I'd really love to see if anyone does anything with the free hand embroidery patterns that I post on here! Or if you're like me, you just kind of "collect" them with the idea that it's nice to have them on hand if some day you want to do something with them! That's pretty much me, anyway, and that's why I have so many to filter through! This one's a quatrefoil shape with a few little scrollies around it and some flowers inside it.

You can dress this one up a number of ways. I think it would look great with gold threads - the quatrefoil could be couched in gold passing, along with the tendrils, and the flowers could be needlepainted or couched again in gold. You could always work a filling stitch in a solid color in the background and couch the flowers in gold. Or you could go with a simple approach and just use line stitches to outline the design! Lots of possibilities on this one!



For more hand embroidery patterns, please visit my Index of Hand Embroidery Patterns.

Have fun with it!

I'm heading off on vacation now... I'll post some good stuff when I return!

Labels: free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, May 31, 2007
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I'm still cleaning out my hand embroidery pattern archives, sketches, and whatnot, and as I go, I thought I'd keep posting anything that struck me as interesting for simple embellisment. This one's a simple circular pattern.

This simple embroidery pattern seems well-suited to line stitches. You can find a whole list of line stitches in my Video Library of Stitches Index.

To save this pattern, right click on it. You can enlarge it or reduce it on a photocopier or in a photo editing program.



For more hand embroidery patterns, please visit my index of hand embroidery patterns.

Have fun with it!

Labels: beginner embroidery, free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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While sorting through my hand embroidery patterns, I came across one that was a little more complex than this one below. But in looking at it, I saw how it could be taken apart for a simpler design.

This embroidery design below struck me as a rather good one for a bookmark worked on linen. It must just be the shape!

Once you save the design, you can rotate it for a horizontal row. Repeats can easily be added by tracing, to get a longer motif. Don't limit yourself to merely bookmarks - this would look great on the edge of pillow cases or on a hand towel!

Enjoy!



For more free hand embroidery patterns, please visit my index of hand embroidery patterns.

Labels: free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, May 28, 2007
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Here's a simple hand embroidery pattern for a single lily. There's nothing complex about the pattern - I thought stitchers might find it useful for simple embellishment, or even for applique work.

This hand embroidery design can be enlarged or reduced, depending on what you want to do with it. Right click on it to save it to your computer.



For more free embroidery patterns, check out my hand embroidery pattern index.

Have fun with it!

Labels: beginner embroidery, free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, May 27, 2007
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Our embroidery guild worked together to embroidery 24 quilt squares to make into two baby quilts - one for a girl and one for a boy. Then, our talented quilt lady Marlene took the squares and worked them into two darling flannel baby quilts which we will be raffling as a fund-raiser. Here are some photos of the finished products!

I've already featured the baby boy's quilt, which was completed a while ago. Now you can take a look at the baby girl's quilt!



I took this photo at a bad angle! But don't you love the border? I love the purple dotted "ribbon" in the corners! Here's a close up of the corner fabric:



The resolution is pretty poor in that photo, for the fabric is certainly not that "fuzzy" looking! I forgot to take an image of the back of the quilt. It's backed with a pink and white gingham checked flannel. Both quilts are entirely done in flannel - they're soft, but not fuzzy, fuzzy, and the quilting gives them a good "stiffness" or body so that they aren't heavy. They're just perfect for a baby crib! Here's a closer view of the bottom half of the quilt:



And here's the top half:



Isn't it cute? I love the variety of colors, and the soft sweetness of the whole thing! Just to put them both on the same page, here's the complete boy's quilt:



Our next whole group project for the guild is actually a class in silk work. We'll be working a silk sampler this summer, so I hope to have photos of that as we progress.

Labels: guild, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, May 25, 2007
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I've been thinking about random embroidery designs and wondering if the following "doodles" would somehow be adaptable to embroidery... So I thought I'd stick them on here to see what everyone else thinks.

