Whenever Aimee Ray releases a new embroidery book, I get excited. Her whimsical style and creativity, which started with the Doodle Stitching series, knows no bounds and I love it all. Aimee's newest book, Embroidered Mythical Creatures, available for pre-order, is a collection of well, mythical creatures, but they're all in iron-transfer format for a fast way to get stitching!
Before I get too far into describing what you'll find in these pages, I do want to remind you to read to the end, where you'll find info about a giveaway both here and at other stops on the Embroidered Mythical Creatures blog tour.
For my review, I received a digital copy of the book, so I wasn't working with the actual transfers. Because of that, I'm just going to focus on the content of the book. Also, just for full disclosure, Aimee and I have worked together on a few projects in the past (I even got to contribute to a few of her books!), and I consider her a colleague. But I didn't receive any compensation for this post.
Now, let's dig in!
Mythical creatures come in so many varieties, and I'm sure a bunch of them immediately came to mind for you. This book has so many different types of creatures, but they mostly fall into the fairy tales and fantasy categories. You won't find Big Foot in here.
Instead, leaf sprites, mermaids, dragons, forest creatures, and celestial beings abound. And they are a fantastic mix of beautiful and cute.
The patterns also range in size so you can stitch a little fairy or a large panel like these majestic unicorns. I REALLY want to stitch this one up because I know it would look amazing on my wall.
If you've noticed that these are only showing black and white patterns, that's because that's what you'll find in this book. Because it's all iron-transfers, there aren't photos or even color guides for the designs. And to be honest, I personally love that. I'm a firm believer in not restricting creativity, and sometimes giving too many instructions does that. Of course, that said, if you struggle to make decisions about stitches or colors, you might want to keep that in mind for this.
Along with the 50+ pattern transfers, there's also a section at the front that walks you through embroidery basics so you won't feel completely on your own to figure out how to start stitching. And if you don't just want to use the iron-transfers, Aimee includes helpful tips for using the patterns with other transfer methods.
Now, are you ready to see some stitching?
Naturally when I was choosing something to stitch, I went for some of the cutest designs in the book. The gnomes. My mom is a big fan of gnomes, so I stitched these for her. Even through they're fairly small, I stitched mine with six strands of embroidery floss for most of the outlines, and I went with my favorite stitch, back stitch, as much as possible.
Just look at these cuties! I'm smitten.
But I wasn't the only one stitching at my house! I also invited my 17-year-old sister Grace to join me because I had a feeling she would really like Aimee's designs too. And I was right! Grace looked through all of the patterns and chose this beautiful deer design. (I'm quite certain that she doesn't even know that Aimee Ray also uses the name Little Dear for her website and social media!)
Obviously, this is a larger design so Grace is stitch stitching, but she chose her own colors and is making stitching choices for herself. She seems to be going with just two strands of embroidery floss for this, so it's quite a bit different from my gnomes!
By the way, one of my favorite things in Aimee's patterns is the doodle designs. These little swirls and dots are just so lovely!
Oh, and one of the reasons I asked Grace to stitch something from the book is that I think the patterns would be likely to appeal to teens. If you have a teen in your life who is interested in embroidery (or is looking for a new hobby), they should check this book out.
I really like the range of styles in Embroidered Mythical Creatures because even though some feel more serious while others are more playful, they all feel like Aimee Ray. My gnomes and Grace's deer are different, but they could totally be friends.
Speaking of friends, these little creatures are the next thing I want to stitch. I think they're people in costumes, but maybe not? It's probably okay to not know. But I do know that there's a little jackalope in this grouping and I heart jackalopes. This is also a great example of how many of the patterns in the book are shown as a larger design (this grouping could all be stitched together), but the elements aren't always touching (meaning you could stitch them separately). It kind of expands the number of patterns, which is fanstastic!
Bottom line: If you love stitching and any kind of fantasy or mythical creatures, this is soooo worth ordering! You really can embroider all your favorites and then some. Embroidered Mythical Creatures. Go get it!
Also, one quick note: this book had an earlier release date, but it's been delayed due to a print error. New copies will all be fixed!
