Two Lines Press, 2023, c2021.
224 p.

When I first heard about this book during Women in Translation month, I knew it would be one I would have to read. It's a translation of a novel by a Mexican writer, which explores the role of female friendship, interspersed with the history of embroidery, to create a resonant feminist narrative. I really loved it. 

Our narrator, Mila, is now a young mother and a writer whose book on needlework was recently published. But as the story opens, she hears about the drowning death of her old friend Citlali, who along with another friend Dalia, made up a high school triangle of best girlfriends. 

Mila's narrative spools back in time, to go back to the beginnings of their friendship, to illuminate how the balance of power shifted between them, and how there were experiences that they kept private from one another even with their strong bonds. Like the author noted in an interview, there is always something that we won't know about another person, no matter how close. 

The friendship covers many tumultuous years of adolescence and young adulthood. They face sexual harrasment, abuses, everyday misogyny, as well as the trials and disillusionments of growing into adulthood. At one point, the three plan to meet in Europe (where Citlali is already living) to have a Big Trip together. But it doesn't go quite as planned - Citlali doesn't meet them in England, only making it to Paris later on; Dalia and Mila have different ways of travelling and sightseeing and have to negotiate daily routines. This felt so realistic, how you have to manage these close relationships and can be utterly annoyed with one another even while remaining the same depth of friend. 

And through their years of friendship, they all embroidered together. From samplers and unique projects in high school (like Citlali's ambitious goal to embroider an Arachniary of all known spider species) to more complex art based embroideries as they grow up - like Mila's monochrome black on black embroidery meant to emphasize texture - they've always stitched together, despite it being a bit of an outlier hobby. 

Barrera includes small sections interspersed with the fictional narrative which detail and reflect on the history of stitching, mainly as it applies to women's lives and whatever is going on in the story. There are mentions of embroidery around the world, and how it appeared both as a language and means of expression whether personally or politically. And what the role of art is, and the relation to stitching. These are facts drawn from embroidery history texts, which the author also shares in a bibliography. 

Eventually Mila and Dalia resolve their memories and come together to create a memorial for Citlali in their own neighbourhood, even including Citlali's mostly awful father. The final scene is memorable, and involves Citlali's stitching. 

I found this book thoughtful and stylistically engaging. The tone is clear and nostalgic in one sense, though never sentimental. The writing style is natural but also has a poetry to it, with imagery, resonance and the inclusion of other women's words; I appreciated the style of this novel. The way that fiction and fact are interwoven throughout the story was smoothly accomplished, and I felt that it added an extra layer of interest both in subject matter and in style. 

The characters are also fascinating. The three girls are different in many ways, but the development of their friendship felt so true to high school dynamics, as did the way they grew apart as they became adults. I think if you read for writing and characters, you will appreciate this book. And, if on top of that you are also a stitcher and appreciate the role of embroidery in women's history, I think you will love this book. 

Highly recommend. 

You can read more about it, including author interviews and a reader's guide, at the publisher's website if you are interested.

Weekend Review: The Embroidered Closet

 

The Embroidered Closet / Alexandra Stratkotter
NY: Abrams, c2022.
160 p.

This is another book I picked up in my recent Book Outlet splurge. I love embroidering, and this book is all about using stitching to embellish your wardrobe. I really enjoyed this one! 

I didn't realize until I received it that it was written by a fellow Canadian. How nice to see that! This is a delightful read -- nothing earth-shattering, as it's basically about using stitching to beautify and update your wardrobe, but it's nicely laid out. The photos are beautiful, the instructions are fairly clear for all the stitches, and there are some beautiful motifs. I liked her colour palette and choices, even if they aren't always my own. 

The only that doesn't work -- just for me personally -- is the use of wool crewel threads. They look lovely on a sweater but there's something about the texture of wool threads that's like nails on a chalkboard for me -- I literally can't use them! If you don't have this strange reaction to wool threads then go for it :) 

Many of the motifs shared here are nature themed, from florals to bugs, houseplants to suns and stars. She even has some lettering options, and tips on how to use cursive style lettering effectively. There are examples of stitching on collars, lapels and necklines, even pant legs and jacket backs. There are projects for accessories like caps, bags, or shoes -- and even a very unusual choice to stitch onto a bralette! The different bases that she stitches on require different threads and stabilizers, and she does go into choices for each. 

This is an inspiration book, and it's beautifully put together. The photos are really lovely, and there are enough closeup images of the stitching to satisfy a reader. There are colour and stitch guides for each project that are easy to follow, and there is a wide variety of ideas about what to stitch on. I found a couple of the monochrome examples particularly nice. If you're thinking about adding more embellishment to your clothing via stitch, this would be a fun book to investigate. Enjoyable! 

Vyshyvanka Day and big plans for 2024

Vyshyvanka Day is a relatively recent celebration, held on the 3rd Thursday of May each year. The aim is to celebrate traditional Ukrainian embroidered clothing. The idea of Vyshyvanka Day was suggested in 2006 by Lesia Voroniuk, then a student of Chernivtsi University, and has grown to involve all of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora across the world. 