I will admit I'm a doodler - on the phone, in meetings, wherever - I find myself doodling. Can such doodling be adapted to embroidery designs? Textiles are often the "inspiration" of my random doodling. Tassles, lacy edges, fishbone stitch, basket weaves, stippling dots, lazy daisy stitch - all have their places on these little scraps. But how are these things necessarily adapted into real embroidery? I'll have to think about this question, but if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!







I'll have to think about if such scraps can be turned into embroidery patterns or anything useful like that! In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!

Labels: free embroidery patterns, miscellaneous embroidery musings, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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If you love needlework and you love to travel, I found a website that might be of interest to you. I came upon an article about it in the latest Inspiration Magazine. Funny how these situations unfold:

Inspirations Magazine is my biggest needlework "indulgence." It's a wonderful magazine full of great ideas for embroidery and loaded with embroidery patterns and articles and whatnot. It is pricey, I must admit. But I budget it carefully into my hobby money every month, so that I can renew my subscription without the pocket pain!

When the magazine arrives, I spend my lunch hour perusing all the content, and I never miss the "smaller" articles because that's where the human interest part of the textile world is found.

With summer coming, anything that smacks of "travel" catches my attention, and sure enough, there was an article on travel. Not just ANY travel, but Needlework Travel!!

Marie Yolande organizes needlework tours! I quickly took the opportunity to visit her website and found out that this year's tour looks absolutely enchanting - hence, "Enchanting Ireland."



If you love needlework and you love travel, I don't see how you could miss with this type of tour. It just looks like sheer indulgence! And with the Mountmellick embroidery workshop to boot, you'd go home richer in outlook and skill.

I communicated with Yolande to get permission to write about her work here, and asked her about upcoming tours. Personally, I can't afford to head out on vacation without budgeting carefully for a year and planning my summer vacation time around my summer embroidery classes and my job. So I like to plan these things well in advance. Well, what could possibly be better than heading to Italy for a lace and needlework show in mid-May, 2009? Yolande plans on offering an Italian tour in 2009, and, God willing, I'll be along. I'm already planning it into my budget for the next two years! I realize a lot can happen between now and then, but I'm so excited about the prospect.

Yolande kindly sent along some photos from a previous Italian lace and needlework show, so I thought I'd share a few so you can see a small portion of the experience!



Here's a gorgeous sample of Italian thread painting. The red rose is superb.



This is a display of exquisite needlelace and embroidered goods. The long oval table runner on the top of the right wall is very similar to my whitework runner, although quite a bit wider and without the filet lace inserts that I put in mine. But it's the same idea - cutwork and white-on-white embroidery, with a needlelace edge. I'd love to see this one up close, and the rectangular one with the wide needlelace edge! WOW!



Another marvelous display of textiles - filet lace is the focus here. I wonder if these are bed covers? I seriously doubt they are table cloths. I love the shape of the inset medallion. Very nice!



This is Yolande with Seg. Antonietta, who embroiders for the Vatican. On the wall in the background, you can see a photo of her with the Pope.



The above work, Rosa Mistica, was displayed at one of the booths in the Italian needlework show. This needlepainting is very nice - note the shadows on the face and the "sketched" look of the piece.

If you have a chance and want to see photos of Yolande's tours, don't miss checking out her website. Don't miss her unforgettable photos of previous needlework tours. On her website, you'll also find a virtual tour of this year's Enchanting Ireland adventure.

If you can't join up, sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy the photos.... and dream!

Labels: needlework and travel, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, May 22, 2007
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One of the best things about surface embroidery is the variety of patterns you can come up with - whether purchased or designed by yourself, patterns for hand embroidery can be absolutely anything you want them to be! Lately, I've been rumaging through my embroidery patterns and sketch books and whatnot, trying to narrow down a few select patterns that I think would be relatively simple for household goods. Here's a decorative border that would look great on linens.

I have two blank linen towels that are just waiting for some embellishment, and this particular border is in the running. There's also this Fleur de Lys border that I like, so it's a toss-up between the two of them.

I'm not 100% sure I like the dots on this one, but I have a thing with dots lately. I think it has to do with the Monograms book I got from Country Bumpkin publications. They have great instructions in there for raised dots. Suddenly, I want to put raised dots on everything!

The problem is, I need patterns that will stitch up on household linens relatively quickly, and when you start getting into filling the designs, it slows you down! So on this design, I may skip the dots altogether, and just work a simple outline on the linens.

Here's the question: color? or white? White on white is always nice on household linens, but I think a red on white would be great. The problem with red is that ever-present fear of bleeding thread. So before I take the leap and stick to a red-on-white decision, I'll fix the color by treating the threads.

There's part of me that wants to do several colors, in kind of the French country look - the dark yellow, red, blue, and green. Since there are several distinct parts in this design, that's feasible, too.

Here's the pattern - click on it for a much larger image, which you can save on your own computer. You can enlarge the pattern or scale it down in a photo editing program or on a copy machine. To lengthen the border, overlap the repeats and trace it.



If you have any great ideas for working this border in simple embroidery stitches on household linens, feel free to share them!

For more hand embroidery patterns, check out my index of embroidery patterns, where you'll find a list of patterns on this site, including ecclesiastical embroidery patterns, as well as an extensive list of online resources for embroidery patterns.

Labels: beginner embroidery, free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, May 20, 2007
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Kreinik, a manufacturer of embroidery threads (probably best know for their metallic threads) has a announced an ornament contest with some great prizes. They've paired up with Tokens and Trifles (purveyors of perforated paper sewing cards) for this contest, and it looks like a fun one!

The embroidery design contest requires you to use the Tokens and Trifles Christmas stocking card to create a hand embroidered ornament. Your design must be original, and there are two categories of entry: one category utilizes only Kreinik threads, and the other utilizes at least one type of Kreinik thread.



You might be worried that the stocking has to be worked solely in metallics, if you are only familiar with Kreinik's metallic threads. This isn't the case, though! Kreinik manufactures Silk Mori, which is a 6-ply spun silk floss. Admittedly, it isn't my "favorite" silk to work with, but it's nice for a spun silk. They have a nice range of colors available.

The prizes for the contest look enticing - there's a first, second, and third place prize in both categories, and the first place prize is $500-worth of Kreinik and Tokens and Trifles goods and books. You couldn't go wrong with that if you're building a stash. You'll also get a little publicity - a write up in Just Cross Stitch magazine. You're design will also be published by Kreinik.

There are the typical caveats - the design must be previously unpublished, you have to write up detailed instructions with a stitch guide and color chart, etc. But, overall, it sounds like a fun idea!

You can find the complete details of the contest on the Kreinik Manufacturing website. You can purchase Kreinik threads straight through their website, or you can usually find them in local craft stores, such as Hobby Lobby and Michael's. You can also purchase some Tokens and Trifles cards through Kreinik, but amazingly enough, they don't have the stocking card on their website! This is a drawback, since you have to submit the completed design worked on the card!

Never fear - you can find the Tokens and Trifles Stocking card available at Twining Thread, where it's $2.50 for 1 card per package. You can also find them directly through the Tokens and Trifles website, where they are $2.90 per card.

I doubt I'll have time this summer to join in on this contest, but it looks like fun! I hope others jump on the bandwagon and come up with some great ornament designs!

Labels: embroidery design, embroidery resources

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, May 19, 2007
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These hand embroidery patterns come in handy when you're looking for a new embroidery project to start, and I especially like the fact that they are perfect for basic, beginner hand embroidery stitches. So here's another one to add to your design library!

This embroidery pattern is a medallion of sorts - it would make a good design for a decorative pillow, for a wall ornament, for the cover of a needlebook or anything similar (reduced in size), or a variety of any kind of household goods. I think it would be nice to work in the corners and center of a small square table cloth or linen, in white on white - you could enlarge it for a larger table covering.



