Embroidery

7 Embroidery Books That Offer Step-by-Step Instruction to Stitching Lovely Projects

Embroidery How-To Books

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This article is brought to you by Brown Paper Stitch, my business that makes your wardrobe pawesome by embroidering your pets on clothing.

Have you ever seen an embroider’s work and want­ed to learn how they do it? Or maybe even (eth­i­cal­ly) recre­ate some of their works for your­self? Books are a great resource for that! I’m lucky to have received some incred­i­ble pub­li­ca­tions by super tal­ent­ed embroi­der­ers who will help you learn new skills and fan­cy up some of your jack­ets, tote bags, and hats.

I’ve list­ed all of these books—and more—in my Book­shop, which sup­ports local bookstores.

Add these 7 how-to embroidery books to your bookshelf for great instruction and inspiration!

Fresh­ly Stitched: Mod­ern Embroi­dery Projects for Absolute Begin­ners by Celeste John­ston — If you’ve always been curi­ous about embroi­dery but haven’t tried it yet, make sure you pick up Fresh­ly Stitched. It fea­tures help­ful tips and tricks for stitching—things you don’t learn until you’ve been embroi­der­ing for a while. (Like how to keep the knots at bay!) In addi­tion to prac­ti­cal advice and stitch guides, the book includes 20 projects that speak to Celeste’s love of nature and play­ful imagery.

The Mod­ern Embroi­dery Stu­dio by Lau­ren Holton — Lauren’s how-to book fea­tures 20 designs that you can stitch and wear. If you’ve been an admir­er of her work for a while, you’ll def­i­nite­ly want to check out The Mod­ern Embroi­dery Stu­dio; it has some of my very favorite pat­terns of hers with clear, step-by-step instruc­tions and her wis­dom sprin­kled throughout.

Empow­ered Embroi­dery: Trans­form Sketch­es Into Embroi­dery Pat­terns and Stitch Strong, Icon­ic Women from the Past and Present by Amy L. Fraz­er — Pay homage to trail­blaz­ing women with this book by Amy Fraz­er. Fri­da Kahlo, Michelle Oba­ma, and Ruth Bad­er Gins­berg are just a few of the famous fig­ures that you’ll learn how to cel­e­brate through thread painting.

Punch Nee­dle: Mas­ter the Art of Punch Needling Acces­sories for You and Your Home by Aroun­na Khoun­no­rajPunch nee­dle is a type of embroi­dery that has gained some seri­ous pop­u­lar­i­ty over the years. Aroun­na Khoun­no­raj (aka Bookhou) is one who helped ush­er in its revival with her flo­ral and abstract designs. In this book, you’ll learn basic punch nee­dle stitch­es and projects to add some crafty beau­ty to your home.

Embroidery How-To Books

Tiny Stitch­es: But­tons, Badges, Patch­es, and Pins to Embroi­der by Irem Yazi­ci — Add some embroi­dered flair to your every­day life when you delve into Tiny Stitch­es. Irem has a wide array of sub­ject matter—from cac­ti to the cosmos—that will go on but­tons, pins, and patch­es. The book includes trans­fer sheets to make start­ing a pat­tern even easier.

Thread Folk: A Mod­ern Mak­ers Book of Embroi­dery Projects and Artist Col­lab­o­ra­tions by Lib­by Moore — Lib­by Moore, aka Thread Folk, first wowed me with her embroi­dery pat­terns that are col­lab­o­ra­tions with tal­ent­ed artists. She’s includ­ed some of those pat­terns as well as more of her own designs that make up the 15 projects. Aside from the projects, she shows you 14 dif­fer­ent stitch­es as well as tech­niques to stitch on clothes, shoes, pil­lows, and tote bags.

Beau­ti­ful Embroi­dered Acces­sories: Easy Ways to Per­son­al­ize Hats, Ban­danas, Totes, Den­im and Your Favorite Cloth­ing by Lexi Mire Brant­man — Lexi start­ed a trend of bespoke embroi­dery on hats, and now she’s shar­ing her exper­tise in Beau­ti­ful Embroi­dered Acces­sories. It fea­tures 25 designs on caps, totes, ban­danas, jack­ets, and more. She breaks down each project step-by-step and demys­ti­fies stitch­ing on seem­ing­ly hard-to-embroi­der things like hats and fan­ny packs. This book is per­fect for when you want to spiff up your wardrobe through col­or­ful stitching.