An artistically inclined mother and a keen interest in all
things beautiful got Di off to an early start as an embroiderer.
Her love for this discipline soon became her livelihood and
starting an embroidery business was just another natural
progression for this talented crafter. She opened her first shop in
the Natal Midlands and when the family decided to uproot and move
to Johannesburg, along went the business. After four years of
running one of Johannesburg's most successful embroidery shops, the
family's urge to settle in Cape Town became too strong to ignore.
Di now lives in the Mother City where she runs two successful
embroidery shops.
The end product of her latest interest, hand painting her own range
of silk and organza ribbons for embroidery, is marketed to retail
outlets worldwide.
July 14 Oh my goodness. The words that come to mind! Lavish,
Lovely, Luscious – Di van Niekerk and Marina Zherdeva’s new silk
ribbon embroidery book, Little Flowers in Silk & Organza Ribbon is
all of the above! For silk ribbon embroidery enthusiasts, I’m
pretty certain all of Di’s books are a must for your bookshelves.
But silk ribbon embroidery – and the techniques found in this book
that I’m reviewing today – goes beyond just the SRE enthusiast. If
you are a crazy quilter, if you love stumpwork and
three-dimensional embroidery techniques, if you are a flower
enthusiast, if you just like pretty things – this book will draw
you in and teach you much! First off, like all of Di’s books, this
one is a beauty. It’s one of those books you can leave out on your
coffee table, that people who aren’t remotely interested in
embroidery will browse through and take delight in. The photos, the
colors, the abundance – the book is mesmerizing! But the great
thing is that Di & Marina combine a gloriously beautiful book with
solid instruction. That’s a win-win combination for me. I love to
look at books, but even more so, I love to read them and learn from
them. Even though the projects in this book look elaborate and
advanced, I think the newbie to silk ribbon embroidery can
definitely venture in, too. All the basics are covered, so if
you’re just starting out, you’ll have the foundation information
you need to approach the projects in the book. And the projects!
They’re all flowers – narcissus, poppies, chamomiles, a rose
wreath, strawberry blossoms, a ring of daisies, double roses and
blue violets, wild roses and pink blossoms! And there it is, my
friends – another glorious book from Di van Niekerk!
*needlenthread.com*
July 14 Being an absolute beginner to ribbon embroidery, I have
struggled to find a book that explains and illustrates this
attractive form of embroidery as accurately and in such an easy
manner to follow as the “Little Flowers in Silk and Organza
Ribbon”. The quality of the diagrams are clear and very easy to
follow along with the techniques which again are clearly explained
each step along the way. I particularly liked the idea of using
other materials to enhance the work and for me personally this is a
book I will enjoy working with. (East Sussex Branch)
*Embroiderer's Guild*
June/July 2015 What sets these artists' work apart is that they
fearlessly combine techniques drawn from stumpwork, mixed media and
conventional thread embroidery with specific ribbon embroidery
stitches to create stunningly dimensional pieces. As you'd expect
from an experienced author and tutor like Di, the basics are
covered with great clarity. Collaborating here with Marina for the
first time, together they combine media and techniques that are
truly inspirational, with the authors just as likely to add shells
and stones to a piece as ribbon or thread. Dyed silk rods become
wild roses, while a humble candle is used to seal and form organza
into realistically curved leaves and petals. Sumpwork is
wonderfully 3d but labour intensive but, here a 3D strawberry is
made not in needlelace but from a gathered circle of ribbon,
stuffed with wooly fibre, with the achenes (indented speckles)
suggested by a few straight stitches - simple but effective, as is
so much in this highly desirable book. An added bonus is the
authors' recipe for making your own anti-fray liquid glue for
sealing and strengthening cut ribbon shapes - which is worth the
book's cover price alone.
*Stitch*
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