The Embroidery Handbook: All the Stitches You Need to Know to Create Gorgeous Designs

by Dhara Shah

Master 15 Key Stitches for Incredible Embroidered Art

Making beautiful embroidered designs is easy with this invaluable guide―you won’t believe what you can create with just 15 stitches! Embroidery expert Dhara Shah provides you with simple-to-follow tutorials and step-by-step photographs to help you get the hang of each one, no matter your skill level. Then, you can put your proficiency to the test with her 20 exciting patterns that are as achievable as they are striking!

Learn the secret to navigating sharp edges with the running stitch in the Ocean Waves project, or perfect your French knots to add amazing texture with the Sprinkles on My Donut project. Move on to the multi-stitch patterns, where you’ll practice techniques like filling spaces with the satin stitch and embroidering letters to personalize your projects. Then go beyond the hoop and learn to embroider clothes and homeware with patterns like the Springing It Table Runner and the Woodsy Toadstool Sweater.

Bring a personal touch to a child’s nursery with the Pretty in Pastel Rainbow hoop customized with their name. Or gift your friends and family handmade Christmas ornaments to hang on their trees. Whether you are just embarking on your embroidery adventure or you already have some experience under the belt, this will be your go-to guide for one-of-a-kind projects.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction, Reference

192 pages, Paperback

Published December 14, 2021

Reviews

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 4 STARS

I am newish to embroidery and cross stitching, and in the last year I have not had as much time as I wanted to work on it. Like painting, drawing, writing, and other hobbies, I love taking out guide/reference books to see what new thing I can learn, or something I can do better. I love the gorgeous images in this book, but did not get much of a chance to actually try anything. I would like to take this out again and try a few of the designs and stitches.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent embroidery starter guide. Clear instructions on lots of different stitches, way more than the few that show up in lesser books. I liked the fact that there are a bunch of patterns that only use one kind of stitch, allowing beginners to master one stitch at a time. Most of the patterns didn't appeal to me personally, I think because they are mostly pretty simple, but that is hardly a downside. A starter guide should contain mostly simple patterns so that those learning have a lot to choose from!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book with very clear instructions and beautiful photos. The projects range from the traditional hoop to clothing to home goods and I particularly like that there are instructions for how to size patterns to fit any desired project. I follow Dhara Shah on Instagram @chain_stitch and her posts are very inspiring!

[OneDayI'll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decently comprehensive book with several stitch diagrams and patterns. There's simplistic, embellished, whimsical and natural ideas to create. And a selection of patterns in the back to chalk out or copy onto your work.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embroidery is having a moment! This well-structured guide contains instructions for learning 15 stitches, cute designs, easy-to-copy patterns, beautiful book design, and inspiration to pick up your needle and floss.

[Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Embroidery Handbook... this is a great reference book for unique stitch and color combinations as well as projects you won't find anywhere else. Great explanations of how the stitches work together and images of work in progress and completed projects.

[Mischelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stitches are well defined as well as tips for straight edges, etc. projects are laid out after stitches. Some of the projects don’t interest me. Over all a great book for a beginner

[Diane Hidey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for new and intermediate stitchers. Great illustrations and descriptions.

[Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book both had too much and too little. It tried to cover too much ground and didn't cover any of it in depth enough to be useful, unfortunately.

[Anh Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good beginner book in my opinion

[Love to read · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the projects style were similar to the pretty one on the front cover or I wish this one would've been included in the book... many boho designs if you are into it.