This past weekend, I received a lovely gift in the mail - a beautiful book, in French, called Abécédaires de Tradition, published by Sajou, in conjunction with marie claire idées, which is a popular needlework (and other stuff) magazine in France. I know I've been on a French book and magazine kick lately - Mains et Merveilles and the the perforated paper and embroidery book - but I can't help it! I think you deserve to see these great resources, too, and this one is particularly nice if you like monograms, and it's available in the US. So take a look...

Though written in French, Abécédaires de Tradition is not a book that requires you to know the language, in case you can't read French. Why not? Because it is primarily a design book, plus a little bit more.



Traditional Alphabets abound in this book of traditional alphabets. It is a "stiff" paperback book, printed on high quality paper, with beautiful color photos within.



Maison Sajou, a French needlework establishment, has been well-known for over a hundred years for their quality needlework products. When I think "Sajou," what normally comes to mind are their alphabets.



The book is packed with decorative monograms which are first presented to the reader via colored plates.



Many beautiful monogram styles are featured...



... and they are all accompanied by photos of embroidered pieces featuring the monograms.



There's a wonderful animal alphabet. Granted, the names of several of the animals don't match the English translation. "C," for example, is illustrated with ducks ("canards" in French). But many of the letters do match up - Z: zebra; Y: yak; P: peacock; R: rhino, etc. Personally, for me this isn't a bother - I like the idea of a foreign language alphabet. You can look at it as a teaching moment for kids.



Oh, yes, pictures of monograms are nice - but this is the best part of the book.



The whole last half of the book is made up of iron-on transfer sheets for all the alphabets within....



... along with some nice borders to dress up your monograms.

The book contains 10 full alphabets in various sizes and in varying degrees of formality and informality. Each alphabet is attractive, and can be used on anything from household linens, quilts, and so forth, to handbags and clothing. You can even stitch up full alphabets to hang as samplers. From beautiful to downright fun, there's something in the book for everyone.

Here's a thought: Are you planning to make Christmas presents this year? How about personalizing some gifts with a monogram? That's what I'm planning to do! And these monograms will be just the thing.

You can find Abécédaires de Tradition in the US through The French Needle, which specializes in all kinds of European-style stitching kits, books, threads, and accessories. (I love this shop - this is where I got the Bayeux tapestry kit). Lisa carries some beautiful surface embroidery kits that would be great fun to work. I love the large monogram (majuscule) kits. When I saw those, I suddenly longed for a name beginning with "W" or "Y"!

Anyway, at the time of publishing today's article, the book is not listed on The French Needle website yet, but it will be posted there some time today. Click on 'boutique' in the left column of the site, and you'll see an extensive list of everything available. Go to the books category to find this particular book.

If you like the idea of hand embroidering some monograms on various and sundry articles, then, do check out this book! The beautiful monograms within it are worth the price alone, but coupled with the convenience of iron-on transfers, how can you miss?

Later in the week, I'll be showing you a thread that works well for all kinds of surface embroidery, including monograms, so keep an eye out!

Until tomorrow.... au revoir!

Labels: book review, embroidery resources, iron-on embroidery transfers, monograms, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, September 22, 2009
PermaLink  |  8 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a couple of my nieces out to the studio and set up some embroidery projects with them. They wanted to stitch some "quick" designs onto flour sack towels to use as bread basket liners (and hopefully sell). So, out we went...

... to the studio that was clean and neat, and there we sifted through designs and ideas. Luckily, the towels were already prepared. I had two dozen deluxe flour sack towels from American Chair Store in the cabinet, awaiting designs and embroidery. These are consistently the best flour sack towels I've come across, by the way, and they are worth the cost of $1.60 each if you buy them in packs of 10. (Like everything else, the price, by the way, has gone up... I bought them by the dozen for about $15 not too long ago...)

Contemplating designs, we very quickly settled on the brilliant idea of making use of the iron-on transfers I told you about yesterday. After all, we could kill two birds with one stone: I could see how well the transfers work, and they could have their towels ready for stitching in no time flat.

