cover image 501 Enchanting Embroidery Designs: Irresistible Stitchables to Brighten Up Your Life

501 Enchanting Embroidery Designs: Irresistible Stitchables to Brighten Up Your Life

Boutique-Sha. Tuttle, $15.95 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-4-8053-1376-3

Even crafters unfamiliar with zakka, the Japanese design and fashion small-goods movement, will be immediately drawn to this book of adorable images to transfer, trace, copy, and stitch. Most of the book’s designs are made for hand embroiderers, with a tightly edited selection for cross-stitch aficionados. Sections are divided by theme, from the wholesome and delightful “Little Scandinavian Sketches” to the equally whimsical “Sweet Little Sketches,” along with beguiling cross-stitch motifs. With numerous food, flora, and animal designs, it is difficult to choose the cutest of them all. A useful one-page primer shows readers the embroidery stitches used in the book. The step-by-step instructions for each design are easy to follow, with clear photographs of preparing thread, threading needles, using a dressmaker’s pencil to transfer images with carbon paper, and even the proper placement of an embroidery hoop. (Feb.)