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Stitched Blooms Book Review and Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is #14 Jen@thecraftingfiend. Congratulations!

I’m here today with a book review from the new embroidery book by Carina Envoldsen-Harris of Polka and Bloom. I made something from Polka and Bloom last year, and so I was really excited to review this book. You can pre-order the book on Amazon or on Barnes and Noble, and it is due to be released on October 1, 2013.

I chose to make a project from the book called ‘Spectacular Spectacles Case’. This is a case for glasses made with a pretty petal embroidery on the front. The whole project came together in a couple of hours, and I was really pleased at the results.

I used Soft and Stable to interface my main fabric (which is ‘Drawn Destiny’ in Linen by Angela Walters for Art Gallery Fabrics), and a solid for the lining fabric. My finished eyeglass case looks slightly smaller than the sample in the book; there was no seam allowance noted for the project, so I’m not sure if maybe my 1/4″ seam allowance was too big (or if the original had been hand-sewn), but my glasses still fit inside, so a success!

Besides the 20 projects included in the book, there are 300 embroidery motifs included in the book as well. The motifs are printed on the book pages (some needing to be enlarged), but they are also enclosed in a cd at the back of the book in pdf version, and these are all at full-size, so I thought that was nice. A majority of the motifs are flowers in the Polka and Bloom style, which I thought was great, because that’s what made me fall in love with the patterns in the first place.

I’d like to show you a few other projects straight from the book. This ‘Pretty Organized Calendar’ really caught my eye. The border of the calendar is embroidered and sewn together, and there is a printable for the actual paper calendar, which you slip inside the border. If I had more time on my hands, I totally would have made this project for my review! It seems both beautiful and functional.

The ‘Pomegranate Parade Skirt’ also made me smile. I love the huge embroidery across the front of the skirt, and the rick rack along the bottom is darling for a little girl. I forgot to mention that there are 33 pages at the beginning of the book, explaining embroidery stitches, tools needed, and color selection, so even if you are new to embroidery, you will be all set to dig in.

The ‘Dala Horse’ is also beautiful and great fun. Majority of the projects in the book have instructions to make the full project, while a few others instruct you to stitch onto ready-made items (i.e. tea towels or a shirt).

In conclusion, if you like adding embroidery to your sewn projects, you will enjoy Stitched Blooms. I also think fans of Aimee Ray will like this book as well, as it gives a bit of a different subject matter (emphasis on flowers) to Aimee’s whimsical embroidered illustrations.

If you’ve read this far through my post, I’d like to reward you with a little giveaway! The ‘Pincushion Petit Four’ project pictured below (the actual project from the book!) will be given to one of my lucky randomly-drawn readers. To enter the giveaway, please click on the link below to take you to the entry page. You have until September 20th at 7pm CT to enter. Good luck!

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10 thoughts on “Stitched Blooms Book Review and Giveaway

  1. What gal wouldn’t love to stitch up her own Dala horse? I’m in! 😀

  2. Ellyn says:

    sweet! I’ll be looking for this book for sure

  3. Gina says:

    I am an Aimee Ray fan and I’m sure this book by Carina Envoldsen-Harris really appeals to me. Embroidering is one of my favorite pastimes. By the way, those pincushions are super cute. I’m hoping to be a winner!

  4. Deb says:

    I love the calendar, too! Would love to make that for my daughter for Christmas. The pincushions are darling.

  5. Pam says:

    I have not embroidered for many many years, this could be just what I need to grt me back. My machine embroiders but I like to have hand sewing on the go as well.

  6. Katy Cameron says:

    Great idea, I never think to use embroidery on anything but an embroidery picture/hoop!

  7. Jan says:

    I love your adorable pin cushions.

  8. txquilter says:

    What sweet pincushions!

  9. Beth says:

    I have to looik for that book. I love embroidery and using it to embellish skirts, calendars and a host of other things is so much fun. I have to check out this book.

  10. Lee says:

    Anything by Carina is fabulous! thank you for the review and giveaway!

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