Mini Cushions in Cross Stitch: 30 Original Designs to Make

by Sheena Rogers

Book Overview

This book shows how charming and intricate mini cushions can be made by cross stitchers of all ages and abilities. Instructions for the basic cross stitch are given for the complete beginner, but... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1861084587
• ISBN13: 9781861084583
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: GMC Publications
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.3" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Loved it

This book was well done and easy to follow. Each project was small enough to complete in less than a weekend. I loved it. I recommend it to everyone.

Very pleasing patterns, on a scale you can manage

How many of us have more than a few UFOs (unfinished objects) in our cross-stitch collection? This book provides a variety of small patterns that can be finished in a reasonable length of time. Not only are there the mini-cushions of the title; for most of the patterns there are also even smaller pieces - a section of the cushion motif, re-arranged, for example - that can be used as card inserts, pincushions, even jewelry. Although these are small projects, they are not simplistic, as so many "quick and easy" booklets have - these are sophisticated designs. Most are offered with alternate color choices suggested, too, so that they can be varied to match your decor or personal preference. Color numbers are given for DMC, Anchor and Madiera, reflecting that this is a UK book; those in the US, we are most likely to be using DMC floss. For those projects where beads are suggested, you can look for brands of beads available in the US - the colors are pretty general, for the beads - or you can substitute floss of the bead color; the patterns won't suffer from that, although they look nice with the beads. Speaking of substitutions, I also note that most of the patterns call for whole stitches and back stitches only, no half or quarter stitches - which means that they can also easily be used for needlepoint as well as cross-stitch. (Or single crochet, if you really want to give yourself a challenge! Not suitable for knitting, however, as the graphs depend on an even-weave scale, and knitting is not even as to length and width.) I plan to try at least one of them in needlepoint, although still using cotton floss rather than tapestry wool. The variety of colors available in tapestry wool, though, is even greater than floss, so you could really go to town on variations on the patterns in that wise. While most of the motifs are floral, not all are. There are patterns that use playing card images, chess pieces, fossils, heraldry-like shapes, and others. The only animals, however, are insects (bees, butterflies, and a few others). For those of us who have the usual (who knows why, but there it is) affinity for cats along with our needlework, it would have been nice to have a design that somehow featured cats; perhaps we can hope for that in a second book by the same designer!

More than expected

This is a very useful book. It's full of patterns that are easy to follow and as if that wasn't enough, it has suggestions for other adaptations. Well worth the purchase.