Gorgeous projects, mostly floral, are shown in full color photographs separated into sections based on color. The first part of the book shows all the finished projects, then the back has templates, stiches used in each part of the design, and color guides. There are some pages that show how to do the stitches, but this could be expanded on - a beginner might need more guidance than what is shown. Overall, a nice book of floral embroidery projects.

This book has lots of lovely ideas for botanic inspired embroidery but has some information that a beginner needs missing. It has lovely clear explanations with photographs on things like how to hoop your work, how to start your embroidery and hide your threads but some of the stitches are glossed over with only a one page stitch guide right at the end of the book, covering all the required stitches. It's shame it doesn't have the same clear instructions for these stitches, and the end of the book was not where I expected to find them.
I also always struggle with books that have all the photos of the projects up front and then all the directions at the back, I'd much rather have them together.

The book has some lovely projects but the book is poorly organised, and I think it's better for someone who already knows the basics of embroidery. With a more logical layout this book could be excellent.


Thank you to NetGalley and Zakka Workshop for the ARC in return for an honest review

I honestly was a little bit disappointed in this book, but maybe that's because I expected something different. This book has beautiful patterns and templates, but it is definitely not a book for beginners. It shows how to stitch the several flowers used for the demonstrations in the book, but it never shows how to make the basic stitches. The explanations are more like "stitch the french knots in this kind of order and pattern", but never explains how to make a french knot. So as a beginner I'm definitely lost and can't replicate the templates without further books or Youtube videos etc. The templates also look a little confusing to me, as the explanations to them are mostly about how to make e.g. the bag or cut the cloth and not about the stitches themselves. But maybe that's just because I'm a beginner, I can't honestly say.
So overall it's a book with a lot of very beautiful flower patterns and inspirations for your own creativity if you are already embroidering. Beginners like me should probably first look for another book. Overalll 3 Stars, because it may not have been meant for embroidery starters from the beginning (though if so, it might not have hurt to make that a little bit clearer).
Thanks to the Publisher for providing me an ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC !
I like how the book is made. It separate first the stitches by colours, and gives great ideas about the colours that you can easily match together.
After I found the different explanation about the different stitches and the step really clear and easy to follow.
Then all the pattern are inside with all the colours code and the type of stitches to use.
I really found this book clear and with pretty embroidery pattern ! I definitely recommend and will buy it for myself !

I enjoy doing crafts and embroidery when I am feeling up to it. So it was fun to download this guide and see what some of the projects were and if I might be able to complete them. I always enjoy looking though guides like this and seeing the creativity people have.

What a beautiful book! I love embroidery books and this one collated by Ms. Makabe is simply lovely. I have rarely read such clear, concise and simple instructions for creating wonderful pieces of embroidery. I have no hesitation in recommending this book as a reference or indeed as a coffee table fixture. My grateful thanks to the author, publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this publication.

Beautiful Botanical Embroidery is a tutorial guide with patterns for surface embroidery by Alice Makabe. Due out 15th Oct 2021 from Zakka Workshop, it's 112 pages and will be available in paperback format.

It's nice to see embroidery and other fibrecrafts enjoying a renaissance of sorts. In times (long) past, people would learn these skills as a matter of necessity, handed down from generation to generation in the family. That's no longer true, so crafters must turn to other sources of instruction. The internet (youtube, ravelry, et.al.) and other social media channels are good sources of instruction, but for not-strictly-visual learners like me, books are still vital. I learn better if I have a book sitting in front of me and if I don't feel like I constantly have to pause the video to figure out what I'm doing.

This is a well written and formatted guide to botanical embroidery projects along with basic stitch instructions and templates which are suitable for beginning to advanced embroiderers. There's a thumbnail gallery table of contents arranged by primary project color (white, blue, pink, green, and yellow), followed by projects and motifs arranged into comprehensive photo collages. The actual project chapters are contained in the back of the book, and include line drawn templates with stitch keys and charts. Finishing directions are included, but many (most?) of the projects will lend themselves to a wide variety of projects.
The stitch diagrams which are provided include clear line drawn schematics for straight stitch, lazy daisy, satin, French knot, chain stitch (used in most of the projects), and other surface embroidery techniques. It would be possible to complete the projects in the book by just using the stitch tutorials, but obviously having a more experienced stitching buddy would help.

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.

Beautiful projects. Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The book has some beautiful patterns for creating your own embroidery patterns. The information and instructions for the patterns were helpful also. I particularly liked the section that contained information on the tools needed for creating embroidery. I was expecting to see instructions on how to perform the stitches, but that was not detailed in this book. Other than that, this book is great for beginners and experts in embroidery.

Beautiful simple designs suitable for everyone including beginners. I really like how it’s split into colours. I will definitely be embroidering some of the designs

A great book if you are looking for some classic yet unique botanical embroidery patterns! The book is well laid-out with photos of the designs at the beginning, then the pattern templates in the next section, along with thread suggestions and helpful tips. At first I was a little overwhelmed because I don't know all of the stitch names and how to do them yet, but at the end of the book there is a diagram with how to stich each stitch needed! I'm looking forward to using a few of these patterns, particularly the owl and the trees!

Thank you to Netgalley and Zakka Workshop for an e-ARC!

Lovely book to make items and improve their looks with embroidery -excellent! Lots of ideas and examples to choose from.

Such a beautiful book, very well illustrated and easy instructions.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Beautiful Botanical Embroidery delivers on its title: the photographs are stunning, the embroidery is intricate, and the instructions are helpful.

I loved this collection! As someone new to embroidery I found the instructions helpful.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This appears to be a beautiful book, with some inspiring and original designs. Unfortunately my review copy did not have any templates for the designs, so I am not able to comment on how clear or helpful these would have been. Also there weren't many photographs but I assume there will be more in the hard copy.
The book looked potentially very interesting but the review copy did not give me enough information on which to base a full review.

I love embroidered flowers and this book is just up my alley! The patterns are so pretty and delicate, more than enough to brighten anything made out of fabric. Clear instructions and diagrams are given to sew the final projects featured here though, so it’s really up to you. Full size templates and diagrams are provided so you won’t go wrong.

Zakka workshop has such wonderful craft books. I’ve come to expect nothing but the loveliest of books with really great diagrams and instructions for making awesome things!

I received a free copy for review from NetGalley. I love to embroider/craft and this definitely caught my eye. It is a lovely book laid out with beautiful pictures of the embroidery and various projects. The designs are quite graphic, and while they seem relatively simple, they are very stylish, textural, and lovely in their simplicity.

I like how she included a botanical alphabet pattern as well, and all the templates in the back for the various designs, as well as some simple sewn projects to feature the patterns, like little bags. These are very achievable projects for someone less experienced with embroidery, but also fun, and satisfying projects with someone with experience too. I think that, after previewing the e-book, that I would be tempted to get the hard copy for my own collection of crafting books and these patterns would be very nice on simple articles of clothing, or on a cafe curtain for my side kitchen window, or some of the bucket bags I make too, from recycled jeans. I suspect that some of them would translate well to smaller designs for mini hoops for pendants/broaches/ornaments, or for bead embroidery too.

Yes, I quite liked this and will be putting it on my wish list for hard copy books too.

A pretty enough selection of embroidery ideas! However it's quite short and the choices are not that unique compared to the countless embroidery books out there. Also there's no templates which is a bummer.

One of the themes I like the most in embroidery are plants and flowers and this book is all about that! I still have a lot of problem with leaves and I hope this book will help me improve them!

Beautiful images, projects that inspire you to get out the embroidery threads. The projects are much more inspiring than the usual embroidery projects.
Stitches used are explained and tools required are listed. Only drawback - and a major one at that - the embroidery templates do not appear.
Is this because the book is on Netgalley? Would make me hesitate to purchase the e-book .

Beautiful Botanical Embroidery is a wonderful guide to embroidering motifs inspired by nature. The projects range in difficulty, so there is a project for crafters of all skill sets.

The book begins with a series of projects that the author has stitched up. They’re sorted by color palette, which I thought was interesting. The projects range from simple embellishments on cloth to more detailed designs on aprons and bags. From there the author provides a guide for tools you will need to begin your embroidery journey and instructions for all of the stitches you will need to follow these designs. The illustrations were helpful and easy to follow. There are also tips for transferring these designs to your intended fabric.

I really appreciated the varying level of complexity with these designs. I’m a beginner stitcher, but feel like I could tackle some of the larger projects.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.