Cat Lady Embroidery

380 Ways to Stitch a Cat

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Pub Date 03 Jul 2018 | Archive Date 02 Aug 2018

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Description

Fat, striped, sweet, or grumpy, this book offers 380 embroidery stitch patterns for cat lovers. Each of the 15 themed pattern sets offers a variety of designs that range from simple to complex and includes photos of the finished patterns, a stitch guide, and full-size templates.

From kitty corners and borders to classic felines and festive holiday cats, Cat Lady Embroidery has a cat to embroider for every occasion. With an overview of tools and materials, instructions on getting started, a thread conversion chart, and a step-by-step review of the 15 basic embroidery stitches used, this book is perfect for embroiderers of all skill levels

Created by a group of amazingly talented artists, this collection contains a variety of different embroidery styles, so there are folk art–inspired cats, cartoon-style cats, trendy cat-themed patches, and realistic pet portrait-style motifs. There’s even a project inspiration gallery showcasing wonderful ways to use these motifs—maybe you’ll be inspired to embroider a cat peeking out from a shirt pocket or smiling up at you from a pair of slippers. 

Inspire your inner cat lady with these and more original designs:
  • Breed-specific feline faces
  • Stretching, sleeping, hiding, eating, and playing cats
  • Mummy, vampire, and witch cats for Halloween
  • Santa, reindeer, and angel cats for Christmas
  • Sailor, baker, musician, and other dressed-up cats
  • Cat alphabets in three different styles
  • Cats with plants and flowers
Fun designs and clear instructions make this book a must have for any cat-loving embroidery enthusiast's library.
Fat, striped, sweet, or grumpy, this book offers 380 embroidery stitch patterns for cat lovers. Each of the 15 themed pattern sets offers a variety of designs that range from simple to complex and...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781589239647
PRICE $19.99 (USD)
PAGES 120

Average rating from 59 members


Featured Reviews

As a cat lady and a crafter, this book immediately appealed to me. But I'm not yet much of a stitcher and these designs looked like they may be beyond me. The designs are too cute to pass up, though, and after marveling over all of them, I made it to the instructional part of the book and I think I can do this!

Every cat-lover will find something to like here. There's realistic designs that can be customized to recreate any cat. Lots of whimsical and funny designs ranging from traditional to more modern. You can make a large piece with lots going on or isolate individual cats for small details. The book has borders and alphabets that can be added to other projects. Every design has a clear image that can be used to copy.

Many Japanese craft books are intimidating. There's a lot of detail and not always a lot of instruction for the newer crafter. That's not a problem here. The guides are clearly explained and all the stitches needed are explained and have photos. A beginner can pick this up and start putting cats on everything. In case they don't know what to put cats on, there are plenty of project ideas.

This book is a delight in both the designs and the instruction.

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Are you kidding me?! This book is *adorable*!! 'Cat Lady Embroidery' is a fun and inspiring book for cat lovers interested in embroidery. It's separated into a couple of sections: immediately going into quirky kitty images you can create. Afterwards, you'll find easy to follow guides and tutorials as well as photos of what you can do with your image. I think this would be perfect for beginners because of this.. I'll be recommending 'Cat Lady Embroidery' to my fellow cat ladies and purchasing the book for myself when it comes out!

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I received this book through NetGalley to review honestly.

And honestly, I'm totally digging this book.

I'm really more of a dog person, but this book has great projects and motifs that are shown clearly, stitched, and design elements that let you create a project how YOU want it, which is always a bonus in these kinds of books. Aesthetically, it reminds me of Japanese craft books (which I *adore*, by the way), and some of the designs are totally hilarious. (A cat with his head in a water glass, which is hilarious because it's *true*, for example. Or a very displeased feline who's human has decided to put him in a football jersey. Stuff like that, which you don't often see in cutesier books.)

There's a section for most of the major holidays (Halloween, Christmas, etc.), an impressive selection of cats wearing clothing, and some totally classy flora/fauna designs. These would all make amazing gifts for folks. Or for yourself. I'm not judging.

There are cat alphabets, cat corners, and cat borders. There are all different fur colors, including hairless. There are folk cats, cute cats, and contemporary cats.

