You probably have realized by now I'm a thread junkie. I've said it before, and I freely admit it. But I've never actually gone so far as to purchase a whole set of a specific embroidery thread (you know, one of every color!). Granted, I've come close. Last year, a certain hankering crept over me: I longed to purchase the whole available range of cotton floche! And I resolved, at that moment, that if I ever did buy a whole set of one type of thread, the first set would indeed be cotton floche. It took a while to do it - a whole set of an embroidery thread isn't cheap, if the set is somewhat extensive, so I had to save for it. When Hedgehog Handworks launched their January sale (15% off everything) this year, I jumped!

Cotton floche is a beautiful embroidery thread, perfect for monogramming, for all kinds of surface work, for folk and ethnic styles of embroidery, for cross stitch. It works great for long and short stitch shading, as you can see in this beautiful piece worked by Jeanne of Just String. It makes beautiful little flowers for surface work. It's wonderful to smock with. And some stitchers love it for needlepoint on higher count canvas...



Me? I love it for.... everything!



I love its softness, and its vivid colors.



I love its range of shades within colors.



I love that its easy to stitch with.



I just downright love the stuff.

And I love the fact that I now have the whole range! (Well, the whole range available at Hedgehog - 89 colors!) *Sigh*

Pure ... Thread ... Bliss!

(The next question: what am I going to do with it? I suppose you'll just have to wait and see!)

If you're not familiar with floche and want to do some reading on it, I've got a couple articles here on Needle 'n Thread:

Thread Comparison between Floche, DMC perle cotton, and DMC stranded cotton
Floche, Danish Flower Thread, and coton a broder
Floche vs Danish Flower Thread - comparison
Miniature Flowers Sampler using Floche

Labels: embroidery resources, floche, hand embroidery information, supplies, threads

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Lately, I've gotten quite a few e-mails asking questions about coton a broder, so I figured I'd address them all in one post, and hopefully those who e-mailed and asked are regular readers and will find the answer here! (Two e-mails bounced back and wouldn't deliver!) So... here are some questions about this embroidery thread, and, to the best of my knowledge, the answers to those questions.

#1: Does coton a broder come in colors?

Yes, it does. Technically, though, I've only seen #25 coton a broder available in a very limited range of colors.

However, if it is #16 and listed as coton a broder, chances are, it is "floche" that you want, if you want it in a range of colors. Floche, by both DMC and Anchor, comes in a wide range of beautiful colors, and can be used for the same applications as coton a broder. The only real difference between the two types of thread is that the thread that DMC calls "coton a broder" here in America is a 4-ply softly twisted thread, while floche is a 5-ply softly twisted thread. But they are completely compatible, more or less the same thing, so if you're looking for a #16 in various colors, what you need to look for is floche rather than what we call "coton a broder," which is more of a whitework and cutwork thread.

This is floche:



#2: What's the difference between Danish Flower Thread and coton a broder?

In America, coton a broder is actually a mercerized thread, which means it has a sheen to it. Danish Flower Thread is non-mercerized, or matte, and has no sheen. However, it seems that, in other countries (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand), coton a broder is actually a matte thread, the term used interchangeably with flower thread. However (again!), in America, what we buy as flower thread is definitely more tightly twisted than coton a broder or floche. You can see the individual twists in flower thread more distinctly than you can in floche or coton a broder. Look:



The top thread is mercerized (it has a sheen) and has a looser twist. It is floche. The bottom thread is not mercerized (it is matte) and the twist is a little tighter. It is flower thread.

#3: Where can I find coton a broder, for cutwork or for colored embroidery?

If you're looking for cutwork thread, coton a broder in white, you can find various sizes available through Lacis. Look under "materials," then "Needlework, DMC, etc." in their online catalog. They have sizes 16, 20, 25, 30, and 40.

You can also find floche in colors on the same page of the Lacis online catalog. However, I like to order my floche from Hedgehog Handworks, where you can order it in large hanks or smaller skeins, and where you can also order Danish Flower Thread, if you're looking for matte thread.

If you're looking for Danish Flower Thread (matte coton a broder, more or less), you can order that through Hedgehog, on the same page as the link in the above paragraph, or you can order it from Nordic Needle. Right now, it looks as if they don't have many colors listed on their website, but I saw a whole rack of the entire range of flower thread, so I'm sure you can probably call them with the colors you want.

