Craft Book Review: Fun with Stitchables and Beginning Embroidery

It wasn’t until I was finishing the research to write this beginner’s embroidery book up that I realized that it’s actually supposed to be for children. Oops!

And now that I’ve said that, I WON’T tell you which of the projects in the top photo are mine, nor will I show you any of the others that I created, lacing along happy as a clam with my kids one entire afternoon as we sat inside on a terribly nice day and did this instead.

So, yeah. I guess Fun with Stitchables (which I received for free from a publicist) is for children, meant to teach them embroidery and allow them plenty of practice with the cardboard lacing cards. And my kids did enjoy it, and even though they can both embroider a little, they both learned some new tricks, and used the rhythm of the punched holes to help them think up new designs and color combinations. But I may have enjoyed it even more than they did! I don’t consider myself much of a hand-sewer, so I, too, enjoyed the stress-free process of lacing cotton yarn through the cardboard holes, and I, too, thought that the cute designs were an excellent invitation to play with color and pattern.

I even dragged the beads out for that cloud and rainbow card (okay, fine, now you know ONE of the ones that I did…), although I did have to string them directly onto the yarn by hand–the holes in the lacing cards are plenty wide enough for a tapestry needle, but the tapestry needle is too large to thread beads down. Remember that before you offer those same supplies to kids.

Since the lacing cards are made from thick cardboard, you could recycle them when you’re finished, making them much more eco-friendly than the plastic lacing cards often given to small children. The book also includes ideas, however, for reusing the finished cards on the fronts of greeting cards, or as Christmas ornaments. I think they’d look cute as gift toppers, as well.