The Herbarium of Fabric Flowers: Twenty Flower Brooch Projects Translated from Nature

Fabric artist Utopiano finds inspiration in nature in this alluring if muddled collection of fabric flower projects. A straightforward section on fabric art tools and techniques goes over the basics (crafters will learn, for example, that they’ll need to frequently turn off their soldering iron to prevent burning and can check its temperature by dabbing it on a wet towel), and a detailed section on fabric dyeing is especially helpful (for dyeing stamens and pips, the author suggested adding denatured alcohol to the dye to prevent the pip from dissolving). The fabric floral designs are beautiful: there’s a pink French rose, a frilly pansy, a wild tulip with a bulb, and a delicate white lily of the valley. Each project is accompanied by flower facts, which is a nice touch (“Edelweiss is very resistant to cold, and dense hair covers the plant in order to protect it from aridity and strong sunlight”), but unfortunately only some of them come with photographed tutorials, and many of the designs’ templates and instructions are found at the back of the book, which makes for a lot of frustrating page-flipping. Crafters will have to be patient to get the most out of this. (Nov.)