Machine Embroidered Woodlands by Alison Holt, softback published by Search Press. ISBN 978-1-84448-273-3, price 9.99 from www.searchpress.com

Following on from Alison’s earlier books concentrating on flowers and landscapes, this fantastic addition looks at creating woodland landscapes. (See the other reviews for all Alison’s books and DVD). Using a basic sewing machine, you’ll find information on threads and stitches to get started. There are three detailed, step-by-step projects and numerous other photographs to fire the imagination.

Beginner’s Guide to Machine Embroidered Flowers by Alison Holt, softback published by Search Press. ISBN 978-1-84448-058-6, price 9.99 from www.searchpress.com

This is an excellent follow-on from Alison’s Machine Embroidered Landscapes book (see other reviews for all three books and DVD). Most basic machines can handle this type of free-motion embroidery and Alison provides you with the know-how to produce incredibly detailed flowers. 

The book follows the same format as the first giving the basics of getting started in machine embroidery and silk painting. Discover how to paint with your machine, how to group plants and leaves and how to combine stitches. There are three how to’s to produce beautiful flower embroideries and numerous other examples of work in full colour in this brilliant 80-page book, perfect for machine embroiderers of all skill levels.

Beginner’s Guide to Machine Embroidered Landscapes by Alison Holt, softback published by Search Press. ISBN 978-0-85532-917-4, price 8.95 from www.searchpress.com

The world of machine embroidery is bewildering. Where do you begin? I would personally reach out for Alison Holt’s books (see other reviews for all three and the DVD). Why Alison? Not only does she have a thorough grounding of sewing machines and how to use them for painting with thread, but she also has a love and knowledge of flowers and plants that comes through in her exquisite work.

Alison’s work is quite detailed and she is an enthusiastic teacher. In this book she gives a basic introduction to equipment for machine embroidery including choosing threads and for silk painting. She also discusses design and using photographs, colour and painting a background fabric.

This fabulous book encourages the machine embroiderer to experiment with different stitches to achieve the effect they want. There are three complete step-by-step embroideries to complete. This 80-page book is a tremendous beginner’s guide to its subject. With lots of practice, you should be able to complete the projects.