Title: Designs for Bead Embroidery Author: Kenneth D. King Publisher: Search Press Genre: Crafts , Bead Embroidery Publication date: October 2006 ISBN: 978-1-84448-146-0 Pages: 128 Rating: Reviewer: Eveline

Designs for Bead Embroidery by haute couture designer Kenneth D. King introduces 150 inspirational patterns with complete techniques. The book is divided in two main parts:

The first chapter, Equipment and Techniques, introduces all the equipment, beads, sequins and stones, fabric and threads used in traditional bead embroidery. Furthermore, all the key techniques are carefully explained like transferring patterns to fabric and using frames or hoops. Also a stitch library with step-by-step instructions for all the stitches used throughout this book is included and design guidelines are given to help you give your bead embroidery a real reason to be on that fabric and that place.

The second chapter, Designs, contains 150 patterns with complete instructions and schematic pattern illustrations that can be copied to its full size. The different categories of these designs are: architectural ornaments; fills; edges; borders; flowers, shells and insects; an alphabet; a zodiac; holiday motifs and music. Each design features a beautiful photograph, a schematic pattern illustration, a list of the required beads and the stitches used and additional instructions for completing each design.

Designs for Bead Embroidery shows you a wide range of motifs that could inspire you to design your own or to use the ones in this book to add glamour to your favorite clothing, accessories or for example bathroom towels or handkerchiefs. You could also personalize any of these items to show a friend just how much you care. These are not your average designs and you can definitely see the brilliant designer behind them. What I really appreciated was, that although these are “couture” designs the tools used are small and the beads and fabrics are rather easy and affordable to pay. This book is a very nice reference when wanting to chose a motif to “glamourize” that favorite piece of fabric.

Includes a list of contents, an introduction, an “how to use this book” section, a beads index, a regular index and acknowledgements.

The author of this book, Kenneth D. King, is a couture designer who designs limited- edition creations for stores as well as personally made clothes for people wanting to wear something unique. He also tries out his artistic skills on home furnishing. He was the co-host of the PBS Tv series “Sewing Today” and has published books (Cool Tricks/Designer Techniques) and articles in Threads magazine and Sew News. You can find out more about Kenneth D. King by visiting his website at http://www.kennethdking.com.

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