Trish Burr is the artist who made me fall in love with hand embroidery. The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers was the first book I bought when I started my hand embroidery journey and I was completely mesmerized and forever in love with her works and the beautiful needle painting technique.
Trish’s books are all amazing, so be sure to check out my article on the best needle painting books to learn more about her other titles.
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About the Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers
This beautiful and inspiring book was written by needlework artist Trish Burr and created in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The beautiful works in the book are embroideries of botanical artworks from Kew’s Art Collection.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is home to two world-famous gardens: one in South West London – the Kew Gardens and the other one in West Sussex – Wakehurst. Under royal patronage and guided by the “Our future is botanic” credo, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a scientific organization dedicated to sustainability and plant science development.
The book itself is a state-of-the-art project, beautifully presented in an elegant hardcover folder, with stunning detailed illustrations and photography. The book not only provides all the patterns needed for the projects, but it also comes with a set of reusable iron-on transfers, so you don’t have to hand-trace your patterns onto your fabric. How amazing is that?!
The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers was published by Search Press in June 2020. No wonder, since all Search Press craft books are fantastic!
About Trish Burr
Trish Burr is a self-taught embroidery artist from South Africa, specialized in needle painting and whitework techniques. More like a magician with needle and thread!
She’s inspiring us for more than two decades while creating patterns and stunning embroidered works, writing books, teaching, and spreading the love of the craft all over the world.
If you’re not familiar with her amazing work yet, you can visit her website, where she teaches and shares her art and knowledge.
The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers
Now let’s have a look at what’s actually inside this stunning book. I’m sure you can not wait!
The book begins with a foreword by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew about their history, and continues with an introduction from Trish telling us a bit about her story.
Trish’s introduction is heartwarming and encourages beginners to have a go, a glimpse of the beautiful human she is, not just a magician with thread!
The next few pages provide a comprehensive guide to the needle painting technique, basically, everything you need to know in order to get started: tools and materials, preparation, mounting, and framing, illustrated stitch instructions, and details about how to practice the long and short stitch.
The way the technique is deconstructed and how this book explains how to approach a needle painting project was an immense help for me in the beginning. Before buying this book, I never stitched a needle painting project and honestly, I was a bit intimidated by the technique.
For me, this book made everything so easy! Once I understood the basics I could apply the same principles to most other needle painting projects – from choosing the thread colors, how to approach a project, order of work, anatomy of a flower, and so on.
Another thing I love about this book is the fact that the projects are divided into levels. The technique itself might look intimidating in the beginning, but studying and understanding the basics presented in the first few pages will allow any beginner to complete the projects in this book.
Simple projects include:
Japanese anemone, Flower sampler, Clematis, Camellia
Part of the Simple Projects section is this stunning Flower Sampler which you can stitch individually or as a completed project on its own. All eighteen small elements in the sampler are accompanied by a step-by-step tutorial.
All projects are excellently detailed with step-by-step images to guide you through each stage.
Intermediate projects include:
Rhododendron, Waterlily, Iris, Spider chrysanthemum
Advanced projects include:
Rose, Magnolia, Poppy
In the final project, you will learn how to stitch this stunning poppy plate sampler! Starting with the more advanced projects you’ll see Trish introducing the Au Ver a Soie silk threads to the materials lists.
I still haven’t used them yet, but so looking forward! There is nothing more beautiful than silk threads used in needle painting projects. There’s a reason why the technique is also called silk shading (laughing).
Finally, there is a thread substitution chart, the full-size patterns for all projects, and a guide on how to use the iron-on transfers.
Almost forgot to mention the cherry on top of this masterpiece, the reusable iron-on transfers safely stored inside the front pocket! These come in very handy if you don’t want to spend the extra time hand-tracing the patterns onto your fabric.
Nothing really more to add, a stellar book! I still keep it close whenever I’m planning a needle painting project!
PROS
- Very informative and easy to follow even for beginner stitchers
- This book covers all you need to know about the needle painting technique
- Comes with reusable iron-on transfers for all patterns included in the book
CONS
- None that I can think of. If you’re looking to learn the embroidery needle painting technique this book is a must-have in any embroiderer’s toolbox!
Get the Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers
The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers is by far one of my favorite embroidery books on the market. A must-have for all needle painting lovers or anyone interested in exploring this beautiful technique!
The Kew Book of Embroidered Flowers by Trish Burr
• Amazing contemporary guide to embroidered flowers focusing on the needle painting technique
• 11 Step-by-Step Projects
• Iron on transfer patterns included
Your purchase also supports the vital work of Kew – saving the plants and fungi around the world that might one day save us.
If you’re looking for more flower inspiration, don’t miss out on the flower coloring pages article. Even though they’re not exactly embroidery patterns, you can totally tweak them for a cool hand embroidery project and use the same technique covered in this book.
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More Articles You’ll Love
- Best Needle Painting Books for All Skill Levels
- Colour Confident Stitching by Karen Barbé
- The Embroiderer’s Story by Thomasina Beck
- Victorian Embroidery by Freda Parker
Which books have inspired you the most in your creative journey? I would love to hear about your experience and preferences in the comments below.
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