Joyful Stitching: Transform Fabric with Improvisational Embroidery

This book showed up in my recommendations when I chose a couple of embroidery stitch reference guides and I could not resist the colorful, joyful cover. This book is an absolute delight! Don't let the small number of pages concern you. Every page is a feast for the eyes if you like bright colors, whimsical designs, and texture, texture, and more texture. This quote from the author's intro on page 4 says it all: "Free-form embroidery is not about being precise or meticulous. You have permission to be loose, relaxed, and cozy when stitching. Change the designs, use different colors, try new stitch combinations. Free-form embroideries are made just for the pleasure of stitching and the enjoyment of placing colorful thread on the fabric." Yes!!! Have a bit of a road map (the instructions are great), but stitch what you feel. Your stitching doesn't have to be perfect. That last is a big deal for me since I have to be very precise in much of what I do. The color illustrations are gorgeous, from supplies to stitch instructions and examples, to projects, to the inspirational pieces at the end. There are 21 simple stitches presented that create a lot of texture. I learned more about neat, fun stitches from this book than I have from looking through stitch guides, and I have several. Some friends of mine are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this month so I used that as an excuse to stitch a fabric postcard for them using one of the projects in the book as my inspiration. I used the same color scheme, but different fabrics (batiks rather than felt), different brand and size perle cotton (bought what I could find at JoAnn), somewhat different techniques and stitches in some places, etc. The finished card makes my heart sing! The instructions provide a lot of detail, but not so much that I felt that I had to be a slave to them. The close-ups of details and the descriptions of the stitches used for those details were really handy. I expect to use this book for inspiration many times. It is already one of my very favorite sewing/crafting books and I have many. This one won't sit on the shelf.

I've been embroidering since I was 6 and my mom put a pillowcase in my hand and showed me how to trace the simple design with stem stitch and lazy daisies. I've since graduated to cross-stitches pictures on aida fabric and complicated samplers on linen. I've learned hundreds of stitches along the way including most of the ones detailed in this book? It's because I've been wanting to try to design for a long time and this book is SO inspiring. I would never have thought I'd even consider stitching on felt but because of the pics and clear directions, I believe I will. I'm surprised to learn new things: on page 5 author Laura Wasilowski explains why the best material to use is 100% wool. She advises that instead of purchasing it, take any woven or knit fabric like from an old coat and launder it in hottest water in your washing machine and then put it through the coldest rinse cycle. This condenses the fibers and makes a sturdy but pliable background fabric. If you want it even more stiff, put it through a hot dryer. The author explains that using perle cotton is a great choice for stitching because it has a sheen from the high twist, elevates a bit from the surface instead of sinking down, and comes in several thicknesses. Frankly, if I never actually make a project like in the book, it's still very valuable because I get inspired just browsing the colorful pictures. Excellent details. Good value.

Gives a good stitch overview for all levels of stitchers. Easy to understand if you are new and a good review if you are familiar with different stitches already. The best thing about this book is its beautiful and inspirational use of color and design. The designs are lovely if you feel like doing them exactly as they are in the book or their carefree lines could encourage you to improvise and come up with your own original designs.

This is a great beginner book to develop your talents in creative stitching. The basics are here, plus ideas to get you started. There are not many pages in the book - but there is good "how to" content packed in with inspirational photos. I wish Laura had included directions for making the portable sewing kit for travel on page 7, so I'm giving this 4 instead of 5 stars. It's probably not hard to figure out how to make - would just have liked the convenience of a pattern, especially since I was sold on her idea of how easy it is to take your stitching with you. I recommend this book as a motivator to just start stitching!

This is a wonderful, inspirational book. I bought it for a friend interested in expanding her hand quilting horizons. She loves it! The projects are beautiful.

Very inspirational book. Great ideas and beautiful pictures to inspire your hand embroidery journey.

If you are new to hand embroidery, Laura's book is a terrific place to start. Yes, it is a short book, but it's packed with excellent instructions for twenty or so stitches (with color photos) that will give you a solid basic stitch vocabulary; as well, there are clear instructions for six simple projects. Best of all is Laura's encouragement to improvise your stitching, rather than slavishly follow someone else's design. Even if you are an experienced stitcher, Laura's charming, colorful designs and her playful approach may give you new ideas. If you're the kind of person who's bored by most project books, give this one a try. Unlike those books, so limiting in their approach, Laura's will give you techniques and ideas to inspire a lifetime of improvisational stitching. The projects you make will be truly your own.

great and inspiring