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Magical Needlework: 35 Original Projects & Patterns
Explore the amazing versatility of the magical arts of needlecraft with thirty-five original projects and patterns in "Magical Needlework" by Dorothy Morrison.
Whether you do knitting, cross stitch, or other common techniques, "Magical Needlework" will not only show you magical patterns, but the underlying magic of each movement and stitch so that all of your needlework becomes magical.
The projects in this book will help you create magically charged items that bring helpful, positive energy into your home and your life. "Magical Needlework" offers descriptions of twelve different embroidery stitches, nine magically symbolic patchwork designs, and twenty-eight crochet and knitting stitches to help you turn even the most mundane craft projects into magical masterpieces.
Along with an overview of the origins and folklore associated with each of the crafts in this book and an introduction to the ancient arts of spinning and weaving, you'll find instructions for:
-Natural dyeing with herbs, flowers, bark, and roots
-Sewing a fairie dress for Midsummer Night's Eve
-Safeguarding your home with an herbal protection charms
-Crocheting a pentacle wall hanging
-Knitting a meditation mat for balance in your life
Spark your creative spirit and fill your home with magical energy and enchanting handicrafts. It's easy with "Magical Needlework."
Whether you do knitting, cross stitch, or other common techniques, "Magical Needlework" will not only show you magical patterns, but the underlying magic of each movement and stitch so that all of your needlework becomes magical.
The projects in this book will help you create magically charged items that bring helpful, positive energy into your home and your life. "Magical Needlework" offers descriptions of twelve different embroidery stitches, nine magically symbolic patchwork designs, and twenty-eight crochet and knitting stitches to help you turn even the most mundane craft projects into magical masterpieces.
Along with an overview of the origins and folklore associated with each of the crafts in this book and an introduction to the ancient arts of spinning and weaving, you'll find instructions for:
-Natural dyeing with herbs, flowers, bark, and roots
-Sewing a fairie dress for Midsummer Night's Eve
-Safeguarding your home with an herbal protection charms
-Crocheting a pentacle wall hanging
-Knitting a meditation mat for balance in your life
Spark your creative spirit and fill your home with magical energy and enchanting handicrafts. It's easy with "Magical Needlework."
205 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Morrison
65 books157 followersWhile some of you may know me as the author of Lucinda's Web, Everyday Magic, The Craft, Utterly Wicked and many other books, you probably don't know much else about me. And a good number of you probably have no earthly idea who I am at all. So, why not read a little further and let me introduce myself!
A native Texan, I now live in Virginia with my husband, Mark. I'm a Third Degree Wiccan High Priestess of the Georgian Tradition, founded the Coven of the Crystal Garden in 1986, and spent many years teaching the Craft to students in eight states and in Australia. Since I'm the eternal student, though - who isn't?! - I'm currently ensconced in studies of the RavenMyst Circle Tradition, and enjoy membership in the Coven of the Raven.
But that's just the stuff pertinent to the Craft. Outside of my religious practices and spiritual beliefs, I'm a pretty well-rounded person as well. I've worked as an accounts payable clerk, a legal secretary, an administrative assistant, an office manager, a commissioned sales person, a personnel consultant, and in the City of Houston's Civil Service and Housing Code & Dangerous Buildings departments. I've also held positions as a hospital ward clerk, an animal shelter administrator and am a licensed nail tech. So, the truth of the matter is that I really am a jack of all trades - although whether I'm a master of any is still up for debate. Chuckle! [Photograph courtesy of K.A. Varner Photography, Norfolk, VA]baby
Of course, all of those experiences - some absolutely delightful and others, just downright awful - helped to shape the person I am today. But they didn't do it alone. They had help. And while I won't bore you with all the details, I thought you might enjoy a brief journey through my life. So...grab a cup of coffee, relax, and let me tell you a story...
It all begin centuries ago with my ancestors. I'm a direct descendant of William the Conqueror (King of England), Robert the Bruce of Scotland, and various doctors, lawyers, ministers, and patriots, as well as the fourth Governor of Kentucky, the first Poet Laureate of Texas, and a charter member of the Texas Rangers - all of whom were spunky, opinionated, and tenacious. So when I'm accused of being sassy - an accusation that seems to be spouted on a regular basis - I can't help but grin. I do, after all, come by it honestly.
I was born on May 6, 1955 in a small Texas town to a deputy sheriff - who later became Chief of Police - and his wife. My mother wanted to name me Penelope, but my father nixed the idea. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the name. Not at all. It was just that his criteria for naming anything - cats, dogs, horses, or children - was that he had to be able to remember it when he was mad. And sadly, Penelope just didn't fit the bill. That being the case, he opted for something he could remember and named me after his little sister.
