The Untamed Thread: Slow stitch to soothe the soul and ignite creativity

by Fleur Woods

The story of Fleur Wood's journey from corporate world to creative life woven with generous doses of the practical ways you can bring more creativity into your own life.

Taking cues from the natural world we wander through Fleur’s contemporary fiber art practice to encourage and support you to find your own creative path.  With beautiful imagery showcasing Fleur’s enchanting stitch work and the surrounding landscape, this is a creative guide that invites you into her art studio based in rural New Zealand.

Her practice is as untamed as the New Zealand landscape that inspires her, free of rules, guided by intuition and joy in the process. Together we explore color, texture, flora, textiles and stitch alongside the magic moments, happy accidents, perfect coincidences and ridiculous randomness of the creative process. 

Chapters include Fleur's inspiring backstory, through to inspiration she takes from nature to create her art, to more practical chapters showcasing her favorite stitches, steps on fabric dyeing, and advice on threads, needles and fabrics to use. Embracing the slow, contemplative nature of stitch we can reconnect our creative spirits to reimagine embroidery as a contemporary tool for mark making.

This book wraps you in a warm blanket of nostalgia, grounds you in nature and inspires your senses to allow you to travel down your own creative path gathering all the precious little details meant for you along the way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

272 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally enthralled by Fleur's story of her journey to become a contemporary fibre artist, her sharing of ideas, techniques and exercises to try and the joy she experiences through her work and what she hopes to inspire in others.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was unexpectedly lent this book by a family friend, and it's sumptuous and beautiful.
I didn't do any of the creativity activities but it was nice to read through and the pictures of the familiar scenery (I lived in Nelson) and the artists work (though I'd never heard of her before) are gorgeous and fun to examine.
I was really surprised she gives away all of her techniques, workflow, materials and everything.

[Yellowoasis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a glorious book, full of gorgeous inspiration. This book totally reflects Fleur’s generous creative philosophy. A must have for anyone interested in bringing some stitchy joy into their life! I've marked this book as 'read', but to be honest it's the kind of thing you keep dipping into all the time.

[JeanG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this so much, I’ve read it twice and then decided I had to have my own copy! Fleur has such a wonderful attitude towards creativity and the pleasure she derives in the little day-to-day surprises that nature presents is so refreshing. I am now enrolled for one of her workshops and am really looking forward to it.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book that I read through my library. I definitely intend to buy a copy for myself. I didn’t do any of the activities either but the text was inspiring and the photos of Fleur’s work show works of art.

[Helen Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feeling about this one. Not a lot of content for a big book. Some lovely pictures which did provide some inspiration to sew but found the text a little challenging to read. Probably more of a coffee table book rather than a sit down and read

[Cathy]

Gorgeously presented reflection on textile arts as an antidote to much of the hectic, overloaded Information Age we live in. At once both a deeply personal version of textile arts and an inspirational spark for a more auniversal adoption of this sort of practice.

[Jill Mccaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this and have quoted a lot of it about encouraging your creativity to my friends.
I would have liked more photos of Fluer's work.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favourite book in a long time. Beautiful words, images and artworks. I know I will reread and dip into this goldmine of inspiration over many years to come.

[Amy Noe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful and creatively inspiring books I've ever read! Absolutely loved it.

[Awjtf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating book! So inspiring! She has shared with us her creativity journey and encourages each one of us to start one ourselves, or make time to be creative again.

[Lillian Vella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of inspiration for free style embroidery work