Anna selected a few different designs: the three cups, cut out and arranged askew on the corner of one towel, the "B-I-S-C-O-T-T-I" design for across the edge of another towel, and a swirly floral corner thing for another towel.

Emma selected one design - a small bunch of plums that she insisted were peaches and are embroidering them as such, so they are coming out looking like apricots.... which is fine. Emma's eight years old, so I've adopted a new policy with her concerning embroidery: Keep It Simple (despite her inclination to want to do what everyone else is doing) and One Thing at a Time. If she finishes the plums-gone-peaches-gone-apricots, she can set up another towel.

So, we got to try the transfers, and this, of course, takes me back to my reasons for preferring to trace rather than use a transfer.



The transfers took pretty well for iron-on transfers. For the most part, the designs came off very clear, and in little corners here and there where they didn't, the fault belongs to the person behind the iron. These particular transfers are definitely made to give a good, bold first transfer.

We tried a couple of the designs twice, making up, for example, two Biscotti towels. The second impression of the design was actually better than the first.



One thing I remembered I don't like about iron-ons is the thick line they can leave if you are trying for a bold impression. If I'm stitching up a towel for a gift, I generally use 2 strands of floss, which keeps the design bold enough, but not chunky looking. I'm not sure if these transfer lines will wash out, so the best bet is to cover them well when embroidering. This'll require at least 3 strands of floss.

Anyway, as far as the transfer itself goes, these work well. Whil I may still prefer tracing my designs, I have to admit that ironing them on is really quick - we were able to set up about 8 projects yesterday in less than an hour.

After setting up the individual towels, we selected floss for each, then bagged up the floss and the folded towel to make up a "kit." Now the gals will have something to keep them busy! They like to stitch and listen to audio books, which is a good passtime for summer, when they're not in the pool or frolicking about doing other things.

That's done, then.

What else am I up to? Well, I've cleaned up the studio (once again) and sifted through a few things to tie up some loose ends. Sometimes, it's just easier not to go on vacation! Playing catch-up doesn't always seem worth it! I've got a heap of mail ready to go out (the birthday give-aways from June! Finally!). I've gone through all my photos and organized them (about 10 times now), looking desperately for photos of the finished pall I embroidered recently. I never found any, which leads me to think I never took pictures of the finished piece! And now it's delivered! I could kick myself for that one - so, for those of you who have asked about the finish, sorry about that.

I'm still trying to catch up on e-mail, but I fear some may have fallen through the cracks, and, just this morning, for the first time, I've finally caught my feedreader up.

The laundry room here at home has a new coat of paint on it (thanks to my niece, Bridget), but the dining room is stacked with all the shelf clutter from the laundry room. I need to tear down my bedroom this week and get it ready for new paint, which will be followed by new furniture and new linens, curtains, etc., in the next couple months. I'm going with periwinkle walls and white trim, all white linens, all white furniture - and the palest of greens and yellows for highlights. I'm excited about that, and am looking forward, especially, to carrying out my Curtain Idea. I'm going to make (or buy) some airy white sheers for both windows and stitch some very simple, loose scroll designs on them in colors to coordinate with the new paint job. It'll be a while before this is realized, though, as the kitchen, dining room, living room and entryway all have priority.

And, in the midst of all that, I'm working on school work for next year, planning classes and so forth. As the summer passes all-too-quickly away, I must schedule several hours a day just to focus on school preparation. Anyone who thinks teachers have it made, with summers completely off, is rather incorrect in that assumption!

That's what's going on in Real Life right now. In Website Life, I'm still working on projects for Needle 'n Thread, including the long-promised long and short stitch tutorials, as well as a slew of new videos. I haven't had any prime video days yet, though - the days are too broken up with other work and visitors and all the hubbub of the summer.

I hope your summer is going well, and that you have time to relax and enjoy working with your needle 'n thread!

Labels: beginner embroidery, Embroidery for the Home, embroidery resources, iron-on embroidery transfers

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
PermaLink  |  4 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

If you like to use iron-on transfers for your hand embroidery projects, you might be interested a really nice line of transfers produced by Mani di Fata of Italy, and available through Lacis. I purchased a couple different types of iron-on sets, including regular surface embroidery designs and cutwork designs. Here's the set for surface embroidery...