Folks, it's a LOT OF CATS. And it's all good.

And as a technical sidenote: the instructions (all conveniently located in one section in the back, so you can get all hopped up on inspiration first) are really, really good. There are photographed examples of how to do each stitch, and a clear guide on how to read and use the included charts. The charts are in black and white, which means the contrast will make it easy to transfer the patterns. (I love color charts, in theory, but in practice, the tracing is sometimes less than a walk in the park and more a walk on the edge of a seawall during a thunderstorm while holding a lightning rod and shark bait. You stitchers know what I mean.)

If you have a cat, have ever loved a cat, or embroider and know someone who fits the cat lady moniker, you need this book.

(Now we just need to convince Applemints to come out with a dog companion for those of us with canines in our blood.)

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This book is full of cute cats. There are 380 different motives, from Christmas cats to broders with cats and cat alphabets.
There is a guide on how to get started, which materials to use and a detailed stitch guide.

I am not sure this book is suitable for complete beginners, but I would recommend it to advanced beginners and higher.

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This book is a treasure trove for cat lovers who are needleworkers. Th motifs, if small, are adorable, full of character and whimsy.

I love that the authors hooked us by first giving us over 50 pages of great embroideries (stitched examples of all motifs. After that and before the stitch guides and templates you have the technical instructions. These, though short, are excellent for those doing embroidery on cloth.

The motifs are divided into chapters including "Curious Cats" and "Holidays." Every one is packed with designs you'll want to stitch.

Based on the thread they used. Olympia floss, and some of the motifs, I'm pretty sure this book originally appeared in Japan. Because there isn't much text, this isn't a problem.

I highly recommend this book.

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I’m so glad I got this book as it’s absolutely wonderful. I have to admit I’m a sucker for a ‘crafty’ book. I used to be a real craft addict and have tried my hand at most things. These days, I struggle to find the time to do anything like this, but I always love to have a look at the books. Books like this always make me want to pick up my needle and thread again, and to be honest this book may be the first one in ages where I WILL pick up the needle and thread instead of just wanting to.

I love cats just as much as I love reading and to combine three things that I enjoy – cats, reading and needlework – well this book just has to be a winner. This book shows you with simple, easy to understand instructions how to embroider the cutest cats ever. It is filled with page after page of embroidered cats, in all different shapes, sizes and poses! The first half of the book shows you the ‘finished article’ – what the cats look like embroidered. The second half gives you clear instructions as to what stitches to use for each cat, and a full size template to copy and trace onto your fabric.

If you are a complete novice, or just a bit rusty (like myself!), there are easy to follow instructions as to what tools you need, how to do each stitch and how to trace the pattern onto your chosen fabric. There are also some examples of the cats on actual projects such as pencil cases, bibs, coasters and cushions. The cat peeking out of a shirt pocket was my particular favourite and so effective to show off these cute little creatures! Full of inspiration for the budding embroiderer, I imagine it would be very easy to use each and every one of these cats on future embroidery projects.

Absolutely purrfect for cat and embroidery lovers alike. Fantastic! Miaow!

Thank you to the author and Publisher for this free book.

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This book is absolutely excellent! I'm a self-certified cat lady who's recently taken up embroidery again after a long gap, and I really appreciate the variety of awesome patterns in this collection. The stitch instructions are well-laid out and simple, which is a lovely refresher of the basics, and there is a really useful chart for converting colours used between brands. The cat designs are super cute, with some realistic-looking, some cartoony, and even some really nice borders and patterns that could be used on anything. I love the Halloween patterns. I'm going to be embroidering cats on everything now!

One tiny gripe is the "Norway Jean Forest Cat' on the front cover, which should be 'Norwegian Forest', but since this book is a translation, and the cat is recognisable as a Norwegian Forest, this is only minor.

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This is not your normal cross stitch book. Like other books it is filled with patterns. There are 380 ways to stitch a cat. There are cat faces, whole cats, cat alphabets, cat boarders, and more.

These are not full pictures or scenes. The book allows to make your own designs and add the cats to it.

The book has stitch guides, tool & materials, thread conversion charts, projct inspiration guide and more.

This book is great for cat lovers. It's also good for beginner stitchers and advanced as well.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

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Cat Lady Embroidery 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat by Applemints is for everyone who adores cats and hand embroidery. Each of the cats are adorable. Their poses and outfits and mannerisms are 'classically cat'. They each have their own personality. There are charts for different embroidery thread companies so you are not limited to one brand. The artwork is terrific and the introduction and instructions are clear and concise. I would like to thank Applemints, Quarto Publishing Group - Creative Publishing International
Creative Publishing international and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

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#CatLadyEmbroidery #NetGalley #Cats

Creative and cute catalog containing a large collection of embroidery about cats. The book starts with basic techniques of embroidery for the beginners. The rest of the book can be used for any level of expertise. The patterns are beautiful and can be used to provide a personal touch to items such as tote, sheets, shirts and more. Purfect!

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I love this book. As a cat lover, I have many ideas on how to use the projects here, and love the images chosen. The directions for making the stitches are clear and I like that there is a separate image for explaining, and another for tracing the image itself. The images are cute and useful for a variety projects, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many images were included. I highly recommend this for cat lovers, and even beginner stitchers since some images are easy enough to recreate, and the instructions are very clear.

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This book is super cute! I also like how there are basic embroidery instructions and a guide for each pattern. I guess if I where to make one "complaimt" it would be to ask for more.

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I think I just found my new hobby! This is such an amazing book! The embroidery instructions in this book are easy to understand and follow. I have always been interested in embroidery, but the fact that this book is filled to the brim with 380 cat themed designs is exactly the push I needed to get the ball rolling. This is just too amazing to pass up!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

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This is an interesting and creative book. Do you enjoy embroidery? Do you like cats or know someone who does? This book is perfect. It gives many ideas for cat designs to embroider and information on how to make it happen. So many cute ideas.

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Cat Lady Embroidery is a reformatting and re-release of Neko-Darake Shishu 380 originally published in Japanese by applemints. Translated by World Book Media and due out 3rd July, 2018 in English by Quarto - Creative Publishing International it's 120 pages & available in paperback format.
This is an oddly formatted book to western audiences. The first 30% of the book is a catalogue of designs (and there are oodles of them!) presented in full color. There is a short gallery of project inspirations after that (4 pages) along with an introduction and general techniques chapter. This chapter covers materials, fabric and thread choices, needles, scissors, tensioning devices (hoops) etc etc.
It should be noted that this book is about surface embroidery, not cross stitch. It's lovely to see tutorials and and upswing in interest for the other fibrearts; it seems like only cross-stitch had any following for a long long time and it's nice to see surface embroidery enjoying a renaissance.

Anyhow, following the materials and supplies chapter is a really well done tutorial chapter about the different stitches used for the patterns in the book. The step-by-step photos are annotated and accompanied by explanatory text. They're clear and easy to follow.

The final half of the book contains the patterns for the elements listed in the catalogue at the beginning. They are mostly small(ish) elements which can be combined and switched around as desired. There are several cat-alphabets as well, for personalization (or monogramming gifts for cat loving friends).

I enjoyed the book very much. It's a worthwhile and fun introduction and guide to learning embroidery. Many of the designs in the book could also serve as a good jumping off point for dimensional embroider/stumpwork.

Four and a half stars

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I knew the second I saw the title of this art book that I was going to have to read it. I also knew that I would absolutely end up caving and buying it once it released, but that’s for future-me to deal with. Cat Lady Embroidery is a blend of two things, actually, three things, that I absolutely adore: cats, art/crafts, and books! It couldn’t have been more tailor fit for me if it tried.
The setup for this book seemed a little bit unusual at first, but in the end I actually ended up really liking the way they chose to organize it. All of the patterns and designs there are to pick from are in the beginning of the book, with references to later in the book for the actual instructions. It’s a nice way to be able to browse for what you want, without having it all cluttered by the detailed instructions and maps.
As for the patterns themselves…oh my goodness! They’re so stinking cute! I think I’m going to go broke finding excuses to use every single pattern shown. They’re all really well done and amazingly adorable. They capture the quirky and sweet personality of cats perfectly.
The instructions are just a little bit cramped on the pages, but if that’s the price we have to pay for this many patterns, I can honestly deal with it. There are basic instructions in the middle, explaining how to do basic stitches. This makes for a perfect reference for a newer crafter that hasn’t mastered all of the stitches. It’s also nice for those that have mastered all of the stitches, as it’s out of the way and no space is wasted repeating the same bit of information again and again.
I’m incredibly happy with the quality of this book. You can tell that somebody really put a lot of time and effort into designing these cute little cats for us, and I couldn’t love them more for that.

