Retro Cross Stitch by Véronique Enginger is a big and beautiful collection of 500 charts for motifs with a French retro flair to cross stitch. The designs are varied and include many smaller designs as well as some larger pieces. Scattered throughout are finished examples stitched onto various articles like linens, bags, framed pictures and labels/cards.

There are multiple themes included in the collection, broadly gathered into the chapters:

A Touch of Nostalgia
Chocolate, Tea, Coffee
Fabulous Journeys
Fashion

The entire collection runs to 192 pages, hardbound. There are multiple motifs per page and the charts have both symbol and color, making them very easy to follow.

The botanicals (example pictured on the cover) are really appealing and classy and would make wonderful hostess gifts stitched onto a wine bottle cover or napkin set.

While there are pictured examples of finished projects throughout the book, neither patterns nor instructions are included, they're just guides for further inspiration.

The photography, as always, is clear and high quality.

Five stars

This is a wonderful book for any cross stitcher. It has vintage clothing patterns as well as shoes, bathing suits, hats, umbrellas and so much more. A basic pattern that is then embellished with frills and size variations. Patterns are charted and easy to read. Great gift for any crafter.

Retro Cross Stitch by Veronique Enginger is a treasure trove of patterns without the fluff. The book has page after page filled with individual patterns grouped together by common subject. The trend towards lazy days during the 1800, parasols and high button boots, tea service and time at the boardwalk or the beach are beautifully imagined. Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

While there are medium-sized and large patterns in this book, a lot are really tiny motifs: tea-cups, flowers, stamps, bottles…all in a nice vintage-style. There’s also a fair number of small patterns that are almost identical but for the colour scheme. Now, I don’t mind either of these things. I’m more likely to add a cute little motif to a birthday-card than to stitch a whole sampler (I don’t have any wall to hang it on anyway) and the motifs are the perfect size for small projects. I’m also fine with the near-identical patterns. Sure everybody can just replace one colour with another but that doesn’t mean that the colours work well together. It’s nice that someone else has done the work of picking matching colours for you.

My issues with this book are somewhere else: there’s barely any pictures of the finished projects. Sure, I’m not expecting pictures of every single finished item, including the tiny ones that are only a few stitches wide. But for the larger motifs, I would like to have a better idea of the look of the finished item than the pattern alone can give me. It is coloured so you have a rough idea of how it will look but ‘rough idea’ isn’t enough for 10+ hours of work.

And on another note: Dear Authors. Google Translate is not your friend. People who actually speak the language are.
One section has travel-motifs, including one that has Russia in Russian written on it. Only in the pattern, it’s spelled Россйя when it should be Россия (transcribed that would be something like Rossjja instead of Rossija). A few pages later there’s a caviar-box that says икрá (ikra) with a stress-mark over the last letter, which is how you would find the word in a dictionary but not anywhere in print. My guess is the author just looked up the word in some online-dictionary and the и/й is also just a stress-mark and no competent speaker told her that a) she wouldn’t have needed it and b) it makes it look like a different letter.

Other patterns also contain text in Spanish, possibly-Hindi, Japanese, Greek, Chinese and probably some other languages I just missed but I am very reluctant to stitch these since I assume the author took as much care with proof-reading those as she did with Russian. I don’t want to make a card for one of my multilingual friends only to hear: This word does not mean what you think it means


There aren’t too many motifs with texts (that aren’t in French, but I do assume the author knows her own language) so I am not loosing out too much but this kind of sloppiness still bugs me. And, as said, there really aren’t enough pictures of finished objects. I enjoy the motifs in this book more than those in the author’s other book (Fables & Fairy Tales to Cross Stitch) which was too pastel for my taste but it at least showed how the end product will look.

I really enjoyed this compendium of patterns! As a French teacher, I can imagine stitching some little gifts for my seniors or a larger image for my class. I enjoyed seeing the combination of smaller motifs and large fully-realized frame-able pieces. The art is beautifully rendered in cross stitch, and since I personally adore the French language itself, it made me smile to see it rendered so beautifully. It makes me want to pick up my needles and stitch!

I enjoyed this title because each pattern features a variety of objects and motifs that can be stitched fully, or more likely, stitchers can select the parts they like, combine patterns, and isolate items for various small craft projects. There are endless possibilities with these patterns! Unlike the fairy tales and fables book, these patterns feature brighter, more eye catching colors. I really enjoy the variety of retro themes and patterns that this book holds.

This book will appeal to those cross stitchers that love retro designs. I love antique patterns and samplers, and this book hit every mark for me. There are a broad amount of categories to choose from such as people, travel, objects, clothing and places and cultures. Some of the old fashioned ladies look just like patterns I pick up from the second hand store from the actual time period. The patterns can be worked alone, as depicted in the book with some of them adorning hand towels, or bags, or together to make a sampler or frame-able art. The fact that the writing on the patterns is all French adds another level of antique charm for me, as well as reminding me of high school French. I would highly recommend this book if you like antique patterns, or want to stitch something that will look classy on your wall.

