The Art of Embroidery Design

Christi Johnson, author of Mystical Stitches, offers embroidery enthusiasts an in-depth workshop to create their own unique mystical and spiritually themed designs. Combining instruction with a series of hands-on experiments and exploration challenges, Johnson shares her expertise in conceiving and realizing original motifs and designs that have special mystical significance to the creator.

An acclaimed embroidery designer and the best-selling author of Mystical Stitches, Christi Johnson teaches how to create original stitch designs and expand creativity, with sketchbook and sampler exercises and inspiring examples from a wide range of embroidery artists, both historical and contemporary.


This colorful sourcebook, packed with practical technique instructions accompanied by inspiring examples from a wide range of embroidery artists, is sure to jump-start every stitching enthusiast’s creativity, and build the skills for making original designs. Written for all levels of stitchers, The Art of Embroidery Design teaches the value of establishing a creative practice, with hands-on sketching and stitching exercises to help anyone build confidence in their design skills, whether or not they can draw. Author Christi Johnson breaks the design process down into approachable steps including: developing a vision; choosing a color palette; using variations in line weight to create dimensionality; and achieving a range of textural effects. Dozens of photos of the author’s own work are accompanied by historical examples from artisans in Mexico, India, Peru, China, Nigeria, and more. Profiles of some of the most inventive contemporary embroidery artists illuminate the sources of their inspiration, and round out the rich, full offerings of this complete workshop in a book.