This is an amazing beginner's guide to embroidery. The patterns provided are easy, stunning, and provide a variety to choose from. As someone interested in learning, I found this incredibly helpful and resourceful. Favorite patterns include floral seahorses, mountain bear, desert coyote, penguin family, and magic snail. Each offers an image a little different from the other, and I'm excited to master the lovely art style.

This book covers a lot. There are a lot of different stitches used. Some good explanations of stump work. It might actually be too much information for someone just getting started. It is a fun variety of of patterns

Well organized embroidery lessons for beginner to advanced. The photographs and illustrations show steps and products perfectly. All the information one would need to get started or progress with this art form is included. Stumpwork is an added bonus for those looking for a challenge.

The book has a quick explanation on different kinds of stitches. I already knew them so I don't know how effective they would be on beginners, since other books are more detailed. I've always wanted to do stumpwork and thread painting but it looked intimidating in other books, the projects here are more beginner friendly and accessible while still being cute, so I would highly recommend this to people that wish to learn those.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a charming collection of 25 unique animal embroidery designs, complete with vibrant diagrams and step-by-step instructions that are perfect for all skill levels. Jessica Long offers both fresh ideas and modern techniques that breathe new life into the craft. Whether you’re a beginner or an embroidery pro, this book will leave you inspired and excited to start stitching.

Very fun and informative guide to embroidering animals. Lots of color photos and diagrams accompany each pattern. Includes stitch guides, recommendations for materials, etc. Could be used by a confident beginner, but probably best for an intermediate crafter.

Beautiful and inspiring pieces that are nicely arranged by difficulty. I look forward to trying them out to build my embroidery skills.

Embroidering Animals with Color and Texture
Jessica Long

Introduction

Embroidering Animals with Color and Texture is the author's second book on animal embroidery designs. (Her previous book was Animal Embroidery Workbook.) This book expands on the previous one by including information on stumpwork, which are embroidery techniques that create a 3D effect. Some examples include raised stitches, felt bases, and wire slips.

The book includes color photos and diagrams throughout, which is very helpful for seeing what the finished projects will look like and exactly what stitches and colors are used in the patterns.

The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 focuses on Getting Started, while Part 2 includes the actual projects.

Part 1: Getting Started

Chapter 1 covers topics such as materials and supplies, including embroidery fabric, hoops, stencils, floss, needles, and other helpful items. Supplies and tools used for stumpwork are also included. The author also discusses transfer tools that are needed to transfer the book's patterns to embroidery fabric.

Chapter 2 discusses how to put fabric in a hoop, thread a needle, bind a hoop, correct mistakes, anchor floss, and transfer designs to fabric.

Chapter 3 focuses on stumpwork techniques, such as adding beads, incorporating padding, and creating wire slips.

Chapter 4 provides instructions for 43 different embroidery stitches. Each stitch has a short written description and diagram showing how to perform the stitch. At the end of the chapter, there is a longer section on how to use the long and short stitch for thread painting.

Chapter 5 focuses on how to finish work in a hoop, as well as tips for framing and embroidering on clothes.

Part 2: Critter Projects

Part 2 includes the 25 critter projects, which are sorted into four categories. A tutorial on how to read the patterns is included. Each pattern includes a list of suggested DMC floss colors, a list of required materials, a stitch and color diagram, guidance on stitch direction, a full-color photo of the finished project, step-by-step instructions for each section of the project (with photos), and a full-page breakdown of the colors and where they are used in the pattern.

The projects start with 6 Easy Beginner projects featuring these animals: bluebird, seahorse, dolphin, dove, fish, and beetles. These projects are designed for beginners and use beginner stitches but often in challenging ways. There are suggestions for substitutions and variations to simplify the projects.

The next set of projects features 7 Confident Beginner projects, which are a bit more complicated and involve more time and patience. Some of these projects incorporate padding to create a 3D effect. The animals featured in these projects include a gecko, snake, deer, bumblebee, elk, bear, and ringtail.

The book then provides 6 Beginner Thread Painting projects. Animals include a penguin family, birds, monarch butterflies, coyote, snail, and meerkat.

After mastering the beginning thread painting projects, readers can move on to 6 more challenging Thread Painting projects that blend more colors and add stumpwork elements. The animals in these projects include axolotls (a type of endangered amphibian that looks like a salamander), dragonfly, raccoon, bunny, tufted titmouse, and piglet.

The last pages of the book are black and white versions of the patterns used in the book. The patterns are the actual size of the projects featured in the book, but guidance on resizing the patterns is provided at the start of Part 2 at the end of "How To Read The Patterns" section.

