Craftacular

A trio of crafty book reviews coming to you this week - each focused on a different tecnique, and all great for embellishment projects.

The first book is definitely focused primarily on embellishment, rather than on projects that can stand alone:

Ribbon Embroidery focuses on simple stitches that can be used to personalize anything that you could embroider upon. After a brief introduction identifying tools and materials and reviewing some tips and techniques, the book is separated into three chapters beginning with: Small Repeating Stitches, followed by Line Stitches, and finishing with Filled Stitches.

Each chapter opens with a large photograph of a sampler, illustrating a variety of the stitches taught in that chapter. Within the chapter, each stitch is demonstrated in a variety of sizes and ribbons, followed by step by step instructions, each illustrated with a photograph. In most cases I had no trouble following along - however the technique of making french knots still manages to elude me (yes, believe it or not, I have actually tried my hand at embroidery before!). My favorites of the stitches are the woven wheel (looks like rosettes when executed in ribbon), fishbone stitch, fern stitch, and couching stitch.

Overall, if you're relatively new to embroidery - or looking for some inspiration, this book is a good one to add to your library. Would you like my copy? Please leave me a comment - and a way to get a hold of you in case you're the winner - US only please, on account of the postage. I'll dig out the handy Random Number Generator some time next week.