REVIEWS

Review of Stitching Idyllic :   Spring Flowers
from Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread

Stitch Your Own Garden!

"Have you ever wanted to embroider your own little garden? If you have, but you're not sure how to go about doing it, there's a nifty e-book available out there to show you how. It is called

Stitching Idyllic :   Spring Flowers by Ann Bernard. Ann's little book focuses on creating your own unique embroidered garden of recognizable flowers and trees, using very basic stitches worked in threads and combinations of threads that produce true-to-nature color schemes.

Stitching Idyllic is geared towards the beginning embroiderer, but seasoned stitchers can also find good information in the book, especially if you've ever been drawn towards creating a unique garden scape that is solely yours. You see, Ann takes an interesting approach to embroidered gardens. She plans them much as the gardener would plan a flower garden, and she shows you how to do this. You might be wondering how each garden can be unique - aren't there patterns for the gardens in the book? No, in fact, there aren't. That's what's neat about this book! You are given the tools to scheme up your own garden, and to stitch it entirely free-style, with no lines on the ground fabric. Yes, really! She shows you how to plot out a garden scene and then stitch it on the fabric, without drawing anything on the fabric.

At the beginning of the book, you'll find the essentials :   selecting materials, setting up fabric, using a frame or hoop, and other basic introductory information. Throughout the rest of the book you'll find instructions on how to stitch a whole variety of recognizable garden flowers, and detailed instructions on combining threads to produce the right colors needed for those flowers to be recognizable. The aim here is a realistic garden, but still "stylized" to a degree. The daffodils or snowdrops, for example, are not needlepainted to look exactly like a daffodil or snowdrop. Instead, combining the right colors with simple stitches, you'll learn how to create brilliant tulips, crocuses, daffodils, irises and other flowers that populate the flower garden. And they all look like what they're supposed to be.

There are no sequential how-to photos throughout the book. In fact, the stitches are so basic that simple drawn diagrams are enough to show you what to do to create any given flower. Detached chain stitch (or daisy stitch), French knots, a little bit of Buttonhole stitch, Straight stitches - these are the types of stitches we're talking about. Simple, with really charming results!

There are quite a few sample gardens stitched by Ann's students displayed in the book, to give inspiration.

I think this is a great little book! True, it is not, technologically-speaking, very sophisticated, but that's ok! The needful information is there and it's clear, and it's fun. The e-book is the author's way of creating an affordable, immediately-downloadable instructional manual for stitching up pretty little flower gardens. At just under $10, I think it's a nice value.

Stitching Idyllic :   Spring Flowers is available on eBookIt,  (eBookIt)  where it happens to be the only book under Design/Textile and Costume. There's no affiliation here – I just thought it worth letting other stitchers know it exists, if you haven't seen it yet. If you're keen to stitch a garden, you might check it out!

Enjoy your day! "

"This book covers the stitching of a garden in thorough detail. It is ideal for a novice stitcher as each stitch has an accompanying diagram. The more experienced embroiderer will be intrigued by Ann's stitch variations. Ann includes detailed instructions and encouragement for planning your own design. Producing your own design is satisfying for those at all skill levels.

"It begins with the basic concepts of fabric preparation and thread-handling. Ann studied at the Royal School of Needlework and her excellent advice about preparing your work is not always seen in other texts. Intermediate stitchers may be surprised to find that this preparation makes the embroidered garden easier to work than past projects. Then you get into the details of creating each flower.

"The book is filled with lots of useful stitch diagrams and colour photographs. The emphasis on reproducing accurate plant colours in threads will help ensure success for all stitchers. There is a section on practising stitches, some of which are new variations of basic, classic stitches. Beginners will find it easy to start and intermediate stitchers can jump in a little deeper.

"There is an extensive section on planning your own garden and quite a few photos of gardens done by others. You'll appreciate this when you are planning your garden.

"The cover of the book shows an actual flower. To see the style of the stitched flowers, I recommend you go to Ann's website - annbernard.com - and see the type of garden and stitching used in the book.

"I wasn't sure, at first, what format to order from   eBookIt.com   but I found that EPUB format worked for the Kobo app on my Blackberry Playbook.   Amazon.com automatically sells the book in MOBI format, for a Kindle reader. If you are planning to just read on your computer, use the PDF format."

"This is a really good book for beginners as it demonstrates how one can embroider attractive pictures with a few basic stitches as shown by the photographs of work by Ann's students.
"The book is well thought out and the illustrations of the stitches are clear and simple to follow, and the colour charts with conversions are a great help in selecting the right threads. Spring Gardens shows that a great deal of thought has gone into the preparation and planning and I look forward to seeing Summer Gardens in the not too distant future.
"I am planning on using the directions for Daffodils to create Easter Greeting Cards. Experienced stitchers will find gems they can use in their own creativity."

"This book is written for beginners but the experienced embroiderer will find new ideas on the use of stitches to create flowers. The author emphasizes preparation and the Essential Sampler in achieving the best results and avoiding costly mistakes. The diagrams are clear and easy to follow. The coloured photographs are excellent. There is information on recommended stitches for a variety of flowers and helpful tips for planning, colour, research, and a thread colour conversion chart. This could be the first embroidery book published in ebook format. Ann is a graduate of the Royal School of Needlework."

"Your book is so interesting that I think that I will also start embroidering. Living where we do, there are some of the flowers that I have never ever seen. But then, we have flowers that you have never seen. Never mind. I will be trying to do the ones we have here. I am even going to dye the embroidery threads to the required shades. This may take some time as living here is complicated."

"This is a book that really takes the mystery out of embroidery. The step by step instructions for basic embroidery stitches and their variations are easy to follow whether you are a seasoned stitcher or a beginner. As a stitcher of many decades, this is a 'must have' book in my reference library as it contains stitches and ideas not found in other books."

"I visited your website and it is amazing! I love the way you have structured your book. I am specially glad to see all the teeny, tiny details such as preparing the fabric and frame and the thread colors etc. And there are directions on planning your own garden too.

"So many books show you stitches, but they do not show you how to start from scratch. It's great and I think that it would be a great gift item for a person who loves to stitch or someone who wants to start to stitch. Excellent job Ann!! Yes, I will be telling my friends about your eBook. It deserves to be talked about and used."