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A little book full of cat motif for every lady (or gentleman) that loves cats and embroidery! First, I'll take a very long nap, and then.... embroidery!
I highly recommend this book! And I'm waiting another one, maybe Dog Embroidery.

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Cat Lady Embroidery 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat by Applemints is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary.
This is a very handy embroidery book to have, especially if you like cats. It has all kings of cat patterns! Silly ones, realistic, playful, outlines, completely filled and detailed, letters with cats on them, cats for borders, small dainty cats, large cats, and everything in between. Then it goes through and shows the reader how to do the many different stiches! I had done some embroidery 20 years ago and I was just a beginner then and I was so glad to see how detailed this was. It showed and described the steps!. Then for each cat, there was a pattern with color, stitch, and every thing you would need! I was amazed! Now that I am not working, I might give this a try, at the end it showed the patterns on real items and they looked so good! Great ideas for gifts.

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This is a pattern book, so not a lot of text. The designs are all cats; cat faces, cats doing things, whimsical cats, cats with kittens, holiday cats, both Halloween and Christmas, cat alphabets, and of most interest to me, kitty borders that would look great on clothing.

The first section is full color pictures of all the designs, followed by a 'project inspiration gallery' with suggestions of where to apply the embroidery. Any piece of clothing or accessory made of cloth is a potential canvas. There is a comprehensive section on tools and materials that gives all the basics of this type of embroidery in simple enough terms for a beginner and shows the effects of using different numbers of strands of embroidery floss.

There are just three basic stitches involved; a chain stitch, a fill stitch and a French knot. Anyone who can wield a needle can do these. They include a chart to identify colors in two major brands of embroidery floss as well.

After that is pictorial chart instructions for all the designs. All the needleworker has to do is transfer the design onto whatever they want to embroidery and follow the lines with the color and number of strands indicated. Easy peasy, anyone who can follow a line can decorate their clothing with cute cats!

I thought it was brilliantly done and the designs are really cute. I'm looking forward to transforming my entire wardrobe into crazy cat lady clothes.

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Cat Lady Embroidery: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat does what it says on the tin. It has full-colour pictures of different cat-related embroidery designs, some realistic, others more cartoonish, and in different styles such as folk art. There are also border and corner motifs. The back of the book has the patterns and stitch guides and a brief rundown of embroidery and the tools and materials you will need. There is also a gallery of project ideas showing you the sorts of things you could do with your finished embroidery.

This book would probably not be suitable for a complete beginner to embroidery, but it would be a great addition to a keen embroiderer's library, especially if they are also a cat lover.

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This is a fascinating title for the embroidery beginner like myself. I've been cross stitching for years and always wanted to learn to embroider but haven't done so due to lack of confidence and instruction but this book has given me everything I've needed to get started and get started I truly have.

The little cat designs are cute and easy to follow and I have found myself finally able to do what I've wanted to for years.

Brilliant book that is hugely straightforward to read and use... I highly recommend it for fans of cats and embroidery beginners!

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I really enjoyed this book. Supercute ideas. There was a love of cute puns and humor that was engaging...and I cannot wait to try my hand at some of adorable embroidery!

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I received a free copy of Cat Lady Embroidery (380 Ways to Stitch a Cat) by Applemints in exchange for an honest review. This book shows the finished product, the techniques used to obtain the finished product, and the templates you can use to transfer the basic shapes of each design along with color and stitch suggestions for each piece. If you or an acquaintance are a fan of cats and embroidery, you are sure to find something to make in this book. Everyday useful items (such as hand towels, napkins, socks, handkerchiefs) embroidered with feline themes would make an excellent gift for any cat fancier.

