The Stitched Landscape - An Embroidery Field Guide to the Textures, Colors, and Lines of the Natural World

Observe and embroider the natural world with this inspiring guide to nature journaling with a needle and thread.

Transform your appreciation of nature into unique works of art by stitching embroidered landscapes! Artist Anna Hultin’s step-by-step projects blend traditional embroidery skills with experimental techniques that draw inspiration from the lines, patterns, and textures of the natural world. Learn how to embroider flowers, plants, and trees using a few basic stitches, discover new techniques for a variety of non-traditional materials and methods like painting on fabric with watercolors, collaging with fabrics to create depth, and stitching with raw wool, and learn how to compose these elements into an original scene based on your own nature observations.

List of contents

Table of Contents
Author's Preface 
Introduction
●  How to use this book :
○  Readers will be able to create a one of a kind landscape embroidery inspired by their own observations
○  This book is written in the same way that I developed my embroidery: starting small and working towards a larger landscape. Within these pages we will work like an artist, developing our foreground, middleground, and background. We begin with focusing on stitching one plant at a time while learning embroidery basics. Through the process our embroidery skills will grow, and we will experiment with new processes and materials. Eventually we will be able to stitch an entire landscape with multiple plants, textures, colors, and embroidery techniques.
●  Studio Practice
○  Describe the ebb and flow of working in my studio, to working on my couch, to working out on the land incorporating the idea of grounding within my work
○  Goal of creating a landscape that is both abstract and still grounded in reality
Chapter 1: Materials
●  Fabric
●  Needles
●  Felt
●  Hoops
●  Thread
●  Scissors/snips
●  Water soluble markers
●  Watercolor and gouache
●  Brushes
●  Roving
●  Tulle
●  Sketchbooks
●  Material storage and set up
Chapter 2: Getting Started
●  Getting set up to stitch
○  Hooping your fabric
○  Threading your needle
○  Drawing on the fabric
○  Choosing your color palette
●  Basic embroidery stitches
○ Backstitch
○  Satin stitch
○  French knot
Chapter 3: Embroidering single flowers, plants, trees (Creating a Foreground)
● How to stitch the parts of flowers, plants, trees, grasses, textures, etc.
○  actual patterns/tutorials
○  a guide to create your own design through observing
■ ie: a satin stitch is used for petals, french knot for the stamen in most flowers
○ Explanation that these elements are used to create movement in the composition when used in a larger landscape context
● Land and Studio Connection ○ At home
■ Had my first baby. Wanted to step away from the gallery world and focus on a simple, age old, craft
○ In the Studio
■ Early days of studio practice. Needed to meditate on a single plant or tree while keeping my hands busy/mind still
○ On the Land
■ In the summer the garden is overflowing with flowers, colors, plants, textures. It's almost too much to take in all at once so instead, let’s sit down and study one plant at a time.
Chapter 4: Creating a Ground (Creating a Middleground)
● Techniques that create a ground for your plants
○  Watercolor
How to paint on fabric
Stitching on top of watercolor
○  stitching grass
■ “messy” satin stitch
■ choosing colors to create depth
○  Wool roving
■ a grass “shortcut”
■ attaching roving to fabric with thread Land and Studio Connection
○  At home
Learning about plant interactions in the garden
As my family grew, so did the complexity of my studio practice.
○  In the Studio
■ As skills grew I was able to stitch plant families and begin experimenting
with new materials (watercolor)
○  On the Land
■ In the fall we start to notice plant relationships. We see one plant start to die while another is still producing fruit. It is a time of fluctuation. In this chapter we will focus on the relationship between different plants. In our embroidery we will introduce a new medium: watercolor and learn how thread and fabric interact with watercolor while we start to embrace the relationships of plant families.
●
Chapter 5: Finding Composition in the Landscape (Creating a Background)
●  Getting set up for sketching
○  Supplies you’ll need
○  How and where to sketch
●  Finding line and texture
○  Photos of the landscape alongside my own sketches to show how I pick out line and texture in a landscape.
○  Describing how to find these elements in any landscape
● Building a composition
○ Use photos with my sketches overlaid on them to show how I build a composition by looking at a landscape
●  Embroidering the Land
○  Examples of my finished work
○  Examples of other artists
●  Techniques
○  Collaging with fabric
○  Creating a horizon line
○  Tulle overlay
● Land
○ At Home
and Studio Connection
■ The cold days of winter. Learning patience and waiting and finding beauty in the mundane.
○  In the Studio
■ The breakthrough piece
■ First time I stitched a landscape that felt like it had elements of abstract line in it but was still realistic
■ How do you make a piece that is both abstract and still grounded in reality?
○  On the Land
■ Winter is a time of bareness. The bones of the landscape are visible, and
it is the best time to learn how to see composition within the landscape. In this chapter we will start to find lines, textures and colors in a landscape and learn how to build a composition. You can find these bones through the foliage, but looking at your landscape in the winter will help train your eye to find compositional elements quickly
Chapter 6: Creating an Abstract Landscape
● Creating your own composition
○  Creating a sketch and transferring it to fabric
○  basic composition templates
○  how to build a composition with a background, middle ground and foreground
■ I start by creating a background and middle ground with the techniques we’ve already laid out. From there I use the smaller plants we explored in our foreground chapter to create movement within the piece.
● Techniques
○  Dripping effect
○  combining techniques
■ ie: how to use wool roving with watercolor or combining tulle overlay with fabric collage
○ Backing your hoop
● Land and Studio Connection
○ At Home
■ Life is full, abundant, and when we find a rhythm it is magic.
○  In the Studio
■ Learning how to create pieces with plants/textures/lines harmonizing with
one another
○  On the Land
■ Spring is a time of fullness. The winter is melting away and the long wait for new life is over. What better time than this is there to stop and contemplate the landscape as a whole. In this section we will bring together all of the things we have learned to compose an abstract landscape.

About the author

Anna Hultin is the artist and educator behind Olander CO Embroidery. Hultin uses needle and thread to create contemporary embroideries that explore the often overlooked beauty of the subtle textures and colors of the Colorado landscape. She lives with her family in Loveland, Colorado.

Summary

A complete guide to embroidering landscapes with in-depth instruction and inspiration to get nature lovers and craft enthusiasts stitching one-of-a-kind designs based on a personal connection and observation of the natural world. Think of it as nature journaling with a needle and thread.

Product details

• Authors: Anna Hultin
• Publisher: Workman
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 09.12.2025
• EAN: 9781635868456
• ISBN: 978-1-63586-845-6
• No. of pages: 212
• Illustrations: Full-color; photographs throughout
• Subjects: Guides > Hobby, home > Creative design; CRAFTS & HOBBIES / Mixed Media, CRAFTS & HOBBIES / Needlework / Embroidery, Needlework & fabric crafts, Needlework and fabric crafts, CRAFTS & HOBBIES / Fiber Arts & Textiles