“This will be the year that I get the Christmas pillows done!” I swore it to myself and locked it in by writing it down. Things get done when I write them down—and guess what!? I got the pillows done this year! But not without the help of Aimme Ray and her Book, Doodle Stitching. I’m so excited that I had to tell you about it and of course show you all my glamour shots!
Please note that many of the links in the post below are affiliate links, and I will be compensated should you choose to purchase through these links.
Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray, one of my favorite embroidery books, was introduced to me by my fantastic mother, and now I want to pass it on to you! The Holiday Motif Collection is packed full of patterns and embroidery designs for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other winter holidays! I chose to just stick to Christmas pillows for this year, but gave myself some flexibility by making my own pillowforms and putting these designs onto pillow covers, rather than straight on the pillow.
My first experience with Aimee Ray was actually with her first book, the Doodle Stitching Transfer Pack. It’s got over 300 embroidery patterns and a sweet little pocket in the back to stow the patterns you’ve ripped out! As soon as I saw the pocket, I knew that this lady knew what she was doing!
There’s a ton of great stuff in the The Holiday Motif Collection
, I chose my favorites to go with my winter quilt (made by my sweet momma!) and some pillows that I’ve been working on, which you saw above!
As you can already tell, these doodles are adorable! Between all three of Aimee’s books- theres about 1000 to choose from! Even better, her book includes a lot more than just embroidery designs- there’s a ton of great tools for new embroiderers and masters!
What’s Inside
Help For a New Embroiderer
The best thing about these books are all the great information that they have. Sure- the doodles are creative, and oh-so-cute, but there is some really solid embroidery information packed into the first few pages.
She goes through some great tips for organizing your embroidery floss, how to pick a needle, hoop, and other materials. For those who are newer to embroidery, Aimee explains how to use stabilizer, and has a lot of information on how to transfer her patterns onto the fabric, she even has a section on how to tie a proper knot!
Tutorials on Each Stitch
The Stitch Library, is often laying open on my desk; whether I am creating my own pattern and trying to decide the best stitch to use, or working on one of Aimee’s doodles, it’s an incredibly useful tool! She’s got a written description, an illustrated diagram, and a finished picture for each type of stitch. This is my absolute favorite parts of each Doodle Stitching book— it’s not only a cute place for patterns, it’s a dictionary of embroidery stitches!
A CD For Resizing Designs
An answered prayer for anyone who has ever had to resize a pattern for appliqué or embroidery on a scanner or copier! There is a CD included in the back of the The Holiday Motif Collection with images of each pattern that you can resize right on your computer and print out! How easy! My only complaint is that, as a Apple Computer gal, I don’t have a CD drive on my computer. A thumb drive, though maybe not as pretty or easy to fit into the back of the book, would have been more helpful to me. Again, it’s a small thing for me to run down to my husband’s office and use his printer (can anyone say #FirstWorldProblems!?), but this is a book review, so I’ve gotta give you the whole scoop!
I’m a big fan of Aimee Ray and her Doodle Stitching Series— I would definitely suggest all three of these books to you, my friends! The The Holiday Motif Collection has lots of patterns that are very quick and simple, it’s definitely the perfect book to get some last minute embroidery in before Christmas or you can get started on New Years and Valentines day projects! So hop on over to Amazon
& pick up a copy for yourself or for a friend! I know you’ll enjoy the book, so make sure to let me know what you thought in the comments below!