Much to my father's delight, I was quite the tomboy; in fact, he put me on a horse before I could walk. [This guaranteed my first real photo op with Western Horseman magazine when I was only two years old. It seems that I was the youngest rider in the Texas Trail Ride Association who could truly handle her own horse - even though that horse was sixteen hands high.] But good equestrian skills were just the beginning of his lessons. He instilled in me a love for all animals - both domestic and wild - and in doing so, taught me about the balance of Nature and animal conservation. He taught me to fish - looking back, I'm sure all those "driveway casting lessons" really tested his patience, but he stuck with it anyway - and it's something I still love to do today. He even taught me how to swing a hammer. But, perhaps, the most important thing he ever taught me was how to spin a good tale - a lesson I've been putting into practice for most of my life.
Mama, however, had her own set of lessons to teach. A master gardener, she taught me the joys of digging in the dirt an
A native Texan, I now live in Virginia with my husband, Mark. I'm a Third Degree Wiccan High Priestess of the Georgian Tradition, founded the Coven of the Crystal Garden in 1986, and spent many years teaching the Craft to students in eight states and in Australia. Since I'm the eternal student, though - who isn't?! - I'm currently ensconced in studies of the RavenMyst Circle Tradition, and enjoy membership in the Coven of the Raven.
But that's just the stuff pertinent to the Craft. Outside of my religious practices and spiritual beliefs, I'm a pretty well-rounded person as well. I've worked as an accounts payable clerk, a legal secretary, an administrative assistant, an office manager, a commissioned sales person, a personnel consultant, and in the City of Houston's Civil Service and Housing Code & Dangerous Buildings departments. I've also held positions as a hospital ward clerk, an animal shelter administrator and am a licensed nail tech. So, the truth of the matter is that I really am a jack of all trades - although whether I'm a master of any is still up for debate. Chuckle! [Photograph courtesy of K.A. Varner Photography, Norfolk, VA]baby
Of course, all of those experiences - some absolutely delightful and others, just downright awful - helped to shape the person I am today. But they didn't do it alone. They had help. And while I won't bore you with all the details, I thought you might enjoy a brief journey through my life. So...grab a cup of coffee, relax, and let me tell you a story...
It all begin centuries ago with my ancestors. I'm a direct descendant of William the Conqueror (King of England), Robert the Bruce of Scotland, and various doctors, lawyers, ministers, and patriots, as well as the fourth Governor of Kentucky, the first Poet Laureate of Texas, and a charter member of the Texas Rangers - all of whom were spunky, opinionated, and tenacious. So when I'm accused of being sassy - an accusation that seems to be spouted on a regular basis - I can't help but grin. I do, after all, come by it honestly.
I was born on May 6, 1955 in a small Texas town to a deputy sheriff - who later became Chief of Police - and his wife. My mother wanted to name me Penelope, but my father nixed the idea. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the name. Not at all. It was just that his criteria for naming anything - cats, dogs, horses, or children - was that he had to be able to remember it when he was mad. And sadly, Penelope just didn't fit the bill. That being the case, he opted for something he could remember and named me after his little sister.
Much to my father's delight, I was quite the tomboy; in fact, he put me on a horse before I could walk. [This guaranteed my first real photo op with Western Horseman magazine when I was only two years old. It seems that I was the youngest rider in the Texas Trail Ride Association who could truly handle her own horse - even though that horse was sixteen hands high.] But good equestrian skills were just the beginning of his lessons. He instilled in me a love for all animals - both domestic and wild - and in doing so, taught me about the balance of Nature and animal conservation. He taught me to fish - looking back, I'm sure all those "driveway casting lessons" really tested his patience, but he stuck with it anyway - and it's something I still love to do today. He even taught me how to swing a hammer. But, perhaps, the most important thing he ever taught me was how to spin a good tale - a lesson I've been putting into practice for most of my life.
Mama, however, had her own set of lessons to teach. A master gardener, she taught me the joys of digging in the dirt an
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 17, 2011
Magical Needlework / 1-56718-470-7
To date, I have found about three guides on Wiccan craft projects, and these guides are all fairly disappointing; this one is definitely the most disappointing of them all.
I was really excited about this book. I am an avid cross-stitcher and quilter and own several books on each. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I'm learning and I love what I've learned so far. I really couldn't wait to get my hands on this book and start making Wiccan bed spreads and Wiccan cross-stitch wall-hangings.
I really wish I'd saved my money. This is a very lazy effort, put together hastily and with no respect for the customer. The section on quilting absolutely infuriates me - the author shows nine (only nine!) quilt blocks and explains their "significance" to Wicca. The deep "significance" being that the Texas Star looks like a pentagram, the Eight-Pointed Star was the symbol of Ishtar, and the Pandora's Box is named after, well, Pandora's Box. After these three sentence "explanations", the author doesn't even bother teaching the reader how to piece these blocks together. There are no patterns, no sizes, no instructions, nothing more than "here's a picture - quilt it". I have many, many quilting books and none of them would *ever* consider describing a quilt block in this ridiculously lazy manner! Every single book would at least instruct the reader in what order to piece the pieces, what size they should be, where to cut along the bias, and so forth. I seriously doubt that the author of this book has ever quilted anything at all.
