Patterns: Made in France

This week's pattern review is of a book; Made in France by Agnes Delage-Calvet, Anne Sohier-Fournel, Muriel Brunet and Francoise Ritz.

Made in France: Cross-Stitch and Embroidery in Red, White and Blue is a treasure trove of small embroidery and cross stitch motifs in red, white and blue. It is beautifully photographed with lots of ideas on how to use the motifs but other than a brief how-to at the beginning of the book, it assumes that you have the knowledge to get the motifs on there yourself, although as most of the projects are simple it should be fairly easy to work out yourself. The book really demonstrates the beauty of stitching with just one colour.

The book is divided into three sections, each devoted to a single colour. There are lots of cute patterns for embellishing clothing and home accessories, with quite a few patterns perfect for decorating items for children or, thinking ahead, creating Christmas decorations.

My favourite patterns are the little birds that can be found in the blue section, there is a whole flock of them but I had to narrow them down to do the shoe project featured within the book. Although I have already found I'm beginning to embroider little birds everywhere, so these guys will feature on more than just my shoes!