By drawing on inspiration from different countries and cultures around the world, Helen brings fresh vibrancy to her work. In Helen M Stevens' World of Embroidery she captures the diversity of nature from the polar caps to the tropics through flora, fauna, birds and insects. Beautiful colourful photographs highlight the skill that translates the iridescent glow of a hummingbird, the flash of a tiger's eye, the light as it glints on a sea otter's fur or reflects the movement of surrounding water. Helen shows how even fantasy worlds can come vividly to life by using the embroiderer's imagination and inspiration in exciting ways. Helen's own workbook sketches reveal a fascinating insight into how such ideas translate onto fabric and encourage the modern embroiderer to blend traditional techniques with modern high-tech materials, blending filaments and special effects as well as traditional fibres, real gold and silver, and materials gathered from nature itself.