#CatLadyEmbroidery #NetGalley

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I am both a crazy cat lady and a stitcher, so I was excited to get this book. It was worth it, too! The patterns are mostly small and easy to do. They are all stitched using basic embroidery..The patterns were written plain and clear, with easy to follow directions. There were even pictures of finished projects so you could follow along with the pattern. It also gives a list of all of the needed materials needed for the entire project and the stuff to finish it too. It is quite detailed. I like that. The pictures are clear and it is easy to tell what colors go where and what stitches to use. I love this book. I highly recommend this book, especially to those who like cats, or like to stitch them. It is a great book!

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A special thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Creative Publishing International for providing me with a digital ARC of CAT LADY EMBROIDERY: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat, which allows me to write an unbiased review.
The faces of nine beautiful embroidery cats on the cover attracted me to CAT LADY EMBROIDERY: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat.
The book is well laid out with a Contents page, embroidery stitch guide, thread conversion chart, tools and materials section, motifs and templates. There are many gorgeous cat designs to embroidery including Christmas cats, Halloween cats, Folk cats, kitty borders, kitty corners and alphabet cats.
CAT LADY EMBROIDERY: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat was originally published in Japanese language by Applemints.
This book would make the perfect gift for cat lover family members or friends who do embroidery. It would be a wonderful addition to public libraries, resource libraries for 4H groups, hand craft, hand sewing, adolescent and seniors groups.
I highly recommend this colourful user friendly book.

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I admit it, I am a bit of a sucker for cats - and this book is fabulous - not only does it have heaps of cat designs, the information on stitching and floss is easy to understand. There are lots of templates (which could be enlarged), some ideas of projects and full sheet information on colour and stitches for each cat design - which I might add are shown in full colour/stitched at the start of the book. There are cats at play, cats in dress and trousers, retro cat designs, modern and just simple interpretation of cats. I just love the cat faces and heads - the attention to detail are fabulous. I really recommend this book, it wonderful both in and embroidery and design sense.

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I have to admit, I am hardly a crafty person - no, to be perfectly honest, I am a disaster. But we are talking about embroidered cats, and that is something no catlover can resist. This little book is perfect and I'd glady get it as a gift for my catlover friends who are also handy with a needle. Or I'd even advise them to get a copy to see how they can embroider cats for me...

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If you love embroidery and love cats, this book is a must. Cats of all kinds from holiday cats, folk cats to chatty cats and cat alphabets, you'll find a lot. Cat characters remember me of Richard Scarry characters. Packed with pictures and explanations the book ncludes also a mini stitching school. I missed the cross stitch though, you find a very few of it in combination with other kind of stitches but there are no cats made only with cross stitch.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As someone who just started embroidery and loves cats, this book is definitely for me. It is well written with enough information for a beginner to utilize this book. The cat designs are amazing. Purrfect for every occassion.

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This book makes me wish I had any kind of sewing skills whatsoever - unfortunately, being left-handed kind of screwed me over when it comes to practical crafts...Still, if you're an embroiderer, this book is full of all sorts of adorable kitty designs and stitch tips that were easy enough to follow that even I understood them. Still not sure if I'll ever be able to successfully embroider any of these myself, but they sure do look nice. And maybe I can use my left-handedness to get someone who can actually embroider to do some of these designs for me...

Essentially: if you're into cats and embroidering, then you need this book.

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If you ever needed inspiration to take up embroidery, it would be the gorgeous CAT LADY EMBROIDERY book, with the most charming 380 cat patterns. Or if you are experienced with needle and thread, this adorable guide is like your favorite holiday and birthday rolled into one. So many embroidery styles and genres are available at varying skill levels, with an array of kitties — from calico to grumpy — to stitch. Now I have the perfect gift for my many stitchery friends ... and for my birthday next month! 5/5

Thanks, Quarto Publishing Group - Creative Publishing International and NetGalley, for the early copy in exchange for my true review.

#CatLadyEmbroidery #NetGalley

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Cat Lady Embroidery by Applemints is a great book of idea designs and patterns for embroidery, specifically with cat designs. Very cute ideas that would make a nice addition to a home crafters collection.

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Cat Lady Embroidery 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat by Applemints is a very useful embroidery book to have, especially if you like cats. It has a variety of cat patterns! Silly ones, realistic, playful, outlines, completely filled and detailed, letters with cats on them, cats for borders, small dainty cats, large cats, and everything in between.

