Customer Reviews

The Art of Embroidery: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a similar presentation to 'The Art of Knitting' by the same author, this book is a visual feast of colour and texture. It consists mainly of high quality photographs, usually close-ups, of natural and organic subjects - fields, lichens, plants, water, sky and more - interspersed with embroidery inspired by these images, sometimes with the two beautifully overlaid. The simple text complements the illustrations exceedingly well.
There are minimal technical stitch instructions; the reader does need a basic knowledge of the craft.
This is the perfect book for those who 'don't know where to start' in designing their own works.
An extremely elegant and inspirational work, perfectly marrying the craft and art of embroidery.

This is a fantastic book! I've taken several courses from Opus in London, and for 1/20th the cost of one class... this book taught me more than any of those classes due to Francoise's great pictures and comparisons of nature with all types of embroidery. It is a wonderful book for inspiration, although not a "how to" manual. You will not be disappointed.

This book stands utterly apart from most embroidery books.

You will find no patterns to trace off. Instead, the author encourages budding embroiderers to be more creative with their embroidery by developing their own concepts and designs culled from the world around us.

The book (a very thick book, mind you, loaded with photographs) contains an assortment of ideas from nature and the encouragement to translate your vision into fabric and embroidery. This includes lots from the natural world such as trapunto quilting to mimic the texture and color cauliflower, the color combinations of a moldy orange, and the unfurling of the petals on a red flower. It also includes the intersection of the natural and constructed world, such as the stripes of railroad tracks and grass growing between. How can we take these textures and colors from our world and apply them to cloth?

This book is so gorgeous, I can only absorb it in small doses.

As a new hand to embroidery I bought several books with stitches and then got stuck with what next? Not being prone to use kits and wanting to explore nature with texture and stitches, The Art of Embroidery seemed the perfect choice. The photos of nature and of her designs reproducing nature with stitches on fabric are incredible! My sewing background helped when it came to filling in the details of the instructions from time to time. I have already made several things inspired by this book AND I have preordered her next book on felt!

This is not a "how to" book. No patterns here. It's a wonderful exploration of breaking boundries, and moving away from rules. A great book for those seeking inspiration to look beyond the norm. Love it, but not for everyone. Lucious photography in the 'artsy' mode. A great companion the the 'The Art of Knitting' book by the same author.

This book is filled with glorious photos and inspired stitches. Minimal "how-to" but I learned a new stitch right away that I can use on lots of my work. A book that would be treasured and looked at a lot over the years.

The Art of Embroidery: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces
I took this book out of a library for a couple of weeks and needed to extend the time because I loved it so much. The thought process and fiber manipulation taken from nature and developed into many different types of product, are fab. I am continually looking at this book again and again and always find it inspiring and motivating. If you love to design and create using your own ideas this is a must have. Not a "how to" book with little in the way of instructions. You need to have a sound understanding of embroidery, both hand and machine to help you nut out what they have done to achieve the results shown. An amazing book of photos, ideas and exploration to take you where you may not have thought to go.

I adore this book! It is really and truly inspirational. As someone else said, it is NOT a how to book - and it is not meant to be. It is what it says - inspiration. If you are a creative stitcher you will love this book and it will be like mine, a constant companion, even in your dreams.
The stunning photographs of the natural world and their translation into stitch is excellent, informative and again, inspiring. The ideas are innovative, modern and lead you into your own creative pathways. The photography is excellent and if stitch instruction are sparse you can see what to do from the pictures. Colour use is great and again, you can learn a lot just from the pictures.

Highly RecommendedThe Art of Embroidery: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces

A book that is full of ideas from nature to guide the reader on a journey of design in textiles. I use it to finish off a garment and sometimes work an entire piece from the creative images in this book. The photographs are masterpieces that set the imagination flying and instructions that accompany each design are very easy to follow. A delicious book for beginners through to advanced practitioners.

If an artsy representation of nature in embroidered forms is your thing, and you have every other possible embroidery publication, buy this one--but only if you want a complete literature on the subject. It is not a 'how-to' and not particularly inspirational unless you are a student of textile arts.