Book Review---Traditional Chinese Designs

I bought the book "Traditional Chinese Designs: Iron-on Transfer Patterns" by Barbara Christopher two months ago.

This book is published by Dover Publications and is one of their needlework series books. It is a paperback and contains 64 pages. Though the book is not a huge one, the designs in the book are excellent and the print is very clear. Some designs are very intricate and are challenging to embroider. This book is especially for people who hunt for a variety of designs for their embroidery projects.

This is the front cover of the book:




There are 24 design plates in total. The book is divided into three sections: stitch and color chart for each iron-on transfer plate, iron-on transfer plates, and the color images of the embroidered design plates. There is also a page dedicated to stitch details which shows how to stitch some common emboidery stitches.

The stitch and color chart section is very useful. Below is a stitch and color chart of a Peony design:



The same design printed as iron-on transfer:



The color photographs of the embroidered designs appear on the front and back inside covers.





The designs include traditional Chinese themes of flowers such as lotus, chrysanthemum, peony, etc. and animals and birds such as dragon, phoenix, lion, crane, etc.




There are border designs as well as small designs to embroider on hankies, napkins, and table mats.

Overall, this book is really worth your money.

Hope this review is helpful to you. Please feel free to send in your comments.

Here is the link to buy the book: