Description

From an acclaimed embroidery designer and bestselling author ofMystical Stitches, an accessible how-to guide full of original stitch designs that will inspire readers to pick up a needle and thread.

Written for all levels of stitchers,The Art of Embroidery Designteaches the value of establishing a creative practice, with hands-on sketching and stitching exercises to help anyone build confidence in their design skills. Author Christi Johnson provides a workshop experience for readers looking to start from scratch. She breaks the design process down into approachable steps, including: developing a vision, choosing a color palette, using variations in line weight to create dimensionality, and achieving a range of textural effects.Dozens of colorful photos of the authors own work are accompanied by historical examples from artisans in Mexico, India, Peru, China, Nigeria, and more, as well as profiles of some of the most inventive contemporary embroidery artistsits a complete workshop in a book.

Christi Johnson creates mystical garments that blend elements of botanical dyes with handcrafted stitches. The resulting textile talismans honor the body, its boundaries, its extensions, and its relations to the world and cosmos around us. She works from the belief that through self-expression, we discover our power to transform our worlds. Raised in tropical Florida, Johnson studied Fashion Design at Otis College of Art and Design. She worked in the fashion industry in Los Angeles for nearly a decade, most notably designing “cosmically crafted” limited-edition embroideries for boutique brand Coast-Wide’s denim workwear, and now lives in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. As a teacher, Johnson also offers workshops in natural dyeing and embroidery and has created kits and booklets for students and DIYers. Her garments, booklets, kits, and embroidered artwork have sold at maker studios and boutiques across the nation.