The section on cross-stitching is just as bad. The major cross-stitch picture included (a goddess clutching the earth to herself) is very rudimentary and includes no color chart whatsoever. (There aren't even color pictures in the book, by the way.) I guess you can just cross-stitch the entire North American continent as one uniform shade of green, but I was hoping for color depth and subtlety, not a kid's coloring book. This lack of effort in a pattern is absolutely insulting.
The rest of the "projects" here are forgettable or insulting. The Norse Amulet project is as follows: Get a piece of Aida cross-stitch material. Cut it into a circle. Stitch a rune in the center of the circle. Hang the cloth circle from some yarn. Wear yarn amulet proudly to work or play. I don't think I need to defend my irritation at being told that it's normal for a grown woman to wear yarn necklaces to work. This is the sort of stuff I made in Sunday School as a kid (substitute "cross" for "rune" and voila!) and it's insulting that this is being packaged as one of 35 adult Wiccan projects.
If you are a pagan parent and you're just desperate for a Wiccan "Sunday School Project", this book is a decent resource as long as you don't mind spending the money. If you are a pagan adult who really likes needlework and expects a level of respect and professionalism, try Polson's "Witch Crafts". It's not a remarkably good craft book, but it is more detailed than this one.
~ Ana Mardoll
To date, I have found about three guides on Wiccan craft projects, and these guides are all fairly disappointing; this one is definitely the most disappointing of them all.
I was really excited about this book. I am an avid cross-stitcher and quilter and own several books on each. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I'm learning and I love what I've learned so far. I really couldn't wait to get my hands on this book and start making Wiccan bed spreads and Wiccan cross-stitch wall-hangings.
I really wish I'd saved my money. This is a very lazy effort, put together hastily and with no respect for the customer. The section on quilting absolutely infuriates me - the author shows nine (only nine!) quilt blocks and explains their "significance" to Wicca. The deep "significance" being that the Texas Star looks like a pentagram, the Eight-Pointed Star was the symbol of Ishtar, and the Pandora's Box is named after, well, Pandora's Box. After these three sentence "explanations", the author doesn't even bother teaching the reader how to piece these blocks together. There are no patterns, no sizes, no instructions, nothing more than "here's a picture - quilt it". I have many, many quilting books and none of them would *ever* consider describing a quilt block in this ridiculously lazy manner! Every single book would at least instruct the reader in what order to piece the pieces, what size they should be, where to cut along the bias, and so forth. I seriously doubt that the author of this book has ever quilted anything at all.
The section on cross-stitching is just as bad. The major cross-stitch picture included (a goddess clutching the earth to herself) is very rudimentary and includes no color chart whatsoever. (There aren't even color pictures in the book, by the way.) I guess you can just cross-stitch the entire North American continent as one uniform shade of green, but I was hoping for color depth and subtlety, not a kid's coloring book. This lack of effort in a pattern is absolutely insulting.
The rest of the "projects" here are forgettable or insulting. The Norse Amulet project is as follows: Get a piece of Aida cross-stitch material. Cut it into a circle. Stitch a rune in the center of the circle. Hang the cloth circle from some yarn. Wear yarn amulet proudly to work or play. I don't think I need to defend my irritation at being told that it's normal for a grown woman to wear yarn necklaces to work. This is the sort of stuff I made in Sunday School as a kid (substitute "cross" for "rune" and voila!) and it's insulting that this is being packaged as one of 35 adult Wiccan projects.
If you are a pagan parent and you're just desperate for a Wiccan "Sunday School Project", this book is a decent resource as long as you don't mind spending the money. If you are a pagan adult who really likes needlework and expects a level of respect and professionalism, try Polson's "Witch Crafts". It's not a remarkably good craft book, but it is more detailed than this one.
~ Ana Mardoll
January 17, 2019
Basic Concept: Various crafty projects for those who are also Crafty.
I liked many of the projects in this book, but have only completed one, a "Blessed Be" cross stitch that really caught my eye. It turned out lovely. Some of the projects look overly simple, almost childish to me, so I don't know how many of them will ever be completed, but there are a lot that look fun or modifiable to be more sophisticated.
I liked many of the projects in this book, but have only completed one, a "Blessed Be" cross stitch that really caught my eye. It turned out lovely. Some of the projects look overly simple, almost childish to me, so I don't know how many of them will ever be completed, but there are a lot that look fun or modifiable to be more sophisticated.
August 29, 2016
Good instruction and directions for crafting - sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc.
Magic part and patterns is wicca.
Magic part and patterns is wicca.
February 11, 2013
I have completed many crafts from this book, i loved it!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews