In 'Beautiful Botanical Embroidery' you can find step by step instructions of embroidering flowers and botanical motifs, but the book is rather short and there are only a few patterns shown and no templates. I think that templates in craft books are the most important bit. They enable us to actually try to create patterns from the book. I was rather disappointed looking through the book, I wouldn't buy it.

An absolutely gorgeous book filled with projects both large and small.

An avid embroiderer (or an adventurous beginner) will love this book of exquisite embroidery designs. There are small projects like embroidered earrings and a brooch, as well as more ambitious ones, like handbags. The diagrams are full-sized, and the author provides instructions at the end on how to make the stitches. There are no extremely complicated stitches; mostly outline stitch, running stitch and lazy daisy, as well as French knots. Near the end of the book are instructions for how to make these stitches. There are also instructions on how to transfer the motifs to your fabric.

The samples photographed were made using Olympus thread, but on page 60 is a conversion chart to DMC thread colors.

I absolutely love this book and will look for more titles by this author.

Pros: In an incredibly stressful year like 2021, creating art through embroidery is one of my favorite ways to distract my hands from my phone. I have embroidered many sets of tea towels using iron-on transfers, but I’m always looking for new stitches and techniques. I was drawn to this book because it focuses specifically on botanicals, which feature prominently in the kinds of embroidery patterns I am drawn to. The projects photographed and featured in this book are lovely and inspiring—I saw several things I wanted to start working on immediately.

I took notes as I read this book on projects to come back to, and here are some of my notes: My favorite project was the owl on Page 15! Also, I had never thought to embroider jewelry—the broach and earrings featured on page 18 were lovely. I loved the floral-inspired numbers on pages 34 and 35 and letters on 38 and 39 and am trying to come up with a project where I can use this technique.

Cons: Although the author/artist does a great job making this book accessible to embroiderers of all skill levels, there might be some embroiderers who struggle to learn by reading a book. For those visual learners, I suggest watching some how-to videos on YouTube to supplement what they learn in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zakka Workshop for the opportunity to read this book!

This is a genuinely gorgeous book, with a nice variety of embroidery patterns. The instructions for every step of the construction process, from transferring the design to sewing the embroidered fabric into finished objects, are very clear. I appreciate that it includes the sewing-up instructios, as many other books rely on ready-made products, which can be harder to find. Beautiful Botanical Embroidery is approachable enough for an advanced beginner (or an adventurous one) but still has enough to keep a more experienced crafter interested.