The book is well laid out with a Contents page, embroidery stitch guide, thread conversion chart, tools and materials section, motifs and templates. There many gorgeous cat designs to embroidery including Christmas cats, Halloween cats, Folk cats, kitty borders, kitty corners and alphabet cats.

The book goes through and shows the reader how to do the many different stitches! For each cat, there was a pattern with color, stitch, and every thing you would need!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Creative Publishing International for this e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This was really cute and useful, especially for someone who can barely stitch a straight line. Will definitely refer to it again.

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What a combination, cats and embroidery, what is not to like. The book was well set out, good illustrations and instructions. Also a stitch guide if you are new to embroidery. A few pages as well for inspiration on how to use the embroidery on clothes etc.
Embroidery is one of those crafts that you can put in your bag and pick up when you have a little spare time regardless of where you are. I am sure this book is one that will be used time and time again.

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Do I Recommend this book? Oh yes!!!

Notes and Opinions: If you are like me and obsessed with anything to do with cats, this book is for you. I'm always trying to find new things to do and make and this was totally perfect my DIY personality. Everything was basically laid out for you, so all you have to do is buy the supplies. The pictures are adorable ranging between realistic and cartoonish. I totally recommend this to anyone that's into this kind of stuff!!

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Everything you want in a how-to guide: adorable patterns and easy to follow instructions. I only had to get about 1/4 of the way in before realizing I would just need to buy myself a copy as soon as it came out - and finishing the book just cemented that certainty.

I received access to this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Cat Ladies grab your needles it's time to craft! The pawsum Cat Lady Embroidery book has 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat from fun furry faces to silly kitteh shenanigans. Each embroidery project is shown completed and gives you a pattern with stitch and thread guides so you can make them yourself. Don't worry if your new to embroidery. There is a guide in the book that will give you a list of materials, explain the basics and give you step-by-step- stitch lessons too. We haven't tried any yet, but none of the stitches appear to be very difficult.

So get crafty and get your paws on this book.

We were given a digital copy of this book to post our honest review as seen above.

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Kudos to the book designer for showing the embroidered cats and kittens first, rather than pages and pages of text, which is typical for most craft and needlework books. Cats of all breeds, sizes, and shapes are depicted in a wide variety of poses, situations, and styles. Instructions for a variety of embroidery stitches and techniques are concise but clear. There is no shortage of inspiration for cat-loving stitchers in this book!

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This is a fun book, full of embroidery cats, of course! And it does make me want to get into embroidery, especially after showing the cats on actual objects like t-shirts and tote bags. It is also useful that it has a lot of embroidery techniques, however it still seems like book for intermediate or advanced, and not that suitable for beginners no matter how much they like cats.

I wish the explanations were in more detail, at least for one or two embroidery so you can get a start. But anyway, the cats were awesome!

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Cat Lady Embroidery by Applemints is a definitive choice for anyone interested in cats and embroidery. The tagline "380 Ways to Stitch a Cat" really says it all. This book has cats in all imaginable poses and surroundings for you to stitch and to have as inspiration for our own embroideries. There are some really great examples and I can imagine numerous uses for them. If you don't know where to stitch your cats, there's even a gallery showing some example pieces.

The book has all the info you need to carry out the projects from supplies to technique to patterns. I would warmly recommend this to any "cat lady" with a penchant to embroidery.

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I cannot wait to start a project with these adorable cat patterns!! "Cat Lady Embroidery" is full of helpful instructions, beautiful inspiration, and well laid out patterns for both the male and female embroiderers in your life.

I highly recommend this book and will probably be buying myself a copy!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This is a charming book of embroidery designs, ideal for beginner and more advanced stitcher alike. As there is such a wide range of patterns to choose from, there's sure to be something for everyone, ranging from simple outlined designs to fully-stitched fur effect, and lots inbetween. The first part has coloured photographs of all the designs, making it easy to choose. The you go on to find the line drawing which can be traced, then stitching instructions for each one. Then there are detailed tutorials for different types of stitch - it's really very comprehensive. Cat alphabets, realistic-looking cats, stylised cats, cats in cute outfits - you name it, it's here. Lovely to see 'proper' embroidery making a comeback, as it is so much more expressive and creative than cross-stitch.
Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.

