Mystical Stitches is a tutorial and style guide for embroidery by Christi Johnson. Due out 22 June 2021 from Storey, it's 208 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
It seems that surface embroidery is enjoying something of a renaissance lately; I've reviewed several new and upcoming releases this year on the subject. This one, in addition to being a very good basic tutorial instruction guide on the stitches and designs, also has the added attraction of explaining the symbolism and meanings behind the included designs, most of which have some mystical or philosophical significance.
The author has included not only the expected astrological symbols, but also a wealth of other pagan, Egyptian, nature/wiccan, geometric forms and shapes, numbers, planets, and others, certainly enough to keep readers busy and exploring for ages. In addition to the instructions and stitch diagrams, she also writes well and engagingly about intention and ritual, use of color, and materials.
The book does include a number of step by step tutorials for surface embroidery embellished clothing, ritual cloths, amulets, and others. All of the projects can be adapted for other uses. Stitch diagram recommendations are specific enough to follow and general enough to be easily changed to suit the reader's needs. Materials listed in the tutorials are easy to source and inexpensive. In fact many of the clothing tutorials will be a super opportunity to re-purpose and upcycle found materials.
The book has an abbreviated bibliography and links list as well as a cross-referenced index. This would be a good choice for readers who are interested in more esoteric embellishments for clothing and ritual cloths. This would be a four-star read evaluated only on the merits of the embroidery instruction, but the author's voice adds a great deal of value. She's calm, reasonable, engaging, knowledgeable, and there's a very kind and encouraging vibe throughout the book. Very well done.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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