02 September 2013

Judge a Book by its Cover

Hello and Happy Monday! This week, let's venture into the land of embroidery. Maybe some of you have tried it? I learned it in school and that was the last time I remember completing a needlepoint project. Until this came along...

via Jillian Tamaki
I kept seeing these at the bookstore. They're the well-loved Penguin classics but their covers went from blah to TADA! They're a special edition called Penguin Threads launched in 2011. 

It's the brainchild of Penguin art director Paul Buckley where he commissioned artist Jillian Tamaki to design the cover. Miss Tamaki sketched out her vision and then embroidered it! By hand! With needle and thread! How awesome is that? Okay, so not every single book is embroidered, but the finish is "sculpt embossed" giving it a two-dimensional feel.

Miss Tamaki made these three covers for both the hardbound and paperback versions:

via Jillian Tamaki

via Jillian Tamaki

via Jillian Tamaki

via Jillian Tamaki

via Jillian Tamaki

via Jillian Tamaki

And look at the inside cover:

via Jillian Tamaki
It captures what you would see when you flip an embroidered fabric {stitches, knots and all}. The illustrator signed her work, too. In needle and thread, no less.

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