Needlepainted Plants and Pollinators: An insect lover's guide to silk shading embroidery

by Victoria Matthewson

Overview

"If you love the idea of needlepainting natural subjects in realistic ways, I think you’ll really love this book. There’s much to learn from it, and it’s a good guide in observation and in building “nature journaling” skills with needle and thread." - Mary Corbet

Exquisitely detailed and worked in silk floss thread with tiny size 12 needles, Victoria Matthewson's embroideries are a masterclass in thread painting, and shine with vibrant color and life.

Starting with key stitches and techniques, this inspiring and practical book contains 9 step-by-step embroidery projects. Choose from 9 key plant and pollinator combinations including the dogrose and greenbottle fly, ox-eye daisy and hoverfly, and fennel and seven-spot ladybird. Many people think of bees as being the only pollinators but, in fact, a wide variety of insects help with the pollination of plants, including butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles - all of which make wonderful subjects for embroidery. Each stunning project also contains fascinating entomological insights about each pollinator and its plant, verified by the experts at Buglife charity.

The book will suit people with some previous embroidery knowledge, or ambitious beginners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782218609
Publisher:	Search Press
Publication date:	11/09/2021
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,066,761
Product dimensions:	9.31(w) x 10.13(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Victoria Matthewson is a hand embroidery artist specializing in needlepainting, also known as silk shading or long and short stitch embroidery. Combining her love of nature and craft she has developed a distinctive style of embroidery, creating realistic artwork inspired by British flora and fauna, with a special focus on insects.

Working in silk floss thread (as it creates a depth of colour and shine that brings each piece to life) and using the smallest size 12 embroidery needles and a magnifying lamp, each piece can take between weeks and months to complete.

She is proud to have built a reputation as one of the top silk shading artists in the UK: in March 2018 she won Needlecrafter of the Year at the National Needlecraft Awards in collaboration with DMC thread for her embroidered ladybird. She has recently been accepted to join The Society for Embroidered Work and have also created two recent projects for Stitch magazine.

Her website is www.victoriamatthewson.com

Editorial Reviews

Mary Corbet's Needle 'n' Thread - Oct 2021

This is one of the books I’ve been Absolutely Dying to get to! The book is Needlepainted Plants and Pollinators: An Insect Lover’s Guide to Silk Shading Embroidery by Victoria Matthewson. It is a lovely book from Search Press, and it falls into a very interesting category. It’s pretty much a nature journal in thread, combined with instruction and projects.
I knew it was going to be good. 

Unlike many needlework books, Needlepainted Plants and Pollinators is a hardbound book, which gives it a “coffee table book” feel – and for good reason. Whether interested in embroidery or not, this is the type of book that anyone can pick up and connect to. After all, we all live on a beautiful planet filled with growing things and curious creatures. Whether we “see” them is another question – but we know they are there. Opening the pages of the book is rather magical – there’s almost a Wow! on every page.

If you love the idea of needlepainting natural subjects in realistic ways, I think you’ll really love this book. There’s much to learn from it, and it’s a good guide in observation and in building “nature journaling” skills with needle and thread.

There’s nothing I don’t like about this book. All my little pleasure molecules in my brain start buzzing when I open it. It makes me happy.

From the Publisher