Stitching stories: What Delilah Did

For Sophie Simpson, aka What Delilah Did, "the darker side" of fairytales was a big influence on her first book, Storyland Cross Stitch.

The beautiful illustrated book of patterns and projects for cross-stitchers is full of images and tales of fairies and golden geese, knights and princesses, but also wily foxes and a big bad wolf.

"You may not know this," one yarn begins:

"but not every forest is enchanted. This is a constant source of irritation to me, because I have always wanted some magical woodland friends to spend my time with, but no matter how many times I visit my local forest, it simply refuses to be anything but normal.

"Imagine my excitement, then, when the delightful Mr Fox spirited me away on a magical mystery tour..."

Sophie was inspired by the Brothers Grimm, "but making them a bit modern, not taking them too seriously". She also admits to being a "shameless Harry Potter fan". "I don't get bored of it ever," she says, " I love J.K. Rowling's writing style". Her recent reads include The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo's Calling is also on the list.

Her favourite author is Alice Hoffman, author of The Dovekeepers: "I love the style of her writing. It's really beautiful without being flouncy," and she enjoys cookery books: "I'm a sucker for styling".

Maths and textiles

Sophie herself trained as a stylist (in fact the name Delilah from What Delilah Did partly comes from the whimsical moniker of the headless mannequin she modelled clothes on) but her career has also taken in radio production and training to be a counsellor.

"Maths and textiles" were her thing at school, "and I knew I wanted to do something creative, I just wasn't sure what." A period of temping, blogging and crafting after being made redundant lead her to hit on the cross stitch style that became an Etsy shop and eventually a full-time job, with kits stocked in Liberty, and an editor approaching her to write her first book.

"I thought it was a joke when I got the email," she admits. "It's something I always wanted to do - I just didn't think it would be about cross stitch!"

The book took "forever and a day" she jokes, with about six months solid to write and make the projects. Writing the stories around each project – after they had been completed and sent away to be photographed – was the hardest part, while the easiest was the sewing itself.

"When I am stitching," she says, "I let my imagination go."

Storyland Cross Stitch by What Delilah Did is published by Collins & Brown.