A beautiful book on cross stitch designs which can be used for small or large projects and gifts, or as a learning tool for someone staring out with cross stitch. The designs are charming and depict the retro era, and just by looking at some of the project made, will encourage trying some out on various items. They are small, therefore quick to make and do not test the patience of either a beginner or someone who just want to complete something in a short time.
I really love the layout and the examples are very inspiring.
,

4.5 Stars! Tons of cute designs & a small section in the beginning that gives a mini lesson in cross stitching. I have never done cross stitching before but this book was super easy to follow! I do wish I had the real book instead of the ebook since that would probably be easier to actually use the patterns. This book has so many cute patterns too! I have a ton of them in my ‘To Do’ list!! I definitely recommend this book! Anyone looking for cute patterns & an easy to follow lesson for beginners- check this book out!!
*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own!*

Great images and templates. Such fun novelty and kitschy categories!

This book is full of adorable retro designs, with patterns for the most amazing of them. Its a great book for instruction and pattern ideas. Highly recommended for anyone who wants some ideas, and enjoys cross stitch!

Growing up I remember my mom cross stitching often. She used this hobby to make wonderful gifts and keepsakes for our family, including stockings for each of us kids! She taught me when I was younger and my first project was a pink dinosaur. This is a hobby I hope to get back into and the beautiful designs in this book are serving as inspiration and encouragement to begin this hobby again.

A whole bunch of sweetness wrapped up in this book. Many retro clothes, beac items and symbols, swimsuits and kitchen items. If you love those retro items you will love these. Very pretty and feminine. There are also retro tools, appliances and a variety of items.

It is so nice to find a craft book with patterns that are relevant to a modern crafter. Although the patterns have a retro feel to them, they are very on trend with the vintage feel that are so fashionable with today's cross stitchers. The pictures are very clear and there's a good range of patterns and projects for inspiration. I particularly like the styling of the images and the way the projects are divided in topics.

This is am easy learn, cute, cross-stitch book. It has all kinds of patterns from the kitchen to kids, passing by travels, clothes, cars, beach, planes and so much more!
I really like the fact that it has the colors and not symbols. Symbols always complicate cross-stitching to me!
Sometimes the pictures form a set, making a pretty picture but you can, of course, make individual pictures from the whole set.

I'm, for sure, gonna make some cross-stitches to my family from this book! A plus!

When I think “Retro”, I think Midcentury Modern. That’s notbthese patterns....they are primarily Victorian/Edwardian, turn of the 20th century designs. Many are not anything I would make. However the author has a brilliant color eye and I was drawn to many of the designs even though the style was not typically for me. The charts are also useful for knitters and I can see a lot of applications in my knitting work from this book. The florals and children’s designs are fantastic.

Really cute designs in here! The only thing I wish the book had were stitch counts, but it's not too hard to figure that out for yourself. If you're into mixing and matching your own designs and some vintage flair, I recommend this.

Charts only for most of the (awesome) designs

The designs in the book are very nice. There is great variety, very retro, and a lot of fun. Most of the designs are small motifs, and some of the groups of motifs are arranged into a big picture to stitch like a sampler, and of course you can take them apart. Some are monochrome, some are all kinds of colors. They are all delicate with no big blobs of single color, and the color choices are wonderful, too. There is a huge variety. Tea pots, fashions, cameras, streets, windmills, places - everything.
The book is full color and the stitching charts are in color, too. They provide DMC floss numbers right there on the page, so there is no need to search the end of the book for reference. Many of the designs have also backstitch outlines and very few also have half cross stiches.

But for most of the designs they do not show finished stitching. They did stitch out some (and those look gorgeous), but the majority of the designs only have charts. Yes, the charts are in color so you can get some idea of what it is, but it is not the same. For many of them, where there are similar colors used, so they added thin black symbols so it will be easier to distinguish the colors. That would be an awesome feature if we had the stitched samples (or at least mockups), but it obstructs the view of the design. White color is obviously has a symbol printed in it everywhere, too. I understand that stitching all this would be expensive and time consuming. The designs were made using a software, they should have at least included simulated pictures here.
Also, the word "Russia" in the stitched design is misspelled on page 132 and 136 (this one is one of the few that have stitched sample pictured, so it is misspelled twice).

I received a free digital copy of the book from NetGalley

Una collezione di incantevoli motivi dallo stile rétro, adatti ad arricchire qualsiasi oggettogrande o piccolo.

Oh my goodness. This is THE most amazing cross stitch design book I have ever seen.
Hundreds of design, large to small size. You could stitch them individually or in a griup or just a couple together.
A very broad range of designs as well. From sewing machines, to camels under a palm tree.

If you love cross stitch then this is the only design book you ever need. A MUST buy.