My Thoughts

I love that this book provides a mix of animal designs that are creative and attractive. There are more "traditional" projects (like the bluebird sampler) mixed with more unusual approaches (such as the forest elk, mountain bear, and desert coyote).

I like that this book focuses on techniques to add dimension and texture to embroidery projects that seem like they are actually "doable." The gecko and snake both look like they pop off the fabric, and I loved the dragonfly design where it looks like the dragonfly landed on the fabric to rest for a bit. The thread painting technique results in realistic looking animals, such as the bunny, raccoon, and piglet.

Although it may take me some time to feel the confidence to tackle some of the more challenging projects in this book, I like that the author provides tips for simplifying the projects. In addition, the projects are sorted into different skill levels so the user can attempt new stitches, skills, and techniques with some of the more ambitious projects.

If you're looking to take your embroidery to a new level by incorporating 3D elements or just want some attractive animal patterns to embroider, I think this book provides a nice mix for both beginners and more advanced embroidery enthusiasts. With detailed instructions on how to transfer and embroider the 25 unique patterns, you're really getting a bargain by purchasing this book.

My thanks for NetGalley and Landauer Publishing for a review copy of this book.

I received a copy of this eBook from netGalley for a honest review.

I loved the patterns and needlework on these cute animals. The designs take you from beginner to more advanced with step by step pictures so you know how it's supposed to look as you go along. There is an animal for everyone and the designs are colorful and fun. I highly recommend this book to people who want to start embroidering and those who have been at it awhile but would like to try new things.

LOVED all the cute designs and although I am still a noob at embroidering this really helped me try out different shapes and ideas! Great pics and think it does a decent job at explaining things!

These patterns are so cute and the directions are very informative and clear. I loved this collection! Highly recommend!

I raved and raved about Jessica Long’s last book, and I could do it with this latest one as well. Ms Long is so generous in sharing so many tips and techniques and so many beautiful designs for anyone who cares to learn and sew along. The main difference from the last book as far as I remember is that there is a lot more emphasis on texture and eye-catching colour, with many dimensional instead of flat projects.. If you want to create impressive and gorgeous embroidered animals, I feel that this is the book to get, alongside the previous title.

5 stars.

These critters are really cute. The instructions are clear and I'm looking forward to embroidering some of these on shirts.

Excellent book with detailed descriptions and illustrations that make it look easy to embroider realistic animals.

I am excited that I requested this book as a relatively new embroiderer because it is so helpful! The instructions are easy to follow and the patterns are really cute!

This was a super helpful book especially for beginners who might have never worked with wool or wire or any of the extras found in embroidery. The instructions are straightforward and easy to follow and they designs are beautiful. Definitely one that I would recommend and one I will be using myself.

This was such a fun and well formatted book! The embroidered animal designs were so beautiful and the photos of the embroidery are very well done. The instructions were very easy to follow and I also enjoyed that as one progressed through the book, the designs got more difficult. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is interested in beginner embroidery books.

What a delightful book, full of inspiration and great tips! If you're wanting to expand your embroidery skills, this book would be a great resource!

Clear and detailed stitch guides, as well as many helpful insights will help you create the most adorable little embroidered pieces of art!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. Will definitely be purchasing this one for the patterns and guides!

Wow! What a wonderful, wonderful book, chock full of practical information and gorgeous detailed projects. The author explains stumpwork as well as traditional embroidery, tools needed, tips (such as using two pieces of fabric rather than one which is a game changer), techniques, thread painting, choosing floss and hoops, how to transfer and how to begin and finish the project. Her reminder to be unafraid of mistakes is a good one. It seems obvious but when I first started, mistakes drove me nuts but they can take one into different learning directions and new territories. She encourages creating projects from personal inspiration. The variety of stitches is amazing and well illustrated. The photography is stunning and instructions very clear.

Embroidery is one of my favourite things to do. It is immensely therapeutic, drives creativity, hones skills, and produces incredible art. Who wouldn't love to receive a beautiful project made with love? The projects in this book are all lovely but my favourites include the bluebird, bumblebee bouquet, festive feathers, magic snail (open base picot stitches amaze me - where have I been?), raccoon and tufted titmouse wreath.

I love, love, love this book and happily pored over the projects with a happy heart. The first project I make will be the sweet magic snail. Newest beginners will be thrilled with this book which doesn't omit any steps but the novice and even expert will find inspiration, too.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This book provides good instructions for getting started with embroidery. I have been wanting to try stumpwork, and this book made it look very approachable. I also liked that the projects were sorted by difficulty and included more advanced techniques that allowed for growth.