Wonderful link between crafting and meditation! It's nice to seem someone connect the dots between the two. There are great explanations of both stitches and mindfulness/meditation practices, and patterns that I may be brave enough to try. A good add to your collections; in a time where we need mindfulness practices and coping strategies more than ever, this is going to be a book I booktalk often.

MYSTICAL STITCHES by Christi Johnson

As the title implies, it is all about sewing stitches for decoration on clothing or accessories. I chose this book for the designs offered, I value them for their artistic properties. There is a good spread of designs, none too satanic or witchcraft looking. I had reservations since it's titled Mystical.

The author has models wearing clothing articles that have been embroidered using the designs offered in the book, so you will have an idea of how they look on the finished product.

Highly recommend. Perfect for needle artists and even journalers like myself.

Many thanks for the complimentary copy of #mysticalstitches from #netgalley I was under no obligation to post a review.

This book is really good! I wish I had a book like this when I started embroidery. It explains how to start and the different kinds of stitches and how to realise them.
I also learned new tips, stitches, improved my skills and harmonised the colour of my threads.
I really loved all the symbols and the explanations that are within it was really interesting and inspiring.
I am just sad that there is not really pages with the pattern in an easy way to reproduce them. Because let's talk about the patterns! They are amazing and really beautiful, looking forward to introducing more to my embroideries.

Beautifully presented book with clear instructions and interesting backstory and explanations. Perfect for the current trend of all things witchy and the renewed interest in handcrafts.

This book is beautiful and inspiring. The pages are filled with step-by-step guides and projects, handy hints and lots of inspiration for creating your own designs.

Wow! I absolutely love this book and can’t wait to get started on trying out some ‘mystic’ embroidery. Not only does this book give very clear instructions to a novice embroiderer like myself but also provides an insight into the symbolism and history of the different stitches and techniques. A beautifully illustrated book and a very refreshing approach by the author to this fascinating craft. A book to be treasured and passed down to the next generation of sewers. Highly recommended.

Wow, I love this book! Not only is there easy to follow technical information on stitch techniques, materials, and colour harmony, it also covers intentions, symbols, meditation, yoga poses, and so much more.

So many beautiful ideas; I especially love the botanical section.

This would be a lovely gift for someone interested in slow living or mindfulness.

Like many creative books that focus on finding peace, joy and mindfulness while creating, this is a book about embroidery with intent. Author Christi Johnson explores the union of creation and manifestation with needle and thread.

I found this book to include many wonderful designs, nice photography and information on mindful stitching. While I don’t agree with all the magical content in this book, I can say that as a self-taught sewist and embroiderer I can appreciate the details the author included.

Beautiful book. There are tons of embroidery books out there, but this is such a unique approach. I love the concept and really hope to add some of these projects to my sewing queue. This book includes a lot of really great ideas and techniques as well as her own symbolism and designs. I'm inspired to use her designs and maybe create some of my own as well.

I would recommend this to friends.

Not what i was exactly looking for but thats my own fault for not reading the description. Sure its a great book for those into this specific realm of things

4 stars

This is a unique pattern book, not just offering designs, but the artist’s reflections on building intent & meaning behind them. I recommend this as an aid for exploring designing your own patterns, & as a reference for embroidering basic shapes, animals, symbols, etc.

The writer discusses how embroidery as an art form is an artistic outlet for meditation & spiritual transformation for her. She discusses symbology, talismans, creative inspiration, & some meditational practices she enjoys.

[What I liked:]

•The reflections on the creative process & creating designs that evoke deep personal meaning are great. I’ll be considering those ideas & playing with them as I design my own future patterns.

•There is a basic materials & stitch guide, but it does include some insightful tips such as the best ways to split floss, anchoring methods, etc., that aren’t in most basic guides.

•The art/designs are gorgeous! Bold, colorful, intricate, & lively. The designer’s work reminds me of Tessa Perlow’s style of embroidery (an embroidery artist I adore).

•The patterns include a great variety of components that can be built into a larger design: animals, plants, celestial bodies, geometrical designs, mythical creatures, human body parts, nature, as well as mystical/esoteric symbols & items like wands & pyramids.

•There is info on building your own color schemes (basic color theory), and working basic shapes or components into bigger compositions. This is great stuff! Helpful to me since I’ve been designing my own patterns for years now, but know I can grow in that. There are also a handful of the author’s own compositions, shown as finished works on upcycled clothing.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•This is because of my personal values & not any intrinsic flaw in the book, but this book was not exactly what I expected. There is more emphasis on spiritual practices & beliefs I don’t adhere to than I thought. That’s okay though! I’m sure others will find the book meaningful & resonant in ways I did not.

