At Mr X Stitch we love to review textile art and embroidery books for you. There are so many great books to discover, packed with needlework inspiration and textile techniques, so we dive into each book to find out what’s good, what’s bad and let you know why you should pick it up.
Introduction
The Embroidered Art of Chloe Giordano is a detailed insight into the beautiful hand embroidery of one of the UK’s favourite stitchers. Packed with stunning photography that complements the intricate stitching, this is an inspirational feast for the embroidery enthusiast.
Who Is It Aimed At?
This is a must-have book for fans of Giordano, but it also makes for an excellent coffee-table book for those who love nature or embroidery.
About The Artist
Chloe Giordano began embroidery as part of her illustration degree, and her signature style of silk shading and highly detailed images has made her a much-loved designer. She regularly collaborates with clients such as Penguin and Vintage Books. You can fall in love with her via her Instagram.
Content
In Embroidered Art, Chloe Giordano reveals the mystery of how she produces such beautiful work. From materials and composition, to the methods for creating specific examples of her work, you are given detailed access to her creative practice.
For Chloe, preparation is key and she takes the time to break down this important part of her process, from the materials and tools through to inspiration and setup.
What Is Good About This Book?
Chloe’s work is vey much the star of this show, and rightly so, as it is sublime. The level of detail and the intimacy of the photography provides the perfect perspective to her art and the larger-than-average size of the book helps show off every stitch.
Encouragement is given to readers, not to use her work as a step-by-step guide, rather to use her example to inspire our own nature based work. As textile artists, it can be easy to focus on the final outcome in textile form, rather than the decisions which led up to the final work. It certainly reminded me to remember to reflect on where artistic inspiration has come from, namely the natural wildlife around me and how I could first present drawings, paintings and a sketchbook and then the textile art final piece.
As you can see in the image below, Chloe is very generous, allowing us to view her working out stages. I like the way she presents these via the page layout, with the stitched area to one side which is a reflection of he pencil studies to the left.
What Is Wrong About This Book?
Chloe’s artworks are an intricate homage to nature, packed with detail and charm. This is not everyone’s taste and if Chloe’s style doesn’t resonate with you, then this book might not need your needs.
Conclusion
The Embroidered Art of Chloe Giordano is a fascinating insight into one of the UKs most popular needleworkers. It gives you all the information you will need to recreate some of her designs, although if you are like me, you will just admire the work and enjoy Chloe’s process.
It has an enjoyable combination of technique and inspiration and is an ideal gift for someone who wants to strengthen their stitching skills in Chloe’s direction.
If you like the look of this book, you ought to check out our review of Paint With Thread by Emillie Ferris.
