book tour // retro stitchery by beverly mccullogh

Today I am very excited to be the first stop on the online book tour for Beverly McCullough's new book Retro Stitchery. You may know Bev as Flamingo Toes, the name of her blog, where you can find all kinds of adorable projects and patterns. She also is a fabric designer, but we'll get there soon enough...

It's not too often that I make something from someone else's pattern. I'm over here stitching Wild Olive stuff! But when I heard about Retro Stitchery, I knew this was something I wanted to share with my readers. If you are into stitching cuteness, you're going to love this.



Retro Stitchery contains 13 projects with simply charming patterns. The subtitle refers to the designs as having a wink to the past, and that's a perfect way to describe this. None of the patterns or projects feel retro or vintage in an obvious way. They just have a certain vibe to them, and personally, I love it.

There's also a mix of home decor, wearables, and just plain useful objects. All of which come with Bev's sweet style.




I mentioned that Bev is also a fabric designer, and I was very excited to work with some of her upcoming Riley Blake collection, Stardust. The fabric line has a different feeling from a lot of what you see in the book, but it has a retro feeling that fits. Especially the sweet florals and the little touch of gold in some of the prints.

They also sent me some of their linen (in the color blush) to embroider on. This is a fine, lightweight linen that was a dream to work with. Because it is lightweight (and a light color), I added fusible interfacing to the back for stability and to prevent stitches from showing through too much. I was delighted with this fabric and would use it again in a minute. I want all the colors!

Okay, so now let me tell you about how I came to make what I made. My final project isn't in the book, but rather, it was inspired by several things that are!

This Choose Joy design was the embroidery that I love the most in the book. I mean, just look at it. Gorgeous. Also, so many stitches (and I'm also pressed for time). Whatever. The tiny flowers near the top are what sealed the deal for me.



And this is my rendition of those tiny flowers. But also, notice what I did differently for the embroidery. Or actually, lack of embroidery. Instead of stitching all the leaves, I painted them with watercolors. They are soft, with just a bit of color bleed (which I expected), and I think they actually show off the floral stitches. By the way, to make this work, I traced the embroidery pattern with a standard pencil so I didn't need to remove any markings with water, which would have ruined my paint.

I didn't want to just do a hoop, like the original project, and really liked the framed art. I also loved the patchwork pillow. So what did I do? I combined the ideas into a wall hanging mini quilt of sorts!



The top and bottom give it the patchwork flair of the pillow and making it a piece that can hang on the wall is my wall art. All with that embroidery that I love. Also, can we pause for a moment and say that while the giant grommets seemed like a good idea, they were a paint to install and still aren't right. Harumph. I'm also still figuring out what I want to use to attach and hang it. Pink ribbon is a strong candidate.



And the back has the little floral print that also has metallic gold in it. So cute!



I really can't wait to have this hanging on my wall as a daily reminder. Not all days are happy (case in point: grommets!), but I can choose joy as I consider all the things for which I'm grateful. And making a pretty project from a beautiful book is one of those things!

Be sure to visit Flamingo Toes for the complete book tour schedule and to learn more about this title. As I mentioned, I'm the first stop, so it will be so much fun to see what others make from the book. We can all be inspired!

And then be sure to pre-order Retro Stitchery on IndieBound or Amazon so you can stitch along too!