Colourful and contemporary embroidery for the modern stitcher.

There’s something magical about embroidery – some thread, some stitches, some time, and suddenly a plain piece of material is transformed into a picture, a pattern, or a piece of geometric art. Embroidery today is moving away from the traditional to the modern, with motifs including everything from cacti to crystals, simple white stitching on coloured cloth, decorative stitches on denim, and mandala patterns as wall art. Laura Strutt has designed 35 modern makes taking you from the simplest of stitches to more sophisticated techniques. Each make has full step-by-step instructions and there are coloured charts where needed for you to recreate the look exactly – but of course you can always choose your own colours if you prefer. With tips on everything from finishing pieces to colour theory, and a techniques section covering all the stitches you will need to know, you can hand-embroider any of these projects with confidence.

Following the runaway success of Sew!, Cath Kidston has turned her unique designer's eye to Stitch! Reinventing the arts of needlepoint and cross stitch for today's crafter, Cath has injected her own distinctive style of cheery, heartwarming, homemaking prints into these traditional crafts. Her blossom rose floral design worked in needlepoint creates the most fabulous clutch bag - not a million miles away from those seen on the Fendi catwalk this season - whilst her seventiesinspired pop flowers print makes a funky needlepoint cushion that wouldn't look out of place in any teenager's bedroom. There are plenty of quick, accessible and highly achievable projects throughout the book - Cath's popular quartet of fruit motifs, including the delectable cherries and apples, lend themselves brilliantly to making small cross stitched patches or badges that can adorn anything from a satchel pocket to a parka sleeve. In many projects to complement the stitched pieces, Cath has injected one of her trademark prints - for example, her polka dot and floral reworking of the needlepoint Union Jack is made up into a cushion using her iconic red dot cotton duck fabric for a backing. The beauty of both needlepoint and cross stitch is that they are worked on a canvas made up of a grid of squares, so - just like painting-by-numbers - it is virtually foolproof and a great result is guaranteed. 

CATH KIDSTON BOOK DOES NOT INCLUDE SEWING KIT