No longer the preserve of little old ladies, today embroidery, cross-stitch and needlework are all cool again. Needlework kits are the ideal way to get started, giving you everything you need to make beautiful designs to fill your home. Here are our favourites.

By Olivia Gordon

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Embroidery doesn't get much funkier than this. American company Sublime Stitching (which ships to the UK) makes kits with a fantastically imaginative range of patterns, from flowers to kitsch to religious symbols to alphabets. Their Ultimate Embroidery Kit allows you to mix and match your favourite pattern (from a choice of over 50), embroidery floss colour palette, and textile (such as a teacloth, apron, baby bib or pillowslip). You iron on the pattern transfers and then embroider over them with the thread. With every kit you also get a hoop, needle, instructions and the most elegant little pair of pink scissors, so all you will need is an iron.

Sublime Stitching Ultimate Embroidery Kit, $32.50 from www.sublimestitching.com

This is the perfect kit for you if you're looking for a brand new challenge. Lacemaking is a little like knitting or crochet, but a completely unique craft of its own. The instructions teach you how to make a variety of lace designs and the packaging doubles as a workstation. Included is everything else you'll need: a polystyrene pillow, fabric, 24 bobbins, multicoloured beads, cotton thread, a pattern card, and brass pins and wire.

House of Crafts Lacemaking Kit, £25.99 from direct.hobbycraft.co.uk

British Designer Emily Peacock is bringing tapestry back in vogue with her modern kits for 21st-century home decor. We love all her designs, but one of our favourites is this one for a classic cushion cover, worked in counted cross stitch - with its beautiful colours, it's bound to become an heirloom for your family. The kits comes with the tapestry canvas, lovely wools, a needle and a colour chart, as well as instructions - you only need to buy your own cushion and cover. Check out Emily's website for some other wonderful flowery tapestry kits: we also adore The Meeting Place and Stars Over Corn.

Emily Peacock Tapestry In Bloom, £50 from www.emilypeacock.com

We can't resist these fabulously old fashioned kits for you to make cross-stitch letters. For a special gift, choose the lucky recipient's initials, opt for either the green or lilac stripe in the background, and once you've stitched the kit, you can turn it into a handsome square cushion cover. Emily recommends trimming the covers with bobbles for an even more stunning effect. Have a look at Emily's long, thin 'Kiss' and 'Hug' word cushion cover kits too - you can make them large or small, and buy them as a pair or singly. They'll look wonderful on a bed or sofa.

Emily Peacock Curious Alphabet, £52 from www.emilypeacock.com

Cleopatra's Needle has a range of lovely kits, among them ones to make lavender-scented herb cushions, worked in a straightforward tent stitch. As well as this fuchsia design, there are some other beautiful ones, like Marguerite Daisy, Blue Pansy, and Magnolia. They come with a sachet of lavender, a canvas, great wool, a needle, backing fabric, a pillow pad and a chart and instructions. And if you get stuck, the Lucy Winter store will finish making the kit up for you!

Cleopatra's Needle Fuchsia Country Garden Herb Pillow Tapestry kit, £29.20 from shop.lucywinter.co.uk

We love Sussex designer Wendy Hope-Falkner's wonderful range of tapestry kits. Each contains a printed canvas, pretty wools, a needle, a colour chart, stitch diagrams and friendly instructions. This design will go down a treat with any cat lover - but look at Wendy's website too for a host of other imaginative modern designs, from patchwork tapestries to rocking horses to samplers to floral doorstops to wedding anniversary celebration cushions to be embroidered with your names and dates.

One Off Needlework Multi Cats 10 Point Needlework kit, £58.50 from www.oneoffneedlework.co.uk

Another stunning design from Wendy Hope-Falkner, this round cushion-making kit is inspired by the glass paperweight style known as Millefiori. It comes with either green or black as a background, and you can also make the same design as a cone-shaped doorstopper. You'll be so proud to show this off.

One Off Needlework Green Millefiori Round Cushion, £62.80 from www.oneoffneedlework.co.uk

Online store Miso Funky is a great place to browse for unusual and modern needlework kits. This Union Jack tapestry which you can use to make a cushion cover will brighten up your home - it comes with all the wool you need, a needle, instructions and a printed canvas.

Stitch Up Union Jack Tapestry Kit, £60 from shop.misofunky.com

This cute little pink cotton cross-stitch kit is perfect for anyone who wants to learn cross-stitch with a nice, easy first project. It includes everything you need and a small bag of lavender to scent your finished bag.

Maxemilia Gingham Cross Stitch Lavender Bag Kit, from £14.85 from shop.misofunky.com

From designer Felicity Hall comes this unusual, bright montage of butterflies, birds and keys in a design which will ensure that your stitching never has a dull moment. You get everything you need and just have to buy a cushion and cover to complete it. We also like Felicity's quirky, old-fashioned Silhouettes tapestry kit (also on the Miso Funky website), which you trim with black lace.

In The Frame Tapestry Kit, £60 from shop.misofunky.com

This fun kit includes everything you need to embroider a pair of white pillowcases with a modern, colourful wildlife design: choose between a woodpecker, bear, bunnies or squirrel, among other images. It's an ideal first embroidery project. Other Sew Lovely kits on the Miso Funky site include ones for embroidering a tote bag or tea towel.

Sew Lovely Deluxe Pillowcase Set Embroidery Kit, £20 from shop.misofunky.com

This canvas embroidery kit is a fantastic challenge - it's a stitch sampler which will guide you through no fewer than 40 different stitches to make a cushion cover with a log cabin patchwork effect. Sew Exciting do a huge range of all kinds of needlepoint kits, and we also especially love the intricate patchwork tapestry kits, traditional blackwork sampler kits, Florentine kits, art reproductions and textured scenes. You can find kits here to make everything from Christmas stockings to curtain tiebacks.

Dining Room Sampler, £44.68 from www.sewexciting.com

This chic modern design is worked in half cross-stitch to make a dramatic cushion cover. Quality Needlecraft is another large online store with a fantastic variety of needlepoint kits. Some of our favourites include the adorable Whispering Rabbits, Strawberry Thief (a William Morris design), Bowmore cross stitch, the Rose Cottage textured stitch and the Jacobean crewelwork kit.

La Rose Natural Hessian Cushion Kit, £17.99 from www.qualityneedlecraft.co.uk

This sampler will make the loveliest present to commemorate the birth of a newborn. Tapestry-kits.com also sells a great range of needlepoint kits, from other samplers to a love heart tapestry kit to Shaker designs.

The Historical Sampler Company Alphabet Birth Tapestry Kit, £44.95 from www.tapestry-kits.com