
There is often great delicacy in beauty. Tiny stokes of paint, gossamer fabrics floating on the breeze. Tiny stitches on fine cloth.
“The Embroidered Garden” exhibits this sort of delicacy. Tiny, fine stitches, depicting flowers, butterflies and bees, fragile blooms which seem to float upon cloth, as if blowing in the breeze.
Embroidery is, literally, an ancient art form. From the ecclesiastical to the trim on luxurious smalls, embroidery has waxed and waned throughout history. Once a requirement for every young ladies training, these days it is rarely seen outside quality couture shops and Victoria’s Secret.
It is nice to see such gorgeous handwork paid attention to once more. Aoki has brought back the beauty and elegance of a craft it would be ashamed to lose to the technical world we live in. I once did embroidery – the tiny stitches calming, repetition and the growth of beautiful handwork soothing to the soul.
Anyone with an interest in beauty and gorgeous hand work should find great pleasure in this book.
I received The Embroidered Garden from the publisher in exchange for a realistic review. All thoughts are my own.
Description
Whimsical, beautiful embroidery motifs created by an avid gardener—stitch roses, bees, or whole garden scenes. Kazuko Aoki has a unique talent for translating the beauty of the garden with needle and thread. By offering forty motifs, Aoki invites us to explore her gardens through embroidery. The forty motifs explore the roses and wildflowers that appear season to season, as well as the bees and butterflies that enjoy their nectar. The designs here are exquisite, detailed, and artfully rendered. Beyond the motifs themselves, Aoki also presents projects that feature the embroidery: brooches, notebook covers, pin cushions, and pouches. For those new to embroidery, detailed how-to illustrations are included.
June 9, 2015 at 5:21 am
I love embroidery.. I can even see the hole in the needles, which is more than I can say for the ordinary ones 🙂
June 9, 2015 at 6:50 pm
LOL! That is what they make those lamps with big magnifiers attached for (grin). I know exactly what you mean – you should see me threading a needle – I pull up my knees and put the handle of the magnifying glass between my kneecaps, then lean forward and thread while looking through… very embarrassing! LOL
June 9, 2015 at 11:25 pm
I can’t even get the needle threader throughthe one on the sewing machine… even with a light and a dark background 🙂
June 9, 2015 at 11:55 pm
Mine has one of those needle threading devices you pull down to thread the machine. But I still have trouble! 😉
June 9, 2015 at 11:58 pm
OOh… I want one ! 🙂
June 10, 2015 at 2:38 am
😉 You can buy the attachments! Here is one for a Bernina on Ebay: http://tinyurl.com/pgu6ddn
I bet you can find one for whatever machine you have, what do you think? I love mine – I couldn’t sew without it. Too much trouble threading, I get all tensed up trying and it spoils my enjoyment of sewing, especially as I like to use silk threads and they have a tendency to break. Good luck!
June 10, 2015 at 5:05 am
Fabulous! I shall delve 🙂
June 10, 2015 at 9:07 am
I couldn’t do without mine… makes things so much easier!
June 10, 2015 at 9:13 am
I’ll find one… soon as I get back 🙂 Avebury and Wiltshire the next few days 🙂
June 9, 2015 at 11:54 am
I love both gardens and embroidery – just wish I had more time for both, but then those books would never get written, would they?
This book does look gorgeous, though.
June 9, 2015 at 6:48 pm
It is, as I said, ‘delicate’ – very oriental in flavour. I have seen more ‘exotic’ work, but the fine lines and beautiful colours make this special in it’s own way. And it is something that the beginner could easily do given time and patience.
June 10, 2015 at 2:25 pm
There’s that ‘time’ thing again…
How is it possible that some people get bored???
June 10, 2015 at 10:15 pm
I have NO earthly idea!! Boredom = low intellect?