This book showed the basic stitches for embroidering and how to get started. It also had a loads of really cute ideas to begin with plenty of templates to follow.

Each double page has a colour photograph of the finished stitching alongside the design with the DMC colours used, but doesn't state which stitch should be used - that you need to decipher that from the picture.

There are the following motifs to create:
- Plants
- Animals
- People
- Out and About
- Around the House
- At Play
- Celebrate
- Weather and Skies
- Letters and More

I thought the motifs on the front cover look like a child has done them, whereas the designs inside are much more artistic.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a digital copy of this book by NetGallery, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I loved this book with fun sketches to embroider. My absolute favorites were the flowers, paisleys, drinks, and the borders. Be warned: this is not glamorous embroidery. It is simple sketches....but oh so fun.

I will definitely be buying myself a copy of this gem. I have never seriously tackled embroidery, but this might propel me to do just that.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

An easy to follow guide to embroidery. I liked the way the book was set up and will definitely be practicing my stitches.

This is an easy to read and easy to understand primer for beginners. II explains briefly what are the best material and threads. The advice how to deal with difficult fabric is useful. What I liked most is how simple stitches can result in very creative patterns. The big selection of patterns in various categories are great for later uses. This book is a keeper.

Easy to follow instructions and adorable patterns. I love how you can mix and match elements to create your own original designs too. This would be the perfect book for someone just getting into embroidery; great for kids also.

Cute book. The format of this book was so hard to download though. I do love the easy to follow patterns though. Embroidery is a lost art.

Now I truly understands the basic embroidery and I can start on a project! I've been wanting to work on one but I didn't have spare time to go learn so this book is definitely a blessing for me! A great referral with easy to understand guide.

I am fairly new to embroidering and I just loved this book! Not only does it give excellent and easy-to-understand practical information about getting started in embroidery and techniques, but it comes with adorable cute patterns. The patterns tend to be more on the young and whimsical side (the front cover is an excellent indication of the patterns inside. So, you won't find intricate flowers or other similar patterns. This is more simple and contemporary cute. For that reason this could be a great gift for a 6+ year old who is just starting, although I can see a lot of fun projects I would do as an adult as well!

I was given an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Decine di spunti, idee e schemi per arricchire con fili colorati pressoché qualsiasi cosa: è questo che promette il titolo, e che mantiene con una teoria di coloratissime creazioni, di gradi di difficoltà differenti ma mai impraticabili, da sperimentare ovunque ci sia del tessuto.
Un libricino prezioso per chi ama tenere le mani impegnate creando oggetti graziosi e utili.

Adorable ideas. This book is chock-a-block full of inspiration. There are instructions at the beginning on basic embroidery. There are group photos of all the embroideries as well as templates to copy or transfer. I wish there would have been more instruction for each embroidery.

I would like to thank the publisher, author and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

How to Embroider Almost Everything by Wendi Gratz contains over 500 modern motifs with the aim of the book being to allow you to ‘learn to draw with thread’.

In the introductory section, Gratz provides a succinct set of instructions to ensure that you’re ready to dive into your project. These 19 pages contain everything from selecting your fabric, thread and needles to finishing your piece.

I particularly liked the emphasis on the reader actively making choices; embroidery shouldn’t be difficult or expensive to try out. Gratz is enthusiastic and supporting, offering trouble shooting tips on trickier stitches which I’m sure will save a lot of users from becoming frustrated.

Following this, we’re then led into the motifs. They’re divided into nine different categories which you can explore based on your interests – my favourite spreads include the one on space and the one on dinosaurs.

I’m not sure a review of an embroidery book would be complete without trying out one of the patterns, so I opted to stitch a little dinosaur!

I’m very happy with how he came out. The pattern was very easy to follow and having a two pages spread with the pattern on one side and an example on the next makes it even simpler!

Whilst this book is primarily targeted at children who are new to embroidery, it’s a fun piece for those looking to try out a more whimsical style or branch out of other forms of stitching.

Great instruction on stitches and awesome examples of things to embroider. It was helpful to see the instructions for the item along with the embroidered item.

Vine Customer Review of Free Product

First part of the book is all about stitches and materials and how to transfer patterns, and how to treat your fabrics. Lots of information there, especially for beginners. I really like the idea of using water soluble transfer sheets to print the design and then adhere to the fabric and stitch. So easy.

Then there are designs. What differs this book from a lot of modern embroidery books is that the author shows not only schematics for the project, but also the projects stitched out on fabric with thread. You can see how it actually looks in real life. I am very grateful for that. You get a picture of stitched out design, and the schematics with colors used to copy and print and embroider yourself, using suggested colors, or not. The designs are cute and there are lots and lots of them, including an alphabet and frames and borders. Lots of fun stuff there, and lots of inspiration.

