Customer Reviews

Stitchin' Retro (Leisure Arts #4400)

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

 

 

This is a wonderful book by Leisure Arts. It starts off with general instructions, and directions on how to do 5 embroidery stitches : satin stitch, chain stitch, french knots, backstitch, lazy daisy stitch. I already knew how to embroider, so I am not sure if these directions are complete enough for a beginner or not. There are many full color photos of examples of projects, but the bulk of this book is the transfers themselves. There really are 150 designs in here which is awesome....lots of books will claim to have 150 designs, but many will be the same image repeated in a different size or facing a different direction. Not here, there really are lots of unique images here! There are many different types of designs in here....I do not think that the front cover or back cover does justice to the great variety featured in this book. This book really is a hidden gem of iron on transfers. Some transfers featured in this book: travel, 50's rock n' roll, flowers, mushrooms, bugs, tiki masks, guitars, drums, martinis, other mixed drinks, pinups, mexican inspired people, fruits, cacti, vegetables, smiling teapots, silverware, children, puppies , other animals (ducks, frogs, bunnies, etc), cats, poodles, scotty dogs, cowboys, robots, rockets, spaceships, stars, aliens, butterflies, unicorns, 5 different alphabets, bowling, tennis, skiing.

This really is a great book! The only cons I found are: This book uses blue ink for the transfers---I like transfers that use black ink better---black ink seems to be easier to conceal with floss. Also, I love the fact that there are full color photos with examples of projects, but the examples themselves are not really that inspiring, in my opinion.

Also---the iron on transfers are reusable!

LOVE this book! I'm an experienced embroiderer and am always looking for different patterns to try out. This book has such great patterns and I've used quite a few already for various projects. There are some general directions for beginners and full colour photos with some examples. I also liked how they gave you some ideas on what to stitch some of the designs onto (covering painters canvas being my fav) Overall, the book is a great deal with most of it being patterns and the rest full of ideas on what to stitch on, what stitches to use to make it 'pop' and other little tidbits.

I ordered this book because of the cute kitten pattern I saw. But, the rest of the book was not stellar. I was hoping the patterns were similar to the kitten one, but not so much. I will use some of them.