Embroidery Machines & Supplies

Reviews

I am having another little girl and wanted to do a fairy theme for her room. I did not want to do Tinkerbell or Disney and that was all I was finding. I then found this book and it is perfect for what I need. There is a fairy alphabet, as well as fairy of the month for card projects. Overall, I am very pleased.

I really like the projects in this book, especially the cover design of the Fairy Princess by Lesley Teare. Other designs include birthday fairies for each month, designs for babies' rooms, a large fairy godmother design, seasonal fairies and silhouettes. Some of the designs use specialty threads such as Kreinik braids and blending filaments, Madeira threads, and Mill Hill Beads, so be prepared for the extra expense for these items. My only complaint about this book is that all the charts are in color. For people who are color blind like myself this can be extremely frustrating. In working with the Fairy Princess chart I had to get help in re-marking the chart with symbols that I could actually see when stitching. But other than that, the book is worth getting for all the designs you can use to make a variety of different projects.

This book contains work from a number of different designers with slightly different styles which provides a lot a variety in the fairies. All the designs are quite whimsical so may not appeal to everyone, however the book well suited my purpose for something quick and pretty for several small nieces. I used the lovely fairy alphabet for little name plaques. The layout of the book is very well-done with lots of ideas on using the designs, clear charts and instructions for floss and materials and an excellent techniques and finishing section. Those starting cross-stitch so they can make unique gifts for little girls will find this book very useful. I would not recommend it for advanced stitchers looking for detailed fantasy designs.

I bought this because the cover shows a slim female fairy with beautiful wings. That is the type of fairy that I like. Inside, that picture is there, but it is a large project. There are smaller projects but they do not have the beautiful detail. The cover project is certainly the best one in the book. Also, I don't care for little children or chubby fairies. There are children in here and they often look like gnomes. If you love children fairies, chubby fairies, and gnomes, this is the book for you. There is a section on birthday fairies which is a "fairy of the month" that is pretty. Those projects are fairly short - done in an evening or two. Another section has alphabet fairies which is also cute if you like that sort of thing. The fairies have beautiful wings, but no faces. There is a fairy godmother which resembles a stereotypical grandmother with colorful layers of clothing. It is a country style similar to Mary Englebreit. There are also seasonal fairies and silhouettes. I love seasonal projects, but I don't care for these. Now there are some wonderful things in this book to balance it for me. Each project has a list of supplies needed for the project shown. The introduction is very good with lots of information and there are helps in the back to show the different techniques. Other kinds of projects are shown as well. For example, the fairy godmother project has a border around it that makes a great bookmark. Gift tags, sachet bags, cards, tooth fairy pillow, memory album, bell pull, towel band, drawstring bag, decorated notebook, pencil holder, purse, napkin holder, paperweight, coaster, and others. The techniques for these are in the book and you could use any cross stitch pattern for any of these projects. I was hoping to find a beautiful fairy bookmark, but even though I didn't find it in this book, I still found a few other items that I will use.