I've only occasionally used iron-on transfers for my embroidery projects. Truth is, I find it easier and more reliable to trace patterns, even those intended to be ironed on. With this set of transfers from Mani di Fata, I'm definitely tracing. Though the transfers would last through several applications, I'm pretty sure they'll last even longer if I stick with tracing them rather than ironing them.



These transfers came in a very large envelope. There are three sheets of transfers, each sheet folding out to... oh, some huge tabletop proportion! (I didn't measure them...)



Each sheet contains many motifs for embroidery. You simply cut out the pieces you want to iron-on, making note of the markings for repeat patterns if your design has a repeat. Then you set up your fabric and iron on your pattern.



The package contains motifs suitable for the bedroom, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen... you get the idea...



... and they're all more or less mixed up on each of the three sheets in the package.



There's one nice alphabet in the set - it features letters marked out with lilies of the valley. It's a very pretty, medium-sized alphabet.



Some of the highlights that sold me on this particular set were these cute cups...



... this line of cacti - though I've never embroidered potted cacti and have no idea if I actually ever will...



... and the many nice corner-type designs in the set. There are at least six or more designs specifically suitable to corners, some very simple and some more complex.

Now, I haven't tried the actual iron-on-ness of these yet, though I will, so I can let you know how well they work. But given the quality of the paper and the sharpness of the designs, I'm assuming they iron on well. I'll play with that this week and let you know.

You can find these iron-on sets through Lacis, by searching "mani di fata" in their online catalog. You'll also find that they have several cutwork iron-on sets, books, and so forth by the same company. You can also look up the Mani di Fata website, which is written in Italian, but you can switch to English or Spanish translation on the site. I found it difficult to find exactly the same set of transfers on their website, but they have all kinds of other delectable things to look at, too, including kits - cutwork tablecloth kits, for example, with the design already printed on, and all kinds of other neat stuff.

Back to the transfers - these sets really have the nicest designs I've seen in these types of transfers. I'm glad I found them while rummaging through Lacis, and now I wish I had bought more of 'em!

Labels: embroidery resources, iron-on embroidery transfers, pictures, supplies

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, July 13, 2009
PermaLink  |  5 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

My embroidery classes for children are coming to a close. I have one more class next Monday morning! So the projects are rolling in, although I don't think I'll see all of the completed work by the end of our last class. I thought I'd give a little recap of the different projects worked this summer and share a few photos of some embroidery projects completed this week.

For the 2008 Summer Embroidery Classes for Children, we worked the following projects, divided into groups by age:

Group A: Children 7 - 9 years old (mostly - there were a couple 10-year-old newbies in there, too) worked the following projects:

• Two stitch samplers - a butterfly and a flower, both filled with lines for practicing different line stitches
• An embroidered felt bookmark
• A white towel, embroidered with a butterfly and flower scene (no photos of that one, yet! Hopefully, next Monday we'll see some completed towels!)

Group B: Children 9 - 10 years old (with a 7 year old thrown in for good measure!) worked:

• A stitch sampler - the lined butterflies
• Embroidered felt bookmark
• Embroidered checkered dish towel (pictures below)
• Embroidered greeting card

Group C: Children 11 - 14 years old (with some younger ones thrown in for good measure here, too!) worked:

• Embroidered Flour Sack Towels
• Embroidered Greeting Cards
• Embroidery project of their choice - linen handkerchiefs, bookmarks, or pillow cases

The kids picked out their own threads and colors for the various projects, with the exception of the stitch samplers, the check towels, and the felt bookmarks.

In all the groups, there were several stitchers who finished all their projects by the end of the last class, but most of the students still had a little bit left to do on their final project, so they were able to pick out enough thread to finish up the projects and take them home to finish during the slow summer days.

Here are a few photos of projects that came in this week:



This is one of the blue checkered dish towels. Originally, they were going to work chicken scratch embroidery on the checked towels, but the checks were bigger than I thought they would be. Still, I like this little design. It reminds me a bit of the Pennsylvania Dutch look.



