Review on TAVOLOZZA Embroidery Kit: Complete Set For Stunning Cross Stitch With 100 Colors Embroidery Threads, Tools, And Aida Cloths For Adults And Kids Beginners. by Peter Mendoza

I did my first hand embroidery over 50 years ago. I have won blue ribbons (first prize) for my embroidery work at local fairs. I have read many embroidery books as well as books on stitches with instructions along with naming all the notions needed, or are helpful when embroidering. I had a good laugh when reading what the different items in this kit were called. It be sure it wasn't me, I called my 92 year old mother who has been embroidering off and for at least 70 years if she understood what the items were named and she laughed like I had and didn't know what was being referred to. To help out new embroiderers to know the more usual names of the notions in this kit, I will mention them here.1. They call them embroidery HOOPS, not embroidery circles.2. They state that the embroidery thread is polyester cotton. Generally embroidery 'thread' is referred to as FLOSS. Also the floss should either be polyester or cotton. If a mix, I believe the law expects them to be broken down by percentage of how much polyester and the percent of cotton. The most popular brands of floss are made with 100% cotton.3. Three pieces of 11 count Aida cloth that they call embroidered cloth. It shouldn't be called embroidered cloth until something is actually embroidered on it. Currently it is only embroidery cloth.4. This one was really weird. 1 positioning dial.!?!?! It is a circle with 40 straight pins stuck in . The pins have colored balls on the end. As they don't specify the contents of the balls, be careful if you are using them to stabilize something when ironing. You don't want them melting on your iron. How they got the idea this would be called a positioning dial is beyond me.5. A tomato pin plug. Yet again I am baffled about why this would be called a pin plug?!?!? It is a small tomato pincushion with the strawberry attached with a string as usual.5. Winding boards. Are what we would call floss bobbins.6. A needle bottle with 30 needles. You will need to sort all these loose needles as you get three sizes of them. You will need to use whichever size is the most appropriate for what you are embroidering.7. 2 piercing blades?!?!?! This are two needle threaders with a wire coming out of a plastic flower head. I prefer these types of needle threaders than the ones that have the silver colored metal piece where the wires catch and they fall apart easily if you try to thread too heavy of a weight of thread/floss into the needle. They also include two metal needle threaders which I like much more than even the flower ones.8. A thimble loop. The silver colored thimble is not a loop but a thimble with a head on it. It is also way too big for any of my fingers.In the instructions on how to use this kit, they tell the person to use 3 strands of thread. Ignore this piece of advice. They give no designs in this kit so, unless you know the design you will be making and on what size of fabric, you don't automatically use 3 strands. Use what you design suggests you use.One last piece of advice. When doing counted cross stitch, make sure that all the crosses in the design have the top thread going the same direction. Either from bottom left to top right, or the opposite. This helps make your finished work look so much better and smoother.All in all, it is a nice enough kit, but it helps if you know what is being talked about. I would suggest to any beginner embroiderer to buy or borrow from the library a book on embroidery stitches and how to do things the best way possible as well as a book with designs that you would like to make.Thank you for these. I appreciate getting to try them out.