Editorial Review
Asian-inspired lampshades embellished with flying fish. Canvas sneakers decorated with pink and white swirls. A pretty pillow adorned with a sleeping bunny, sweetly curled up. All it takes to create these appealing projects—or add charming embroidered touches in no time at all—are a few simple stitches, some easy techniques, and the nearly 30 projects in this book. Begin by learning several styles for outlining, filling, decorating, and appliqué. Find out about floss, fancy threads, fabrics, and needles. Get the scoop on hoops, and the lowdown on transferring your very own designs onto every type of fabric. The fresh ideas, witty patterns, and clever color illustrations take stitchers from novice to accomplished in a blink of the eye!
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Customer Reviews
Perfect For A Beginner! 
2008-06-04
I am a beginner at the art of embroidery. I love this book. It has very clear instructions on embroidery stitches. I love the idea of doodle-stitching! No boring clip art stuff here!
Nice projects but quite few patterns 
2008-05-07
This book is quite nice and the projects are all very do-able. The color combinations used are very nice and I liked Aimee's pattern style.
But my only regret is that there is very few patterns in the book and most of the project photographs are highlighted on the finished product and so the patterns don't get much focus. It would have been great if Aimee has bundled in more of her patterns at the end of the book so that we had more choices to mix and match various patterns in the same projects that she have shown.
Great Book 2008-04-28
This book of embroidery is just very inspiring. I probably won't make all the projects in the book but I will use the designs on other stuff. I have already copied the front cover and embroideried a bird on my capris and a deer on another pair and I used the pattern from the skirt on the leg of my jeans. The designs just make you want to embroider everything. And it is easy. The only thing I have to say is that I do have some experience in embroidery and I know that even though the instructions say most of the designs in this book were done with six threads--that is not the best way to get good looking stitches. There are some good instructions in the book but you may want to look further to get your stitches looking even better. For the best satin stitches I won't use more than 3 threads. But I am still giving the book 5 stars because it has alot of patterns you can copy and is very inspiring!
Very Inspiring 2008-04-22
I just started embroidering and this book was full of beautiful and inspiring images. It gave me lots of ideas of what I could do with the things that I'm embroidering and had some great fun projects.
The only downside was the lack of iron-on transfers. Not everyone can draw the images that are displayed and having to bust out the fabric transfer paper gets old.
But overall, I would recommend this book because it gives a fresh view on embroidering and really inspired me to turn my doodles into stitches.
Not for me 
2008-04-20
I was really excited by the other reviews this book got. It had some good ideas, basically that you can stitch anything you want using any sketch or picture and use any stitch or make up one. But hey, nothing presented here taught me anything or stimulated me creatively. I'm an advanced beginner and I prefer Sublime Stitchery for the absolute beginner, up to intermediate level. It has stencils you can iron on and the directions for embroidery stitches are great. Another good book is The Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Embroidery Stitches. With these two books you'll learn a lot and have fun doing so.
thorough details make this THE book for learning 2008-07-10
I have been in search for a book like this for years, honestly. There are very little options for cute, casual embroidery out there and this one has several patterns that can be used on much more than the depicted use. One reviewer noted that there are several pages that have patterns not included in the book. I agree, this is disappointing but you can find a couple of these patterns on the author's etsy page ([...]) and she will send them to you as a PDF. The step by step instructions are so thorough that even an embroidered quilt doesn't seem daunting and I'm actually excited about putting it all together. That's a first. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because I was a little disappointed in the actual projects - I'd love to have seen more projects like placemats and tablecloths, baby onesies and bibs... things like that. Otherwise, this book is very exciting. Highly recommended for the thorough details that make the prospect easy, plus the complete guide to the stitches - excellent for a beginner!
Easy to do and fun to read. 2008-07-08
This is a great beginner embroidery book. The directions are easy to follow and each project had good pictures. The print is also large enough to read easily, which isn't true of many craft books. I'm very happy with my purchase.
Amazing! 2008-07-05
I have been greatly inspired by Aimee Ray's embroidery. Picking up this book was great because I was able to get a good idea of stitches and see some wonderful project ideas. I had never embroidered before I had seen her work, so I can vouch for this being a great source for a beginner. Some customers complain that some items lack patterns, and while this is true they are available on the author's etsy page. I saw those as an example of what works using stitches taught could turn out like. The nature of the works Aimee Ray is exhibiting in her book is just like the title, doodle-stitching. I don't see it as wanting the readers to necessarily copy each thing from the book, but inciting them to be creative.
Even though transfer methods are discussed, which is greatly beneficial, depending on one's resources it can be rather difficult. If there are no other resources (copier or a light box), I would recommend having carbon paper on hand. Tracing paper may also be very useful, but a transfer pen or pencil would also be necessary.
Doodle Stitching ... a keeper 2008-07-02
I've purchased many craft books, only to return immediately because the cover/description were completely misleading, but this is not one. Clear pictures and descriptions, and I love that it provides instructions not only for the embroidery, but sewing the projects as well.
A (good) case of mistaken identity 2008-06-25
I bought this book, thinking it was connected to Jenny Hart and Sublime Stitching: Hundreds of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-To. Much to my amazement - actually, just now, more or less - they are not. But the styles are very, VERY similar. The main difference is that in this book, you will get mostly craft ideas and some designs. In Sublime Stitching you'll get mostly designs (iron-on). Both are geared towards beginners - and both have very lengthy introductions into the basic steps and stitches.
While I'm now very startled that I did not in fact buy a Jenny Hart title, I am very pleased to have found a new embroidery sensei to follow in Aimee Ray.
One last note: the model used in the book is attractive, but has the weirdest pseudo-smile that unnerves me. Be on your guard. The crafts are worth it, though.
