One of my New Year's resolutions this year has been to reduce the amount of new clothes I purchase and spend a little more time and effort sprucing up what I currently own.

This book has more than provided the inspiration and instruction that I needed to do just that.

Wonderfully done.

Great book with inspiration how to make your clothes more interesting. Be it that it is old clothes that you want to upcycle or just do something to your newly purchased clothes (making it more yours).

Wardrobe embroidery is absolutely fantastic for any embroidery lover. The pictures are absolutely fantastic and so inspiring. I love how you can take something beloved and well worn and breathe new life into it with lovely stitching. Regardless if this is a repair or simply a way to make something more beautiful and unique. This book has it all with sone practice you too can create 100% a completely new look and have something that is tailored to your own tastes and style. I just love it and think it would be an excellent gift for any person interested in embroidery.

Really inspiring patterns and good instructions, also for beginners. The pictures make it a lot easier to follow everything, so this is a definitive plus.

I have been trying to avoid fast fashion and upcycle and thrift clothes so I was happy to get this book. It does have a lot of cool ideas, but unfortunately, I don't know how to knit, and a big part of the book included that. It doesn't mean that I'll never learn, and there is plenty of other info!

What a fun book for inspiration and education in the fine art of embroidery! If you are looking to spice up your wardrobe with cute and sometimes simple hand done elements, pick up this book. Bolstad has created an easy to follow guide for those who are looking to get into embroidery. I look forward to trying my hand at embellishing some stalwarts in my wardrobe for a bit of a facelift! Happy Sewing

I loved this book. Honestly.


For me, it was a huge inspiration to alter and mend clothing to make the most of my clothes in an effort to reduce their environmental impact.

I was immediately inspired by one of the projects (which you can see at the top of the cover) to cover a stain on a wool sweater, with flowers in the same tone.

The projects are beautiful and the photos with the step-by-step stitches are clear.

An excellent book for beginners (and beyond).

I love embroidery. But it is one of the hobbies I have avoided because it always seemed so tedious. This book is enticing and gives you the basic stitches of embroidery. Plus it is inspiring and a way to liven up the clothes you have in your closet and might otherwise toss. Reinventing your wardrobe is creative, and money-saving, This book inspires and excites me. If you are looking for a creative way to re-invent and color your wardrobe, this is for you.

Great little guidebook on how to use embroidery to renew and upcycle your beloved items that might be damaged, worn out or just need a new breathe of life. Amazing photos paired with clear instructions are always appreciated. I cannot wait to try these new ideas on some of my clothes.

Thank you for NetGalley and the Publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a very fun introduction to embroidery, specifically to easy ways to upcycle my old garments I am either bored of or have damaged. I've tried a few of the designs and although it didn't turn out as pretty (yet) it was a start.

The only problem I had that the design were very specific and it caters to a specific audience.

3.5/5 stars

This book has ideas and instructions on how to upcycle the clothes you already own. Or you can by second hand to upgrade the clothing items.
The photos are helpful and can give you other ideas.

Great guidance for novice embroiderers. Clear explanations and exceptional photography to compliment the instructions which is very important for those wanting to upgrade their wardrobe.

I really liked this book and it has taught me how to do many embroidery stitches. I like to use the embroidery on bags and pouches that I make. It is very detailed. and makes for a great resource book.
Many thanks to Zakka Workshop and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed the embroidery portion of this book, but I am not a confident knitter so the knitting section felt confusing to me and I mostly found myself thinking "I'll come back to these when I'm better at knitting." I liked the patterns for the embroidery a lot better than many of the suggestions of where to embroider them, as a lot of the ideas (embroidering a t shirt or an unlined dress, for example), seemed like ways to make clothing uncomfortable rather than to mend it. That said, the explanations of embroidery stitches were well illustrated and easy to understand and I will definitely be using what I learned from the book!

A great book for beginners in embroidery as it describes each stitch clearly. It's given me alot of inspiration as I learn to embroider.

Fantastic Way to Customize Your Clothes in your Closet! The book walks you through some basic embroidery stitches for those unfamiliar with embroidery.

Awesome creative way to upscale my wardrobe and practice my embroidery. Super cute designs that elevates your wardrobe

This book is so beautiful and helpful!
As someone who dabbles in embroidery, I found this book to be really easy to understand and knowledgeable.
I loved the pictures and the introduction as it clearly showed what materials and tools were needed so there were few questions later.
All of the techniques shown in the beginning are extremely useful and used very often, I really liked reading this portion because I had never learned how to use some of these stitches! I also think it was really cool to show the techniques shown in upcycled materials so that the consumer can instantly find a way to implement and use the techniques learned in this book.

I guess a good place to start is by stating that I have absolutely no embroidery experience! So when I say that I'm very happy with the the way the instructions and written verbally and shown in photographers. I'm a visual learner so this is really important to me!

The tools section covers all the very very basic items you will need to produce the sweet patterns in this book. All the stitches shown are specifically for fashion, but could easily be adapted to using on an art piece. The instructions are written very clearly! My one nit-picky critique regarding the instructions is that each instruction is not separated by line for each step. This makes it a little hard to read and follow along if you're looking away from the book to do each step, but it's not going to hinder your success much.

Once the basic few stitches are covered the book eases it's way into tutorials. When you get to this section the instructions are separated and much easier to read. It shows you how the final product looks and what exact colors were used. It would be fun if it had a few of each examples in different colors just to spark the reader's creativity. Once you've nailed down those stitches you are ready to go!

Here's where I got confused... why the heck does this book go on to show knitting patterns?? This felt like it could have been it's own book. Knit your own sweater and *then* embroider on it? But it really suddenly switched to knitting tutorials abruptly. So for this reason, it lost a lot of my hope for this book and ultimately the reason the stars are so low. This felt like a great beginner embroidery book when it started, but then absolutely lost me as a crafter. This could have been so much better if it kept to the theme of renewing fast fashion..

I requested it but the file was already expired. It's a nice and inspiring book, though. I had some boring shirts in my wardrobe that now I know are calling for a little embroidery!