Description
On a deep blue fabric surface, a white cat dressed in red prepares to step outside. Mushrooms, plants, and strangely shaped creatures gather around it, while lines that might once have been drawn with a pen are reconstructed stitch by stitch. Kurami Sayo’s Hand-Stitched Embroidery Book transforms the illustrator’s gently eccentric world into embroidery motifs that can be touched, made by hand, and carried into everyday life.
The embroidery is arranged as more than a display of finished pieces. A white cat’s nighttime walk unfolds as a continuous story, leading readers into a forest inhabited by berry gatherers, tea-party guests, and small creatures hidden among plants and letters. Thread replaces paint: short stitches describe fur and facial expressions, dense areas of colour form clothing and flowers, and the thickness of the fibres gives each image warmth, texture, and a subtle sense of depth.
Characters from the story are then developed into practical embroidery patterns. Cats, rabbits, mushrooms, and peculiar creatures appear inside alphabet letters or as individual motifs for patches, book covers, tote bags, dresses, hats, placemats, and oven mitts. Readers can reproduce the projects exactly as shown or select a favourite figure and add it to clothing, handkerchiefs, or everyday bags, giving an ordinary object a small personal narrative.
The book also introduces essential tools, suitable fabrics and threads, pattern-transfer methods, starting and finishing techniques, and the basic stitches used throughout the projects. Full-size templates, thread references, and sewing patterns allow the designs to move directly from page to fabric. Beginners can start with a single letter, a small patch, or a simple character before progressing to larger bags and garments.
Much of the book’s appeal lies in its balance between charm and strangeness. The white cat and soft embroidery thread create an immediate sense of warmth, while elongated limbs, mysterious plants, and creatures with unreadable expressions preserve a trace of the unknown. Rather than turning embroidery into purely sweet decoration, the book retains the humour, stillness, and quiet surrealism of Kurami Sayo’s illustrations.
Kurami Sayo’s Hand-Stitched Embroidery Book is both an embroidered picture book and a practical collection of usable patterns. Beginning with a white cat on deep blue cloth, its characters gradually move into clothing, tableware, and personal objects, allowing a nighttime journey through the forest to continue beyond the page and into daily life.
Details
Author: Kurami Sayo
Publisher: Tatsumi Group
Publication Year: 2018
Size: 16×22 cm
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 96 pages