This one is super cute. When I was a kid my mom had this giant book of alphabets and cute little designs you could use on craft projects. This reminds me of that but much smaller. There’s a good variety of motifs to use here.. Animals, people, houses, etc. So there’s a little of everything. Have a chef you want to make a present for? There’s kitchen gadgets and foods. My mom loves sun faces, there’s a couple of those here that I may have to stitch onto something for her.

There’s one page of instructions for following the patterns. I felt that was the weakest part of the book, but also not a huge issue because honestly, you’d probably buy this book for the patterns themselves and not the instructions since you can stitch them however you want.

As someone who is interested in embroidery, I found this book to be extremely helpful! The descriptions of the different fabrics and how to use them properly, how to best utilise the thread for each of them, a list of supplies, and of course how to do the basic stitching was so great.

I liked that the descriptions were short and simple. Oftentimes in books for beginners, there is so much information and that can make the process of learning a craft tedious and boring rather than fun. After reading them, I felt I had a better understanding of embroidery basics.

The photos and steps on how to do the basic stitches were clear and straightforward. I appreciated that Gratz was encouraging alongside those steps by reassuring the reader that there are so many things one can embroider by using those techniques. I can imagine that I am not the only one to feel intimidated by the beautiful embroidery that exists and Gratz's enthusiasm for beginners to give it their best was fantastic.

Overall, Gratz wrote a wonderful introductory book to the world of embroidery with a plethora of fun and simple patterns that I look forward to trying out.

How to Embroider Almost Everything by Wendi Gratz

A Sourcebook of 500+ Modern Motifs + Easy Stitch Tutorials - Learn to Draw with Thread!

This book has hundreds of ideas for anyone interested in embroidering something unique. Perhaps you want to decorate a pair of jeans or a dishtowel or a handkerchief or baby outfit. Simple line drawings are turned into interesting stitched creations that can embellish any fabric from stretchy to fine to heavy.

This book took me back to times my mother would drive us to snow ski then sit in the lodge stitching fabric to pass the time and then later she and I embroidered a pair of bell bottom jeans and a work shirt with mushrooms, mice, flowers and more.

Stitchery and handcrafts are not as often seen as they once were and this book could easily be used to teach young girls to stitch as part of a badge for scouts or just for fun on a rainy day.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

This book is such fun, with lots and lots of simple designs ready to be transferred to garments, gifts, or everything, and then stitched. The book illustrates 6 simple stitches - straight stitch, cross stitch, backstitch (with simple variations), lazy/chain stitch, French knot and satin stitch, that can be used to embroider the designs. They are categories including succulents, animals, space, cars, alphabet, trees, fish and so very much more. A lovely book for some very pretty, easy embroidery works. One can do lots or just one -whichever it will be guaranteed to be a winner.

This is a pretty comprehensive guide to embroidery, and includes sample designs as well as stitch instructions. The images are cute but feel a little generic, like clip art, but are a good, easy place to start. I don't know how well they would appeal to an experienced embroidery enthusiast, especially when the book mentions printing out designs and how easy embroidery can adapt to images you pick up yourself. The stock images aren't really the draw, although they are perfectly serviceable for projects. Instead, I was interested in the more modern approach to image transfers and techniques the book delves into. I use erasing markers that sometimes refuse to erase and sometimes I resort to miserable tracing at a window which is terrible for complicated pieces. There is the tactic of printing on fabric with a printer and some ironed freezer paper that I resort to too, which still is too much effort for too little result. I was really interested in the pattern transfer stabilizer the book mentions, as I haven't heard about it before and it sounds really uncomplicated. I was impressed that the older methods are mentioned, as well as something new that I had no idea about. The book really does give the impression that indeed almost everything can be embroidered and shows how to do it well, making the clip artish images seem unimportant to the overall enjoyment of the book.

This book stands out because it offers more than 500 stitch motifs based on sketches. From flowers and insects to fairies, unicorns, monsters and snowflakes.

Materials and fabrics are explained, as well as basic stitches and trouble shooting.

I had to laugh at the first part of the book, I carry my embroidery kit in an old Altoids tin, too.

This book provides a huge range of images, from people and animals, to buildings and flora. Also included are simple borders and an alphabet. I appreciate that it provides you with everything needed to create lovely embroidered designs, including instructions and advice on fabric, basic stitches and more.

I have not yet used the designs, but I plan on embroidering a hoop using the dinosaur images because they are so sweet! Although, my favourite design was the jellyfish.

I only wish that some final designs were also given, laid out as to how you would decorate a hoop. I'm not great at envisioning final products, so I would have liked to see the combinations of borders and designs together in a completed layout.