And here's one of the red checked towels. These towels are Really Nice quality towels. I got them from All About Blanks.



Here are three of the kids' flower sack towels that came in. This was another great find in good towels - these particular flour sack towels came from Embroider This. The designs are the Java Break and Wine Country patterns from Aunt Martha, which you can find at Colonial Patterns. Most the stitching was done in simple line stitches: back stitch, whipped back stitch, stem stitch, and some chain stitch.



This is a larger photo of one of the more complex ones! I was so happy to see them finish these, as they were bigger projects than the Java Break designs, but they seemed to like doing them and were proud of the finished results.



This is one of the select-your-own projects from Group C, done by a 12 year old. These handkerchiefs (from All About Blanks) make really pretty monogrammed hankies. And I think she did a great job, using simple stitches and nice colors. Her tiny stitches, actually, are really perfect.



She used French knots and backstitch - I was really impressed with her even backstitches!

I'm still eagerly waiting the butterfly towels done by Group A, some of which should be done when the come to class on Monday! There are also a few of these towels out:



This is one of the class samples I made up, but didn't finish stitching before the classes started.



I think a reader asked previously about this pattern - it's found in the Repeats and Borders book I reviewed earlier. It's a fun pattern to work, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the kids' results with it.

I was really very happy with this summer's embroidery classes. We had five two-hour sessions for each group, and I think they had fun, I know I had fun, and although it's a lot of work, I really think it's worth it! If you have the opportunity to instruct children in needlework of any kind, grab it! It's a wonderful chance to pass on to the next generation a love of handwork. You also have the opportunity to give children a hobby that will make them happy for years to come, if they keep up with it! And you never, never know what they'll do with it.

If you are interested in teaching children, but you don't know how to go about establishing a venue or getting the word out, I suggest contacting your local library to see if they have any summer programs for youth that they're looking for volunteers for.

If the other projects show up on Monday, I'll share some photos of those, and then that's it for the kids' classes until next summer! Though I was thinking it might be fun to take a day over Christmas vacation and do an ornament class or something... I'll have to muse a bit over that one!

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroider on paper, embroidery for children, embroidery for fun, Embroidery for the Home, Embroidery Projects, iron-on embroidery transfers, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, July 17, 2008
PermaLink  |  11 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

One of the projects we're doing in my summer embroidery classes is an embroidered dish towel. We're using flour sack towels and embroidering a little (actually, relatively big) design on them. I thought it would be a good project for the older kids (ages 11-14), and I'm also doing it with the adult beginners. So, here's my class sample and a little information about the set up and stitching...

First of all, keep in mind that flour sack towels can be a delight to embroider on, or they can be a pain. Good flour sack towels take hand embroidery very well! I bought the towels for this year's embroidery classes from Embroider This! - you can see the ad for the company in the right hand column. They were very generous in helping me with the endeavor, and I did get a cut for the bulk order. In exchange, I'm running an ad for them for a month.

I bought the Ultra Premium Flour Sack towels from them, and I'm really, really glad I did! They are super smooth and super sturdy - not the flimsy, filmy, wrinkly kind sported by Walmart and Target. The only reason I bring this up is because I did go buy some from Walmart and Target - and they were thin and flimsy. At $2.99 each from Embroider This (that's their retail price), it's not a bad deal for a good towel!

The towels are huge, by the way. I've read on some blogs that embroiderers will often cut the flour sack towels in half and hem up the fourth side (where the cut is) to make two towels. I suppose that's a good idea, if you want a smaller towel.

Anyway, on with it...

My original intention, as I noted before when I was introducing you to my monogrammed guest towel sample, was to use iron-on transfers for most of our projects this summer, so that we could save some time on setting up projects. But that changed as I prepared my sample for stitching!

I purchased a few sets of Aunt Martha transfers - Wine Country and Java Break - but the transfers were bigger than I liked. I wanted them just slightly smaller! So I reduced them on the copier and traced them.