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the style of this book, and it was cutely done. I loved the bright colors and all of the cute ideas in this book. I think that this book is definitely a must buy if you like or want to learn more about embroidery and if you like mystical creatures.

Mystical Stitches by Christi Johnson is an incredible journey into spiritualism and how it can be manifested in your embroidery projects. Ms. Johnson goes in depth into the topic and combines it with clear stitching diagrams, beautiful motifs for stitching as well as how to choose your own motifs to express your inner self.

This beautiful compendium will expand your mind as well as your skills...an excellent addition to your embroidery library! THank you to the author, Storey Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this publication in exchange for my honest review.

An absolutely gorgeous book! Meaningful, intentional, and also informative. Not very difficult and covers the basics, too. Will recommend to purchase and for others when published.

Mystical Stitches by Christi Johnson

9781635863345

198 Pages
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Release Date: June 22, 2021

Nonfiction, Crafts & Hobbies, Symbolism, Needlecrafts, Embroidery

This book brought back a lot of memories for me. In the 1970s, I embroidered on the back pockets of all my jeans. Looking at the stitches in this book, I can see I used a lot of different types but did not know their names.

The book is divided into the following categories.

Intention
Materials
Stitch Methods
Treasury of Symbols
Creating Your Talisman
The Art of Ritual
Stitch Key

The images in the book are gorgeous. I absolutely love the reconnect with Your Magic Hands exercise. What a nice way to recognize the energy in our hands. It has been years since I have done any type of needle work, but this book has inspired me to get out my embroidery floss and hoops. If you love embroidery, you will love this book. It has a little something for everyone.

I really liked the style of this book. I loved the focus on creating art for art's sake and not worrying about it being perfect. The colours used were really vibrant and engaging and I liked how every design was actually stitched so you could see what the final product would look like. I would say I don't think this book is for beginners as the instructions for the various types of stitches were somewhat difficult to follow if you don't already have a knowledge of embroidery. I really liked the emphasis on creativity and exploring ideas and meanings and think the layout of the book is really unique.

This is a unique embroidery book in that it marries spirituality with embroidery instruction. The book covers embroidery stitch basics, choosing colors, fabrics and threads as well as a list of various symbol motifs (broken down into categories such as geometric shapes, animals, botanica, etc.) that can be used to create talismans that can be stitched onto fabric. I own a lot of embroidery books and this one definitely covers all the bases, but I think this will especially appeal to those that enjoy a more avant-garde approach to embroidery, especially if they like things of the witchy persuasion. This is definitely worth picking up!

The cover is absolutely gorgeous, it's what grabbed my attention immediately about this book.

Mystical Stitches is a fantastic collection of embroidery ideas with good guidance and general 'best practice' tips for stitching. It's a little more complex than first looks, so it's not great for beginners but it's still reasonably easy to follow if you're confident and don't mind 'learning on the job' so to speak.

There are great illustrations of different types of stitches, alongside photographs showing what those stitches would look like in practice.

Thanks to NetGalley, Storey Publishing and Christi Johnson for an eArc copy of this beautiful embroidery book, in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, the contents in this book are absolutely stunning. Teaching of the stitches is easy to follow, and the layout and format of the book is easily understandable, colourful, and easy to read. I haven't done much embroidery myself, being an avid cross stitcher and not daring, but all the motifs in here make me desperate for another go.

Some of my favourites in the book include the fantasical creatures, horoscopes and the botanicals.

Perfect for beginners, embroiders into the mystique and for anyone interested in learning new techniques, forms and needing some inspiration.

Mystical Stitches Embroidery for Personal Empowerment and Magical Embellishment by Christi Johnson is an outside the box embroidery book. I think the beautiful cover drew me in. There are several chapters beginning with the reader’s intentions. Then there is a discussion regarding tools and not found in most embroidery books – the anatomy of a stitch which was very well illustrated. The subsequent three chapters discussed straight stitches, stitch for coverage, tuck stitches and stitches for coverage. The rest of the book is full of nice designs which were mostly ‘new age, spiritual’. The book relies heavily on the spiritual side of creating. There are discussions about mythology, astrology, meditation, yoga and even talismans.

Very disappointed that there were no patterns to trace and more explanation of how to achieve the end result. I believe this book is directed for a specific audience and not the regular embroider enthusiast. While the book was organized well I would have moved the color theory part to the beginning. Unfortunately I did not find it as useful as I had hoped.

I would like to thank Storey Publishing, Christi Johnson and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.