vintage book review // easy embroidery by lis paludan

I love the excitement of getting a new embroidery book, even when that book is old. Sometimes I get so excited about finding one new old book that I get into an ordering frenzy finding even more. And then I have a little stack of them that I forget to write about.

I'm kind of okay with that this time around, however, because it all works with my plan. If I want to talk about making old new again, what could be more perfect than working with a vintage embroidery book?

Vintage books are wonderful resources for finding ideas because they contain projects that you haven't seen in years and years. Making them with a fresh spin is such a good way to make old new.

In the case of Easy Embroidery by Lis Paludan (ISBN 0800823583), it doesn't even take all that much effort to make the 1970s designs seem like they've been newly designed. They are all a complete delight.




Because this book was published in a time when color printing was more costly, many of the pages in here are in black and white. But the information, illustrations, and photos are still really useful and helpful. But there also plenty of full color pages so you can get a good sense for the projects and ideas.




As the title suggests, this is an embroidery book for beginners (kids through adults, although many of the examples have a very kid-friendly feel). There is really good explanation of materials, stitches, and techniques.

I especially love the encouragement to explore the techniques and create your own designs. The author even gives some instruction for how to create patterns with different methods. I know that both kids and adults can benefit from this time of help! And it's this type of content that should encourage you to see if you can track down a copy of Easy Embroidery.



Do you just love this tiger? It reminds me of a child's drawing, but the full-size pattern is in the back of the book. Actually, all of the patterns that are included are full-size. What a great thing to have!




Above are two examples of appliqué embroidery. If you look closely, the top one is a little...ahem...questionable. I'm gonna chalk that up to this being a book that was originally published in Denmark in 1970. Maybe? I don't know. But I do love the style of the appliqué.



And then there's a section on pompoms. What? They're so cute, but I still haven't figured out why they're in a book on embroidery.



The instructions are given in in brief paragraphs, and many of them describe projects that aren't pictured in the book, other than those tiny illustrations. Granted, they are fairly simple, but it really does make you appreciate how craft books are these days.

Maybe I need to try making a few of these with some step-by-step photos? I already have one of the embroideries in here that I want to recreate with my own spin. I'm definitely up for making old new with this book.




This chicken is one of my favorite projects in the book. It's such a fun way to incorporate embroidery into another item, just by filling the shape with some circles of stitches. And how about those chicks?

Perhaps you might try something similar?



I'll end with something that represents my style, something that combines paint and embroidery. A sun with a face!

Now that I've pulled Easy Embroidery off my shelf again, I can't wait to try updating a few of these vintage designs!