Yeah. That's right. I traced 20 towel designs - and that was just the flour sack towels! I've also ended up tracing designs on 20 other towels for the younger kids. They aren't flour sack towels, though. They're gingham towels and smaller kitchen towels. That was a lot of tracing! I used a light box, and a micron art pen on the gingham towels and smaller kitchen towels. On the flour sack towels, I used a #2 pencil.

For stitching, the students are using two strands of DMC and a variety of stitches. I kind of saw the whole towel project as a sampler, in a sense. That is, it would give the kids practice on their line stitches (I'm emphasizing even stitches and smooth lines), but at the same time, it would give them a finished, colorful project that they could keep or give to Mom or Grandma, or whatever. (Kids like finished projects!)

Here's my class sample, which is from the Java Break collection:



I had to pick the pattern with the cupcake. I wanted to stitch pink frosting for some reason!



Here's the cherry, worked in whipped backstitch for the fruit and chain stitch for the stem. There are three reasons I like to use whipped backstitch with the kids: 1. it creates a relatively smooth line, compared to plain backstitch; 2. It's easy; and 3. It's like learning two stitches in one, since they have to learn the backstitch, anyway!



I worked the letters in chain stitch in dark brown, and, in light brown, I worked a line of stem stitch right next to the chain stitch, to give the letters a little depth (or something!)... just to set them off a bit.



The cup and saucer and the dessert plate are worked in chain stitch, in a bright yellow and red.



And the decoration on the cup - the red grid - is worked in backstitch. The coffee inside the cup is worked in rows of stem stitch (used as a filling), and the steam rising from the coffee is also worked in stem stitch.

So, overall, the towel gives the students the opportunity to practice some common line stitches - especially chain stitch, stem stitch, and backstitch - and (hopefully!) to perfect their spacing and sizing of their stitches. That's my plan, anyway - I'll let you know if the idea was successful!

You know what? I had fun stitching this towel! I'm thinking about doing the other three corners, so the thing can be used as a little "coffee cloth" (as opposed to tea cloth). Really, the towel is big enough to spread as a tea cloth on your table. It's not super fine linen, that's true, but it would be fun to spread out for a coffee break when your pals stop by for a cup!

Other ideas: great wedding gifts for coffee drinkers, fixed in a basket with other coffee supplies (some special cups or whathaveyou).... or, do a bread / wheat motif in all the corners, and use it as a liner for a large basket of bread when company's coming, or when you're having a cookout and you want to put the hamburger buns in a basket and cover them. So many ideas... so little time!

Labels: beginner embroidery, Embroidery for the Home, iron-on embroidery transfers, needlework pictures, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, July 01, 2008
PermaLink  |  10 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this

 

Previously, I mentioned that we're using iron-on patterns for my embroidery classes this summer. Actually, I'm beginning to re-think that! Ironing on a repeat pattern can be a bit of a hassle! Still, it worked, so I thought I'd show you how I did it.

The first embroidery project that I mentioned using an iron-on pattern was the monogrammed linen guest towel. Putting the pattern on the guest towel as a pretty simply endeavor - it was just one letter, after all.

But I wanted to iron on a repeat patter, to decorate the edge of a kitchen towel. So I contemplated how to line things up and get the pattern on the towel in such a way that the design - a straight line of flower-like motifs - began and ended with the same figure.



This is the pattern - it begins with the 8-pointed spoke, and ends with the four-petaled flower thing. If you transfer it once, then repeat it, your beginning motif and ending motif won't be the same... you could flip the pattern, but then you'll end up with two of the same figures in the middle. So that's something I had to take into consideration.

I knew that the design had to be centered, and that it had to be lined up with the base of the towel. To mark the center of the towel and the line along which to transfer the pattern, I thought about using a pencil. However, I didn't want to risk leaving a residue that might not disappear, especially considering that the heat from the iron might set the pencil marks. I also thought about a water-soluble pen, but this presented the same problem - you shouldn't iron over water-soluble ink, because it sets with the heat.

Soooooo. This is what I did.



First, I laid the towel out to measure it and to check how the repeat pattern would fit. I figured it would take two patterns, plus one of the single motifs. Then I measured up my towel and prepared to mark it.

