Six flamboyant crewel birds to stitch in popular author Hazel Blomkamp's much-loved, sumptuous style.
In this fourth title in Hazel Blomkamp's series on crewel embroidery with a twist, the focus is on farm and game birds. The birds give a nod to current trends, most notably the Zentangle look with crewel-style filling-in stitches and techniques. Crewel Birds is a celebration of Hazel's signature techniques: a wide variety of surface/crewel stitches, some of which are brand new and many with a different take or different ways of combining stitches to make them more interesting.
Also included are needle lace techniques as embroidery stitches, loom weaving techniques modified for embroidery, and unique combinations of both of these. The incorporation of beads and crystals adds even more dazzle to the intricate designs. There are six projects, each explained with detailed step-by-step instructions and clear photographs, with design templates and a full stitch gallery providing everything readers need to recreate them with ease. The projects comprise a phoenix, rooster, common pheasant, mallard duck, flamingo and golden pheasant.
In addition to these sumptuous embroideries, Hazel explains how to hand quilt the backgrounds and finish the edges with binding to put them together in a 'rag book', as an alternative to framing. For embroiderers looking for something different and new to stitch, and for those keen to challenge themselves with more complex embroidery techniques, this book is a must-have.
From Inspirations Stitched Up May 2020
Continuing in her fantastic and enormously popular style, affectionately known as crewel embroidery with a twist, Crewel Birds features six magnificent farm and game birds to stitch. Choose from Nigel the Flamingo, Dick the Duck, Dave the Pheasant, Claude the Phoenix, Kevin the Fanciful Pheasant or our personal favourite, Colin the Rooster.
Every project is bursting with colour and guaranteed to provide many hours of stitching pleasure.
Just like Hazel’s other books, Crewel Birds is packed with detailed instructions and diagrams so that you’ll have everything you need to successfully complete one or all of the bird projects. If you’ve ever worked Hazel’s designs before, you’ll know how innovative she is with her stitching. As a result, even the most passionate of Hazel followers are sure to find new stitches, stitch combinations and techniques in this book which they’ve never tried before.
At last, the avian world has been honoured by Hazel’s incredible hands. About the only thing you need to worry about is which one of these birds are you going to start with?
Hazel Blomkamp has dabbled with all the needlecrafts since childhood. When her children were babies she developed a passion for embroidery to break the tedium of life with toddlers, using it as her evening reward for having got through the day with her sanity intact. Her children are now young adults and she still embroiders in front of the television every night. She has been designing for the past 18 years. Preferring to design projects which appear to be traditional, she pushes the boundaries by introducing other forms of needlecraft into traditional techniques, exploring further in everything that she does. Along with designing, she runs a busy website from home. She teaches at her home studio, in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, and travels throughout South Africa and Australia teaching embroidery and fine beadwork. She is a regular contributor to South African and Australian embroidery magazines and is a columnist for South African Stitches Magazine.
View titles by Hazel Blomkamp
Six flamboyant crewel birds to stitch in popular author Hazel Blomkamp's much-loved, sumptuous style.
In this fourth title in Hazel Blomkamp's series on crewel embroidery with a twist, the focus is on farm and game birds. The birds give a nod to current trends, most notably the Zentangle look with crewel-style filling-in stitches and techniques. Crewel Birds is a celebration of Hazel's signature techniques: a wide variety of surface/crewel stitches, some of which are brand new and many with a different take or different ways of combining stitches to make them more interesting.
Also included are needle lace techniques as embroidery stitches, loom weaving techniques modified for embroidery, and unique combinations of both of these. The incorporation of beads and crystals adds even more dazzle to the intricate designs. There are six projects, each explained with detailed step-by-step instructions and clear photographs, with design templates and a full stitch gallery providing everything readers need to recreate them with ease. The projects comprise a phoenix, rooster, common pheasant, mallard duck, flamingo and golden pheasant.
In addition to these sumptuous embroideries, Hazel explains how to hand quilt the backgrounds and finish the edges with binding to put them together in a 'rag book', as an alternative to framing. For embroiderers looking for something different and new to stitch, and for those keen to challenge themselves with more complex embroidery techniques, this book is a must-have.
Praise
From Inspirations Stitched Up May 2020
Continuing in her fantastic and enormously popular style, affectionately known as crewel embroidery with a twist, Crewel Birds features six magnificent farm and game birds to stitch. Choose from Nigel the Flamingo, Dick the Duck, Dave the Pheasant, Claude the Phoenix, Kevin the Fanciful Pheasant or our personal favourite, Colin the Rooster.
Every project is bursting with colour and guaranteed to provide many hours of stitching pleasure.
Just like Hazel’s other books, Crewel Birds is packed with detailed instructions and diagrams so that you’ll have everything you need to successfully complete one or all of the bird projects. If you’ve ever worked Hazel’s designs before, you’ll know how innovative she is with her stitching. As a result, even the most passionate of Hazel followers are sure to find new stitches, stitch combinations and techniques in this book which they’ve never tried before.
At last, the avian world has been honoured by Hazel’s incredible hands. About the only thing you need to worry about is which one of these birds are you going to start with?
Author
Hazel Blomkamp has dabbled with all the needlecrafts since childhood. When her children were babies she developed a passion for embroidery to break the tedium of life with toddlers, using it as her evening reward for having got through the day with her sanity intact. Her children are now young adults and she still embroiders in front of the television every night. She has been designing for the past 18 years. Preferring to design projects which appear to be traditional, she pushes the boundaries by introducing other forms of needlecraft into traditional techniques, exploring further in everything that she does. Along with designing, she runs a busy website from home. She teaches at her home studio, in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, and travels throughout South Africa and Australia teaching embroidery and fine beadwork. She is a regular contributor to South African and Australian embroidery magazines and is a columnist for South African Stitches Magazine.
View titles by Hazel Blomkamp
