The Best Needle Painting Embroidery Books

If you’re anything like me, you love investing in helpful embroidery reference books. I am always on the lookout for new or highly recommended needle painting embroidery books to add to my collection, and I wanted to share with you some that I personally own and love.

Each book in this list has a bit of a different topic or technique that it’s based around. All of them are great for all skill levels. If you’re just learning how to thread paint or you’re looking to level up your skills and get inspired, there is bound to be a book for you!

Disclaimer: This post has some affiliate links in it. I receive a small commission from purchases at no additional cost to the buyer. I only recommend products I would use and love and that are of good quality. All opinions are my own!

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Needle Painting Embroidery Books

Trish Burr’s Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas For Beginners

This book is by far one of the best books for beginners, but it has very valuable information for more experienced stitchers as well.

This book introduces you to the long and short stitch, which is essential to thread painting. It also goes over best practices for blending colors together along curves, feathers, and various shapes.

There are detailed photos and step by step instructions for the techniques and patterns. The patterns included in the book are smaller designs that seem very approachable yet fun to complete. They would be great for someone wanting a project that isn’t overwhelming or for a fun weekend project or gift.

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Victoria Mathewson’s Needlepainted Plants and Pollinators: An Insect Lover’s Guide To Silk Shading Embroidery

This was a recent purchase of mine, and I’m so happy I got this book because it contains beautiful patterns and a wealth of information.

The projects in this book are of vibrant insects and botanicals, which is of course the theme of the book. The patterns are easy to follow along with and contain extremely beautiful and detailed photos of the process.

The introduction explains a little about why Victoria chose insects as the theme, and even includes a very informative and interesting section about pollinators and encouraging insects into your garden.

I really love learning about different people’s approach to thread painting. Everyone’s technique and approach is slightly different and I’ve learned a lot and adopted a few things here and there that I find helpful! I found some topics and techniques that I hadn’t seen in other books. There is even a section on stretching and mounting the fabric for framing, which I’ve never done before and would like to try.

If you’re looking for an inspirational book as well as some really fun patterns, this book is most definitely the one for you.

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Colour Confidence In Embroidery By Trish Burr

I am recommending another Trish Burr book because her books contain a wealth of information that have taught me so much!

This was the first needle painting book I ever bought, and it’s focus is around the use of color in thread painting.

This book goes over:

  • the basics of color theory
  • tools and information for selecting color schemes
  • tips for adding contrast and dimension to your work
  • hundreds of helpful DMC color combinations
  • embroidery patterns and much more.

If you have ever felt like it was hard to choose a color palettes or your embroidery feels like it needs a little something extra I highly recommend you check out this book. I go back to it frequently for choosing colors.

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Pet Portrait Embroidery: Lovingly Stitch Your Dog Or Cat

Michelle Staub is a master at pet portrait embroidery and recently published this amazing book sharing her process.

Needle painting pet portraits, especially animal fur with all of the different patterns and possibilities poses a special challenge.

This book goes over the entire process of embroidering animals and comes with several beautiful patterns to stitch.

There are additional sections with examples and diagrams for embroidering features such as noses, eyes, and ears which can also be challenging to embroider realistically.

I have personally been embroidering pet portraits for over 8 years, and I am always looking for new things to learn about in order to improve my technique. Needless to say, this book surely did not disappoint!

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Want to take a class online? Check out the best thread painting classes.

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