I've worn my store bought Vyshyvanka the last couple of years (a gift from my sister). But as I have mentioned previously, I would like to make my own to wear next year! So I'm planning on starting now, to hopefully get it done by next year ;) I won't be making a fully traditional, heavily embroidered one, since I don't have those skills. But I have a few patterns to try out for the base, first, and then I'll choose some less complex embroidery that I want to add. 

Here are a few patterns that I already have in my stash, which might work with some small changes or adaptations. I hope to try them out and see how I like the fit before choosing the one I like best to embroider. 

First is this older pattern, Simplicity 3786. While there are some pintucks in the centre panel, I do like the sleeve and overall silhouette of the view she is wearing.

Simplicity 3786

Next up is this more recent McCalls 8042, which I picked up in a sale just recently. I really like View C but am not quite sure about that neck ruffle bit. Probably would change that!

McCalls 8042

I also have two Indie patterns that have potential -- one is the Love Notions Rhapsody Blouse. This gives a little bit more of a modern shape to the traditional blouse, which I might like.

And the other, which might be the most likely of all of these to be the one I use, is my recently purchased Poppy Blouse by PatternScout. 

There is also the option of making the blouse in the traditional manner, which is just following body measurements and cutting mostly rectangular pieces. There is an example of this in the book Ukrainian Embroidery, by Ann Kmit, which I might follow. Or if I'm lucky enough, I might be able to take a sorochka pattern class with Myroslava Boikiv from Toronto. 

With all of these options, I see some fitting muslins in my future. Then, on to deciding on the embroidery patterns -- and that's the more complicated bit, both the choosing and the stitching! And that's why I'm starting a year ahead :) 

Weekend Review: Mystical Stitches

 

Mystical Stitches / Christi Johnson
North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, c2021.
197 p.

This is a book that feels fully authentic to the author's personality and practice. If you've followed Johnson online at all in the last few years, you'll know her distinctive approach to embroidery. It incorporates spirituality and 70s aesthetics into a free-form and representational style, where every stitch has meaning. 

The book lays out her approach to embroidery clearly. She starts by summarizing her own story and how embroidery books from the 70s got her started in this field (and one of those OG authors writes the intro to this book as well). She explains her use of symbolism and a full chapter goes over the various signs and symbols she uses and suggests that you can incorporate into your own work, depending on what you'd like to say. There are 7 chapters in the book; the first is the intro, and there are two other chapters in the book that also talk about intention and ritual, more of the making meaning parts of this school of embroidery. The other four chapters are straightforwardly technical - materials, stitch guide, collection of symbols and motifs, and instructions for each one. 

It doesn't have an overwhelming amount of detail in it despite all that. It's more of a reference book, and as such has clear stitch diagrams and motifs, and many colourful photos of a large number of the motifs as they appear on clothing and accessories mostly. And there is guidance on how to stitch on clothing successfully. She's not big on decorative hoop embroidery in the way that many modern embroidery books are -- it's more about the practical use of embroidery as embellishment in your daily life. The style is a lot of full coverage, chunky stitching; if you like this style you will find much to inspire you here. 

I thought it was well put together and quite different from many other contemporary books. Give it a flip through if you also have this one in your local library!

You can find this author at her website Mixed Color. And if you're interested in learning more about this author and her embroidery and textile practice, you can also listen to her episode of  Love To Sew. 

Weekend Review: Hester

 

Hester / Laurie Lico Albanese 
New York : St. Martin's Press, 2022.
322 p.

I picked this up because of the beautiful cover, and because the main character was described as a seamstress and embroiderer. I discovered that it tells the story of Scottish born Isobel, who arrives in New England in the early 1800s with her new husband -- and meets Nathaniel Hawthorne, at that time a young moody writer skulking around town.

Isobel feels a connection to him right away, despite being married to an older man. But her husband goes off on an expedition with the ship's captain who brought them to American, and she is left alone in this new and unfamiliar settlement. Her Scottish heritage and her red hair mark her out as 'lesser than' to the Americans already living there. And then she finds that her husband has taken her small savings with him, leaving her literally penniless. She has to turn to the needle to survive, and the descriptions of her embroidered gloves, and eventually more clothing for the women of the settlement, are beautifully done. Her needle is enchanted, stitching images with hidden words and a feeling of power. But this isn't something that will be of much benefit in a place that's suspicious of any inkling of enchantment. 

She is helped by her landlady, an old woman known locally, half-seriously, as a witch. And she's also helped by her nearest neighbour, a free Black woman named Mercy (who is Isobel's inspiration for the powerful hidden words in her work; Mercy did it first). Both of these long-term residents know that the community is not friendly to unusual women, and they reluctantly help Isobel even when she's headstrong and behaves in questionable ways. It doesn't help, either, that Isobel has synesthesia, like many women in her family, and has embroidered her family's story into a cloak that she wore upon arrival, arousing more suspicion of being uncanny. 

Isobel, lonely and young, is swayed by Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic moodiness and obvious attraction to her. They begin an affair, which Isobel thinks is serious even when the reader can tell it isn't, not on his side. He comes across as entitled and petulant, weak willed and selfish, which is a problem when you are using real people as characters in your fiction. I've mentioned my distaste for real people as fictional characters before, and this book just squeaks by for me due to its other strengths. And the fact that I'm not a huge Hawthorne fan, I guess! 

The writing is rich here, particularly when describing Isobel's childhood and Scottish life. The toxic relationship between the two main characters goes on a little too long, and the outcome is easily predictable, sadly. But I enjoyed the ending, as Isobel ends up in Atlantic Canada with a decent man. The book is presented as a possible backstory for The Scarlet Letter, but I can see connections to novels like The Witch of Blackbird Pond or the more contemporary The Sea Captain's Wife, as well. I actually thought it was a pretty good read, compelling writing with some dual timeline backstory on Isobel's witchy ancestor, and a strong thread about slavery's evils with complex characters inhabiting that story alongside Isobel's own.

(this review first appeared at The Indextrious Reader)

Lightbox for Easier Embroidery Project Prep!

A different kind of post today - I'm trying out my new lightbox which I bought to help with my embroidery projects! It's a basic style, the size of a regular sheet of paper, with 3 brightness levels and a USB charger. It should be enough for me though. 

I generally trace my patterns by taping the pattern and fabric to a window (ie: my summer Peace for Ukraine project). But in winter it's harder, since my porch is too cold to trace in and my inside windows are harder to use; it's not as bright out and many of my windows have panes. So I splurged on this little lightbox - it was under $30 and should make my life easier.

I got out the next pattern I am planning on using - a floral Tryzub design, also by @EmbroideryArtbyNat. This is a pattern from her Patreon, and I'm happy to support her this way as she is on her refugee journey from Ukraine to Canada. You can too, if you like! 

Anyhow, on to the project. I printed out the Tryzub in various sizes, as I want to use it for a couple of different items. The first one is as an embroidered motif on a blouse, so I made it quite small. And I'm thinking of making a pillow from this design, so I have also printed one as a full page image. Both sizes are easily traceable on this lightbox. 

It's easy to do. The lightbox is designed for tracing so you don't have to worry about damaging it from the pressure of a pen, although a lighter hand is always good. You can change to light levels depending on how thick/dark your fabric is. I imagine there is a limit to this, however, and with very dark or heavy fabrics (such as a denim) you might need to resort to other methods of transferring your pattern to the top of the fabric.

In any case, I used a linen and a Frixion pen.  As I was getting ready I remembered the thrifted linen napkins I picked up recently, just a pair. The smallest image fits beautifully in the corner! It worked out well; I was able to easily see the image, and trace it without much struggle. You will want to secure your image and fabric with some masking or washi tape so that they don't move around while you are tracing. I prefer these kinds of low tack tape so you don't get any residue on your fabric or your device.

 

And there it is, a clear image ready to be stitched, with much less effort than tracing vertically on a window! My arms thank me for this purchase :) I hope to be able to show you one of these projects all stitched up before too long. 

Stitchalong: Poppy finisher!

I did it! Finished my #PeaceForUkraineSAL, I mean :) 

I didn't get much stitching or blogging done for last week -- had so much to do. But I worked extra hard on the poppy over the last few days so that I could finish up and share the completed stitchalong pattern. (Designed by Nat, a Ukrainian embroidery artist found at EmbroideryArtByNat )

I started this last motif rather slowly, beginning with the centre and the little bud. I then moved on to the split stitch outlining, which took forever -- I'm not great with split stitch. Forgot to take many in progress photos with this one, as I had it set up in the stand and was just taking a few stitches whenever I could fit them in - photos slipped my mind! 

The poppy is then mainly filled in with four tones of long and short stitch. I looked at a few finished ones by others and realized I liked the ones with the lightest colour just lightly applied. So I tried my best to balance it so that the darkest red was most in evidence. Again I wasn't sure about it halfway through, but once the darker shading was in it looked good. And when the black was added it all came together for me! 

I left the poppy until last because I was worried about being able to do all the shading. But after all the practice on the other motifs I think it turned out well. All that's left is taking it out of the hoop and finding a suitable frame for it. This one is going into a proper glass front frame; I'll share photos once I have finished that. 

I have really, really enjoyed stitching this piece. I've tried to listen to Ukrainian podcasts & audiobooks, sometimes music, while I was stitching so that it would feel like it was a learning experience in all ways. I really love the podcast UkrainianSpaces and recommend it. And I've been reviewing some of the books on my book blog, with more to come, if you're interested. 

There are many other great patterns by this designer, I encourage you to check her out on her website and/or Instagram. This pattern is still easily available on Nat's website along with many others, both images related to Ukraine and many other floral and nature designs, too. 

And please keep paying attention to what is happening in Ukraine, and help where you can. There are many local charities that need our help.