TESTIMONIALS

"I have just received your very beautiful handmade pendant, I'm wearing it right now and I love it, I've have had a few compliments already.
Your presentation is lovely too. I can see you enjoy your art, I hope you do really well."

Rachel

"The designer/maker of this piece has done a beautiful job. I bought it as a gift. It arrived boxed and in a small bag. Absolutely lovely."

Tina

"Bought as a gift for my mum and she loves it. The colours are wonderful and the packaging was really nice too."

Etsy customer

"Amazing colours, very sweet little brooch."

Etsy customer

"A beautiful little free motion machine embroidered and applique little bag that I shall use to keep my make-up in. Having Claire Fell's inspirational Machine Embroidery book, I was delighted to find this lovely little bag made by her. Claire had not only slipped in a free gift of a pretty little jewelled keyring, but the bag also contained a sweetly scented little organza bag with lavender in it! Thank you Claire!"

Karen

BOOK REVIEWS

"I am over the moon with this lovely book It has over exceeded all expectations. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone taking up machine embroidery."

S (Amazon)

"Beautiful book, so much detail and instructions for using your sewing machine for both free motion and pre-set embroidery. Since taking up this hobby, I have spent at least 100.00 on machine embroidery books but this one knocks them all out of the water. Beg steal or borrow if you have any interest in free motion or machine embroidery. Wonderful!"

C (Amazon)

"I bought this for my sister-in-law who has an embroidery machine. She currently just does logos and patterns on cushions. But she thanked me for the book because it has opened up other techniques and design ideas for her to explore. Very pleased indeed, to be recommended."

C T (Amazon)

"What a beautiful, technically thorough, and visually inspiring work on this topic. From what I have seen, this is incomparable in the marketplace. Valuable whether beginner or expert. If I picked this up in a bookstore, I would have readily spent 5X this price. It's a gift!"

JMH (Amazon)

"This is an excellent book for beginners and those who are more accomplished at machine embroidery. It gives step by step instructions accompanied by pictures to help guide you through the projects. The projects are varied and there useful."

GG (Amazon)



"Picked your book up from Waterstones last week . I love it . I’m fairly new to free machine embroidery . Thank you for sharing so much knowledge."

Sue

"Congratulations! I have just seen your article in the Stitch magazine and I just had to tell you how good I think it is. Clear, concise and very readable, excellent work. Michael was just flipping through the magazine and he said, 'I really like that robin, he looks real enough to touch' and when I looked, lo and behold it was yours."

Jan

"Have you ever been tempted to have a play with machine embroidery? Have you ever looked at beautiful machine embroidery and thought that you would like to have a go, but lack the confidence to try? If that sounds like you, help is at hand. The author of this book not only creates beautiful machine embroideries, she has become known and respected as a teacher of this art form.

The brief introduction describes three methods of machine embroidery, including (a little disparagingly!) computer embroidery. Chapter One then launches into the various and varied tools and materials you may need followed up with ideas for setting up both the machine and workspace.

Throughout the book are exercises and examples, from the most basic (setting up the machine) to the rather more complex (planning and embroidering a landscape from a photograph). I suggest you do the exercises, which will increase your confidence as you make samples which build into useful references of the appearance of various stitches, using various threads and techniques and tension. You may have to look at the problem-solving pages from time to time!

There is a chapter on what is my personal stumbling block – design. As the book progresses, so does the challenge and complexity of the projects. The first project is a straight stitch, monochromatic tulip, followed by a really lovely monochrome bag. Both of these are embroidered with the feeder teeth UP. Yay! It’s when they have to be dropped that ‘real’ machine embroidery skills are built up. That, by the way, is my personal opinion, not that of the author.

The projects have been carefully designed to build up the embroiderer’s skills and confidence. Each one is preceded with what you will need for it – equipment, materials and templates and even the type of sewing machine used with instructions to leave the teeth up or down, and what tension to set the machine at. You will also be introduced to some materials you may not have used before, such as solvy and metallic sewing machine threads. There are landscape projects, animal projects, abstract projects.

The copy of the book I have is from Auckland Libraries. There are obviously some borrowers out there who are keen to try this embroidery form as I have had to wait a while to get this title and I can’t renew it because others are still waiting. If the idea of machine embroidery appeals to you, this book is a great jumping off place. It is methodical in its approach. It’s amply illustrated with excellent photos, templates and diagrams and I particularly like the way the author carefully builds up skill levels as the book progresses. As the man in the tea ad says, ‘do try it!’"

Erica