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The variety of projects to embroider is phenomenal and I enjoyed the overall style. I am a little intimidated because I am a beginner at embroidery (normally I cross-stitch) but this is an encouraging book.

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When I started reading this book, I was a little doubtful that it would work for my age group. However, when I got towards the back and saw the detailed patterns and instructions, I felt like it was something kids could work with. They would need an adult to help, but I think the older ones who were interested would be able to use this book. Unfortunately, I don't see the budge stretching far enough to justify this book for kids. However, in an adult library this would be great. The introductory information is clear and gives enough detail that a beginner would feel like they could use the patterns in the book, but it wasn't so simple that you felt like the author assumed you were an idiot. The embroidered cats were all just adorable. I'm thinking of buying this one for myself.

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As a cat lady and embroidery enthusiast myself I did very much enjoy this book, but it would not sell at our stores. The local market for embroidery, let alone cat embroidery is too small. I loved the fact that there are a couple' of styles of embroidery, and I think that this is one of the better embroidery book in that way.

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I love this book! There are so many different designs, from small little motifs, to larger images and even alphabets and borders. There are a number of designers featured and all of them have a different style of cat so there is definitely something for everyone. The instructions are also very easy to follow and would be easy to customise with different colours or thread types. This is the perfect book for cat lovers and the crafty person who is surrounded by cat lovers!

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I’ve always wanted to learn the art of embroidery. I loved the illustrations in this book. I also liked the templates of the awesome cats.
I learned some fundamental stitches, I’ve bought several other books but this one really made them seem easier.
I remember my grandmother embroidering on my jeans and denim jackets back in the 70’s and they were works of art. I’m so glad that it’s coming back in vogue. Yes, you can buy sewing machines to do it but thanks to artist like Sarah Benning and others hand embroidery is back!

Disclosure: I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this e-galley in exchange for my honest opinion. The opinions expressed above are my own.

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The first thing to say is that you don’t have to be a crazy cat lady to enjoy this! So long as you like moggies and enjoying being creative with needled and thread then you’ll find this book very inspiring.
The book takes you through the embroidery techniques you need to master each design, with tips on colour. The illustrations are clear and helpful and photos of finished items give you an accurate impression of what you can achieve.
There are loads and loads of lovely designs, serious and silly, simple and sophisticated. There really is something for everyone, and their mother! There are festive cats, alphabet cats, different breeds, and some really gorgeous designs for borders.
The book is cleverly and clearly laid out and is very easy to use. It’s a positive wealth of design and information. One for any embroiderer’s library.

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This is a fun and easy to use book full of patterns as well as hints and tips for newcomers to embroidery. You might be able to find a lot of patterns online these days, but certainly not this many cats in one place!

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I'm a cat lady and crafter. I have yet to see a book that had a variety of kittens and cats of different breeds to embroider. There are both realistic and whimsical designs that can be stitched by novices to more advanced embroiderers. The book also includes borders and alphabets that you can add to your work. There are instructions for the different embroidery stitches and techniques. This is the perfect book for anyone with a love of cats and stitchery and is perfect for a public library collection.

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Cat Lady Embroidery: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat by Applemints was originally published in Japanese in 2016, this is its first publication in English. Fat, striped, cheshire, or grumpy, this books offers more than 300 embroidery stitch patterns for cat lovers. Each set of patterns offers a range of ideas in different styles, shapes, genres from simple to more complex. Original designs and clear instructions make this book a must have for any embroidery enthusiasts library.

Cat Lady Embroidery: 380 Ways to Stitch a Cat offers readers exactly what the title suggests. There are cat faces, cat butts, cats sleeping, cats in action, cats sharing their thoughts, cats in floral motifs, holiday cats, and more. The full size templates and stitch guides are precise, although there is room for customization. I think embroidery fans that also happen to love cats, or want to add cats to their skill set, will want to add this to their collection. The use of a grumpy cat look alike made me curious about copyright or trademark rights, and some text did not work as well after being translated. I am not sure that I would recommend this for beginners, but those with a basic grasp of embroidery terms and skills will be happy with the book.

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