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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
From the title of Mindful Embroidery, we imagine it could be yet another self help x art therapy tome. Yet the extra part of the title gives a little more away…..
As the editor of this website and having myself followed the progress of these artists via social media, it is a pleasure to be able to discuss this new development. If you, like I have been an avid follower, you may be in sum what awe of their personal lives as well as their dual interest in art and embroidery. It all looks so perfect via the little square box that is Instagram (their accounts, if you so wish to follow their progress….. Elin Petronella and Charles Henry )
So, will the images they show us online make for a good embroidery book? Lets find out…..
Lets escape into the world of Charles Henry and Elin Petronella, discover the street scenes and café culture of many cities, brought to life in embroidery; mindful embroidery. Learn how to stitch your own travel memories using simple stitches.
About The Author
Charles Henry & Elin Petronella are a young couple, who work together to produce hand embroidery inspired by city building and beautiful urban views. They both have social media accounts and teach embroidery art online. They have written Mindful Embroidery as a couple.
Who Is This Book Aimed At?
Those who enjoy dreaming of all the cities possible to visit and those who like structure within their art, as the book has many prescribed suggestions to embroider with step by step features.
Content
We will begin at the start, where we begin with a dedication, which shows the modern publishing of this book, how social media can be a tool for developing ones’ artistic career and audience.
If you do get a chance to view their Instagram accounts, you will discover that they have quite a following and it is obvious how imagery featured on their accounts has translated well to the paper page.
We then move to the contents page:
The book is made up of a few sections, one to give us background information, another to reveal tips and tricks within embroidery. Then we have all the actual projects, all with imagery to visualise the outcomes. Finally we have author information and a handy index.
The introduction is sickly sweet, but lovely! Its unusual in that their personal lives merge with their embroidery – love and stitch, not a bad combo!
The personal touch runs through this book, making us warm to the authors as people as well as the work they produce.
We are given instructions on how to begin, the things we will require and need to set up before we begin. The information and the way they put it across is helpful and well set out.
With four main stitches used throughout, this book is attainable for those with less skill experience. The book as a whole focuses on thread painting as it were, the whole from sketch to stitch concept rides high throughout.
We are encouraged to create memories of the places we have travelled to, visual memories.
You may wish to note that there are twenty patterns and one hundred photos, so plenty to keep occupied with.
Photography
All the way through, we get similar imagery – the actual place captured with the embroidery. Yet it never seems old, we just get jealous and want to travel ourselves:
Background stories and information takes a place generally on one side, with images on the other.
The clarity of the instructions is strong throughout:
As you can observe, images and text work together to inform us of the stages we need to stitch through to achieve the desired results.
What Makes The Book Special?
Everything is covered, even the threads we require for each project and where they are to go:
The sweet coupledom is something you will love or hate, but it makes for a niche embroidery book:
Anything Wrong With The Book?
Nothing we came across.
Conclusion
With a travel edge and a consistent level of tempting photography, coupled with of course…embroidery; Mindful Embroidery will certainly take you places.
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