For further information on these threads - floche, coton a broder, and flower thread - check out these articles:

Comparison between floche and other common DMC threads

Comparison between floche and Danish Flower Thread

I hope this helps answer some questions about these threads. I'm sorry I couldn't get through to a couple of those who e-mailed with the questions, but since it's useful information for needleworkers in general, I thought it worth a little write-up!

Labels: danish flower thread, embroidery tips and tricks, floche, pictures, supplies, threads, whitework

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If you embroider, chances are you're familiar with stranded cotton, which is probably the most popularly used cotton embroidery floss (or thread). Next popular is likely to be perle (or pearl) cotton. These two cotton threads are widely available, so most stitchers are familiar with them. But there are other cotton embroidery threads out there! Here are two that I like - floche and Danish flower thread.

I've talked a bit about floche before, and have already written up a comparison between floche, perle cotton, and stranded cotton. This time, I'm throwing Danish flower thread into the mix.

First, let's take a look at the two types of threads in pictures...



Above, a pile of floche....



... and here's a (smaller) pile of Danish flower thread.



And here are the two together. Right off, you can see a difference between the two threads. The Danish flower thread is in the foreground. Notice that that there's no real sheen on it like there is on the floche.

Floche is mercerized cotton, so it has a nice shine to it. Danish flower thread is matte cotton, so there's no shine to it.



There are two similar blues as far as colors go - but they look distinctly different, for two reasons. One is the sheen from the mercerization on the floche. The other is the twist of the individual thread. If you look at the floche, in this picture you can see that the individual threads (each ply that makes up the strand) are not too tightly twisted. On the Danish flower thread, the plies are twisted relatively tight, compared to the plies on the floche. The twist definitely has a lot to do with the reflection of light on a thread, so it isn't just the shine of the mercerization that makes floche and flower thread different.

But twist and finish (matte vs. mercerized) aren't the only differences in the two threads.



Here, I've lined the two threads up next to a #8 pearl cotton. Actually, a #12 would have been closer in size - but I only have white in #12, and it didn't show up as well.

If you look at the construction of the threads, you can see that the pearl and the flower thread look alike, but the floche looks a lot smoother. This is because the pearl and the flower thread are only two plies twisted relatively tightly, while the floche is five plies, and the twists that hold the plies together are much longer than the twists on the other two threads. I'm sure there's a technical name to the length of a twist... but... I don't know it!



I stitched two petals on a flower on a tea towel, each with a different thread.



Now, to test your attention span and observation skills so far, here's the quiz:

Which petal is floche, and which is flower thread?

If you said the top one is the flower thread, you're right. When you see them side-by-side, it's really easy to tell the difference between the two threads. Besides the obvious sheen on the floche, it is a "softer" looking thread.

Danish flower thread is a non-divisible thread (that means you don't separate it into smaller threads to work with), equal to about 2 to 3 strands of regular stranded cotton. As mentioned before, it's not mercerized, so it's got a matte finish, which makes it look, in a sense, "dull." To me, it almost feels like crewel wool, but with a tighter twist and not as much "fuzz." It feels sort of dry, if that makes any sense! Flower thread has been around for a while - the original Danish thread was produced in the early 1900's, when the thread was dyed to mimic plant dyed threads used in Scandinavian needlework. DMC eventually picked up the idea, and produces a flower thread as well, but the "original dyed" flower thread is Danish flower thread.

You may wonder what Danish flower thread is used for - why would a matte finish thread be popular enough that DMC would decide to produce a line of it, for example? The matte threads are wonderful for creating the look of historical embroidery - if you want a really old look to your work (if you're creating an historical sampler, for example), Danish flower thread is great for that.

Also, the contrast you can achieve in stitching with a matte finish thread now and then adds interest to a project. Imagine if you're stitching on a crazy quilt seam, for example, and you're using a fabric with a high sheen to it. A matte finish thread would stand out well on it. Think Mountmellick embroidery - it's the same concept. The contrast between the matte threads and the cotton sateen is characteristic of Mountmellick embroidery, and really very beautiful.

So there's yet another cotton thread to consider giving a try! You can find the original Danish flower thread through Hedgehog Handworks, where it's $1.20 per 21-ish-yard skein. I also get my floche through Hedgehog. It's beautiful stuff, isn't it?

Well, stay tuned this week - the August stash contest will feature both of these threads, along with... oh, a really good book!

Labels: danish flower thread, floche, pictures, threads

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