9/1/2009
Well, first let me start by saying I am a huge Sublime Stitching fan ... I own every book/kit, and almost all of the patterns from the website. So, with my being such a huge Sublime Stitching fan coupled with the exciting product description here on Amazon and elsewhere; I had pretty high expectations. I do feel let down by this book, but perhaps my expectations were set too high.
Let me discuss the pros of this book first:
* Excellent Photography & Layout
* Pocket for holding transfers
* Expanded How-To Section (when compared with the Sublime Stitching book and Stitch-It-Kit)
* Expanded Resources Section
* Apx. 9 new patterns that you cannot find in other Sublime Stitching products: mixed drinks, feather dancer, goofy birds/cage, mahjong tiles/ "Mahjong" phrase, peacocks, stitch sampler, cameo, the phrase "Let Me Sleep" with some Z's, and some swirling lazy daisies/fern stitches.
* 8 decorative stitch combinations
Okay here are the cons:
* I was expecting there to be all new iron-on transfers in this book -- there are some, but many are in other Sublime Stitching products, such as: "Born To Stitch" (tattoo alphabet pattern pack from website), Robot Parts (from Craft Pad), Chandelier (from Craft Pad), Birds (from Sublime Stitching Book), and a Design from the Stitchable Stationary .
* A couple of the iron on transfers are technically "new", but are extremely similar to other Sublime Stitching Designs such as: Heart with knife, Mexican Sugar Skulls.
* Most of the stitches in this book are straight out of the Stitch-It-Kit and Sublime Stitching book. The "new" stitches in this book not in other SS books are: brick, fern, blanket, fan blanket, cretan, lazy lotus (which you can find free on the SS blog), herringbone, sheaf,and leaf.
* YOu have to go to other websites to find directions on how to make some of the projects such as the laptop holder and pillowcase dress -- there are NOT actual instructions in the book on how to sew these.
* The "Extra Effects" section on embellishing your work with beads/sequins/glow thread is REALLY skimpy ... only a page and a half long. Very disappointed with this portion -- there are not even any diagrams. The book says you can sew on a sequin or attach with a bead, but does not even explain how to attach a sequin with a bead.
* One of the "projects" in this book is the "Stitched Senorita Card" -- this is a card with a lovely Mexican dancer that is embroidered. While there are some minimal instructions on how to embroider onto stationary/glue on a found image onto heavier hardstock, you cannot actually make the example from the book, because they did not include the actual card or any templates. For the price of this book you would think they could have included the actual card that was used in the example -- afterall the example image is from another Chronicle Books publication!!
* Another disappointing project is the felt bouqet of flowers -- once again, stitched up very nicely, but the instructions basically say (I am paraphrasing here) ... 'cut up some flowers out of felt in whatever shape you want and embroider' ... well, duh!! You would expect there to be templates for the felt flower shapes so you could cut out the felt pieces to match the ones in the book... but there are not.
* The shower curtain project with the feather dancer on it is disappointing to me as well, because the directions are so minimal. Basically the instructions say (paraphrasing once again) .. 'iron on the transfer whereever you want along the bottom 1/3 and embroider'. That is it ... and the photo is just an up close shot of ONE of the dancers and a few decorative stitches (sheaf, blanket fan) ..... It would have been nice to have a photo or a diagram of the entire shower curtain to give some idea of placement of the transfers. You basically have to just decide the placement for yourself...which for me I do not like, because that is what I am buying a book for .. to tell me how to complete a project.
So.... all in all I have been disappointed with this book, but like I said, perhaps my expectations were set far too high. I will keep it though because I really do love Sublime Stitching, and there is some good stuff in here.
UPDATE:
12/9/2009
Okay, so I have had this book for about 3 months now, and I decided to edit my review and change my rating from 4 to 5 stars because this book has really grown on me. After having this book for a few months I can honestly say that this book has provided immense inspiration for me. I have been using sequins, and some of the stitch combinations, and am planning on using my printer to print on fabric a photo of my kids which I will embroider (a project idea from the book). When I thought about the title of this book, and began to regard it as something that is supposed to inspire you in your stitching, I decided that it does just that. Sure I wish some of the directions were a bit more complete, and there were more patterns, but the new patterns that are included are well worth the money --- they are gorgeous! I love flipping through this book just to look at the photos.
So, take my earlier critique for what you will, and just know that after spending more time with this book I no longer feel disappointed....but rather inspired. Another amazing Sublime Stitching product! :)