Instead of using anything that leaves an actual mark on the fabric, I decided to use a little bone folding tool. These are tools that are usually sold in the paper crafts area of craft stores. They're used to score paper to make a folding line. Alternately, you can use a piece of sanded, smooth wood with a tip on it, or a burnisher used in other art forms, or probably even the back of a kitchen knife (not the serrated edge!).



I lined up the towel on a straight edge, then measured up a couple inches, where I wanted the top of my design to be. In measuring, I noticed that the fabric was not exactly cut on the grain. It's just slightly off. I was tempted to follow the grain of the fabric, but that would've made the design slightly crooked. So I measured from the base of the hemline on the towel and kept the line even.

I used a ruler as a guide, and drew the bone paper scoring tool firmly across the line which would mark the top of the design.



This left a definite crease in the fabric.



Then I measured the center point, and used the same tool to mark the center of the towel. Now I had my positioning marks in place, without using anything that actually marked the fabric.



After this, I took my pattern and carefully measured it, marking on the back side (the un-inked side) a quarter inch line. This is what I used to line up the design with the mark on the towel.



I pinned the iron-on transfer ink-side down onto the towel in the correct position.



Pinning the pattern is essential for ironing on a repeat embroidery design! If you eyeball it without pinning it, and you apply the iron, you risk not getting a transfer and having to re-apply the iron-on, which is virtually impossible.



Whenever I'm ironing anything for embroidery, I always use an old pillow case underneath the piece. The instructions recommend putting something over your ironing board cover, anyway, in case the ink bleeds through.

So I applied the iron to the back side of the pattern for about 10 seconds, as prescribed in the instructions in the iron-on transfer book. When you do this, it's important to place the iron directly on the transfer, apply firm pressure, and don't move the iron back and forth.

And this is what I got for the first transfer:



The picture is partly blurry (out of focus), but so is the design on the fabric. The ink, especially with the first transfer, seemed to fuzz out a bit - not actually bleed in an irreparable way, but just "spread" in a kind of fuzzy way. This may very well be the quality of the transfer. I did not notice anything like this on the monogram.

Anyway, after you've held the iron on for the prescribed amount of time, unpin one corner of your design and check the transfer. You want to make certain it transfers! And if you take the pattern off, and only part of the design transferred, you're pretty much sunk, as it's really hard - if not impossible - to place the design in the exact same spot. And if you don't, you end up with duplicate lines (like double vision!).



Now it's time to line up the next repeat. By the way, I suggest using pins with a steel head or a glass head, because it is likely the iron will have to rest on the pins.

With the second application of the transfer, you will need to hold the iron on a bit longer.



You can see that the transfer is not nearly as dark the second time. But I prefer it like this! It's visible enough to embroider over, but not dark enough (and the lines aren't wide enough) to worry about not being able to cover it up.



Still, part of the repeat didn't transfer, so I applied the iron for a few more seconds - and I ended up with a sort-of dark pattern in some areas.



Now there's the question of the "balance" of the design. I wanted the whole line to begin and end with the same figure, the 8-spoke little design. So I cut my transfer, and isolated that one figure. I measured the distance from the center of the flower to the center of the spoke design, and lined up the isolated piece.



And I ironed it and checked it - very pale on the third application, but that's ok! I like it that way. So I left it.

In some of the books I was using, they suggest placing aluminum foil under your fabric before ironing on a used transfer, to increase the strength of the pattern. I don't know if this technique works - I should try it! - and I don't know if it's applicable to just a certain type of iron-on pattern. If anyone's tried that, I'd love to hear about how it works!



So that's the extra motif...



And that's the center of the towel. You can definitely see the difference between the first transfer and the second!

The whole process was somewhat time consuming, but not that bad, actually. If I were doing a stack of towels, I'd do each step at the same time on all the towels, then move on to the next step. That might speed the process up!

If you have any input or advice on ironing on a pattern, or a repeat, do share!

Labels: embroidery tips and tricks, iron-on embroidery transfers, needlework tutorials, pictures

Click here to read the whole post & comments.

Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, June 19, 2008
PermaLink  |  5 comments  | Click to Comment

Share this