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Mary Corbet

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I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Forcing Nature’s Hand with Hand Embroidery

 

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How about a little round-up of hand embroidery ideas for Easter and Spring?

When Spring finally rolls around, I’m always convinced it’s my favorite season. (Umm…strangely enough, when Fall rolls around, I’m equally convinced it’s my favorite season.)

But right now, with the conviction that Spring is the Best Season of the Year Ever, I’m in the mood to share Spring Stuff with everyone!

Anything to promote Spring – in desperate hopes of forcing Nature’s hand to spring Spring!

To that end, here are some embroidery ideas for Easter and for Spring, just in case you’re on the prowl for something Springy or Eastery to stitch.

Hand Embroidered Spring Towel

First up, for some easy stitching, how about a simple Spring Garden corner on a flour sack towel? Instead of lining your Easter basket with plastic grass, you can line it with a pretty embroidered towel!

Flour sack towels also make wonderful bread warmers on an Easter table. Line the basket with a towel, so that, when folded over a heap of warm dinner rolls, the embroidery is face up. It’s perfect! And cheery!

You can find the Spring Garden embroidery pattern here, for free download. The best flour sack towels available these days (in my opinion) are the deluxe flour sack towels from American Chair Store. They’re large, the cotton is not gauzy, and they don’t pill or fuzz when washed. They’re a nice surface for hand embroidery.

Ukrainian Easter Cloth

If you’re more into counted work and would like to whip up (ok, this embroidery takes longer than just “whipping up”!) a cloth for your Ukrainian Easter basket, to go along with your pysanky, you can find the free chart for this Ukrainian Easter Cloth corner design here.

Embroidered Easter Eggs

Of course, you can always go all out and embroider your very own real eggs for Easter!

I’ve compiled a list of links to all the articles on embroidering eggs, from my trial-and-error process last year. It’s So Much Fun to do, but it does take a wee bit of time, and an extra large dose of patience!

Embroidery on Eggs

But wow. The results are can be really pretty. And they’re incredibly unique – you don’t see a lot of hand embroidered Easter eggs at the local egg hunt!

Hand Embroidered Tea Cloth: Spring by Anchor, stitched by Margaret Cobleigh

You can click on the above for a larger image. This is a tea cloth embroidered by Margaret Cobleigh. It’s a kit from Anchor, entitled “Spring.”

I’ve not been able to find the kit still available online, but Anchor does have a few other freestyle embroidery kits available for spring-themed tea cloths – like this one at 1-2-3 Stitch.

Before you engage in stitching one of the Anchor kits, you might want to read through Margaret’s explanation of embroidering the Spring tea cloth above, and what she did to improve it as she went along. It’s a good lesson in adapting a kit and making it better!

Embroidered Book Cover for First Communion

If you want to go for something a little more religious for Easter or perhaps for a First Communion gift this spring, you could check out this embroidered prayer book cover. You can find the cross, flowers, and crown pattern here, for free download.

I do have one small beginner project that is Spring oriented that I’m endeavoring to finish and write up for you (aside from the Secret Garden project – it’s definitely Springy, but it isn’t small!), and I hope to show that to you in the next week or so.

In the meantime, I hope Spring comes to you soon, wherever you are!

 
 

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(15) Comments

  1. Mrs. Corbet,
    Well. . . we certainly are getting April showers! And there’s a hint of green in the grass. Otherwise, it’s still bare, muddy, and grey. Yep. At the moment, spring still needs to Spring Forth! 🙂

    -Sarah

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  2. Dear Mary

    They are all so springy I love them. I really like the teacloth and the Bible cover and of course the eggsembroidery like you I had great fun last year embroidering eggs and I’m thinking of doing more, but I’m in the process of tambour embroidery actually it’s a beaded evening bag I’ve actually mastered the tambour stitch but adding beads is a much slower process so everything else is on hold. Thanks for sharing these spring ideas they are so colourful and inviting, I hope you have a great weekend.

    Regards Anita Simmance

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  3. Good Morning, Mrs. Corbet, spring has indeed finally come in my neighborhood and thirty did too! Is that adorably precious little bunny in the first photo yours? If so, I want it!

    I love the flour sack, I may have to get into that after I finish all my huge projects. I also love the tea cloth!

    I will admit to a tiny pang of disappointment that The Secret Garden hasn’t been updated yet. I ADORE IT! I can wait patiently though.

    I do have a question… how do you know which premade linen napkins are good for monograms?

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  4. For me, Spring is the best! Of that I have no doubt. (Fall is a close second.)

    I love all of the fresh Spring-y colours in the projects on this post. How sad (pathetic?) is it, though, on my part for me to see the tablecloth and realise that I’ve sort of forgotten about it! I saw the picture of it here this morning and thought, ‘Gee, that’s not bad, I should go find it.’ 😉

    I saw the kit for sale recently at the following link:

    http://www.keepsakeneedlearts.com/productdetail/61148/%20SPRING%20FLOWERS%20TABLECLOTH.htm

    Happy Spring to eveyone in the northern hemisphere!

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  5. Thanks Mary, for the ideas for Easter/Spring stitching. Although Easter falls in Autumn here in South Africa, I still enjoy making my Easter table Spring like 🙂

    Thanks also for the link to the Spring Garden Corner pattern.

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  6. Aloha Mary,
    What a beautiful example of what adding color for depth and contrast. A little color goes a long way.
    Regards,
    ji

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    1. Well, truth be told, that bunny grew up several years ago – with all its brothers and sisters – and I do believe they ended up in stew or something similar. My niece was raising rabbits at the time for meat, and that was part of the newest brood that year.

  7. Love the spring design. Thanks so much!

    How do the towels you recommended compare to the Aunt Martha’s flour sack towels?

    Hugs,
    Gina

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    1. Hi, Gina – I like them better! The weave is nicer to embroider on, I think. And the deluxe ones are a really good size, so the towel can serve many purposes.

  8. Thank you Mary for the inspiration! They are all beautiful! Love the sweet Easter table cloth and the gorgeous tea cloth makes me wish to pick up my needle again.
    Regards,
    Judit

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  9. Thank you again for the lovely ideas.

    Spring is definitely my favourite; I love riding my motorcycle on crisp clear spring days. Unfortunately it will be a long time coming as we are just starting Autumn down here in New Zealand. We don’t get the beautiful Autumn colours where I live, except on a few exotics, otherwise I might be tempted …

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  10. I made one of your Spring Garden Breadcloths on a flour sack towel as a gift several years ago. I borrowed a cup from my friend’s dishes and matched colors. It turned out very nice. Thanks, Mary!

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