I recently bought one of Trish Burr’s books, Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners.
After a disastrous and frustrating attempt to needle paint on my own (no pictures – I tore it out straight away), I got the book to learn the “real” way to do it.
I’m sure there is no “one” way, but, Trish sure has HER way down pat. Just flipping through the first several pages, I found myself slapping my forehead and saying “DUH, of course yours didn’t work out, you were doing it the exact opposite way!” I don’t feel the spoilers are mine to reveal – you’ll have to buy the book (which you should! It’s great!), but suffice it to say I was doing literally everything backwards. Everything.
I love this book because she gives you detailed instructions for a number of practice motifs, as well as a bunch of bigger projects to tackle once you feel comfortable with the basics. I adore the birds (like the one on the cover) - my skill level is certainly not there yet, but I’m having fun working my way up to them.
Here’s a closer look at the three practice pieces I’ve done so far.
Nothing that’ll blow your mind, sure, but let me tell you that IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS, OKAY?? Actually, I wouldn’t even say that it’s hard, per se, but it requires a lot of time and concentration. That orange flower took me almost five hours to stitch and it’s about the size of a half dollar.
If you like torturing yourself by stitching for many hours with a single strand of floss and ending up with a design the size of a grape, you’ll LOVE this book.
In all seriousness, though, if you enjoy doing detailed, meticulous work and if you want to improve your embroidery technique, this book is definitely for you. I don’t see myself converting to 100% needle painting, but it’s a fun new skill to learn.
But now I think I’m going to set it aside for a bit and go knit something in super bulky yarn. I’m sure you understand.
Your practice pieces are beautiful. I’ve never tried needle painting–I want to!! I must look for this book.
:)
Kristi recently posted..Sweet Shamrock
Thanks, Kristi! It’s a lot of fun – I think you’d like it. I got my book from amazon – they had the cheapest price.
Just lovely, but not as beautiful as you!
Kim recently posted..The bane of “Must be Nice”
I enjoyed your review and seeing your practice piece. Will definitely have to check the book out, I love those birds too, just adorable. Darn it I believe I must be a masochist too.
cheers from corrine in Ohio
Thanks, Corrine! Glad you enjoyed the review – it’s a great book!
Oh my! That is a LOT of work for such a small piece, but it sure is beautiful! Now give yourself a break and go knit something
Haha yes after I finished that teensy flower I was ready for something a little easier on the eyes
Beautiful! I love your flower!
I’ll have to try this.
Thanks for sharing it!
Barbara recently posted..Photo
Wow! I’m sure I would never find the patience for that. There aren’t enough movies on Netflix to get me thru a complete piece.
I’m a chunky-all-six-strands person a la Sue Dove’s Painting with Thread. Makes me admire the intricacy of yours all the more.
Oh you’ve hit on an essential part of needle painting – Netflix!
I’m not familiar with Sue Dove; I’ll have to check that out. Thank you for commenting!
Your work is exquisite! Thank you for your review & mentioning the time it took to complete the flower.
I have been interested in needle painting for a little while. I have not even begun to experiment yet. I should probably move this book off my amazon wish-list and into my cart!
Hi Lauren! Thanks so much for your comments! As far as the time it took to finish the flower – I think it’s possible to go faster with practice and with a little more focus. But, on the other hand, I think I’d go blind if I just sat there and did nothing else until it was done
Thanks for your review
I’ve been interested in needle painting but your review helped get me off of my butt and buy the book from Amazon!
I got the book for my birthday (I hinted heavily to dear husband
and I agree with your review very much. I started doing one of the little birds and just getting all the threads organized is time consuming, especially when itching to get started lol! but it’s SO worth it. cheers
jafabrit recently posted..Tea Room and Needle Painting
I would love to learn this embroidery method to finish an embroidered version of a vintage Asimov Foundation book cover. There’s some lovely explosions and subtle colour changes that I haven’t stitched yet and have no clue how to accomplish.
I had a look on the author’s website and saw that she recommends using a magnifying lens with a light. Did you use one? Or do you think it would have made things a lot easier if you had?
Hello and thank you for the comment! I haven’t personally used a magnifying lens with a light, but I think it would be enormously helpful. I have to wear reading glasses when I stitch anyway, and my apartment is so, so dark…a magnified light would probably make things easier, especially for detailed work like this.