Stitching possibilities range from simple outlining (stem stitch, chain stitch, split stitch, or any whipped line stitch) to filling the more isolate pieces of the design with satin stitch. I think the piece is especially suited to whitework, but you could work in two colors on it: pale greens and reds, for example.

Put your imagine to work and see what you can come up with! Have fun with it!

Labels: beginner embroidery, free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, May 17, 2007
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Here's a free hand-embroidery pattern of a "sunflower cross." I wasn't sure what else to call it, as the pattern includes both a cross motif and a sunflower. I'll classify this as "church embroidery," although, as you can see by the design, it's a great embroidery pattern for anything at all!

This pattern comes from an old book I have of embroidery designs, published at the turn of last century and no longer in copyright. I scanned it and cleaned it up a bit so that you can have a good copy for your own embroidery library.

The pattern is open to all kinds of interpretation with stitches. You could go for a very simple look, outlining with basic stitches such as stem stitch or whipped backstitch. You could fill the leaf sections with seed stitch to give them some texture or color, like I did in this embroidered whitework piece. The center section of the sunflower is a perfect place to work a lattice filling.

You could also get fancy, and fill in the flower petals with padded satin stitch or even shaded long-and-short stitch.

Click on the pattern below to get a larger image. You can then right-click on the image to save it to your computer, and scale it up or down in a photo-editing program or on a copy machine.

Have fun with it!



For more free hand embroidery patterns from Needle'NThread, check out my Index of Hand Embroidery Patterns.

Labels: embroidery design, free embroidery patterns

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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If you like Aunt Martha or other iron-on transfers, whether today's styles or vintage, and you're looking for a source for iron-on embroidery transfer patterns, here's a good one!

Colonial Patterns is located in Kansas City, Missouri, practically smack-dab in the middle of the US, so your orders come pretty quickly. You'll find all the typical iron-on motifs, including a whole list of soon-to-be-retired patterns.



Colonial Patterns also carries items to embroider, such as flower sack dish towels, pillow cases, and aprons. You can also buy DMC floss and needles through the website. Essentially, they carry everything you need to work up Aunt Martha's patterns on a project.

The prices are reasonable, the selection is better than I've ever seen in any retail location, and the shipping costs and speed are reasonable as well. So, if you like iron-on patterns and want to work up some quick gifts, check out Colonial Patterns!

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery resources, free embroidery patterns, supplies

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, May 14, 2007
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Our second embroidered baby quilt is coming along! The squares are connected and the front is put together. This is the quilt for a little girl, made out of a variety of colored flannel, predominantly pink. The boy's quilt has been finished for a while, and we will be raffling both soon pretty soon! I thought I'd share some photos of the front of the pink quilt as it goes together.

The green may seem a little odd, but the border of the quilt will be made from a yellow flannel with little green, purple, and pink dots in it. In two corners of the border, the squares will be arranged to form a kind of "bow" motif, with the "ribbons" trailing up the edges. The "bow" parts of the border squares will be a purple flannel with tiny white polka dots. So in all, the quilt will end up rather colorful! I can't wait to see the finished project!

In the meantime, here's the front so far:



When the quilt is completed, I'll have to take photos in good lighting - outside, probably!

I've already posted a couple photos of the completed Sunbonnet Garden Girl, along with a few close-ups of her, so here are a few others that are used in the quilt, for your perusal.



This little white lamb with the blue butterfly is embroidered mostly with perle cotton #5.



Here's a little embroidered kitten, frustrated by a frog!



This embroidered bird sitting on an embroidered water fountain is really darling! I love the flowers and the colors!



The mouse under the flower umbrella is cute, too. It's stitched entirely in stem stitch, using two strands of DMC cotton.



This little "fishing angel" is so sweet! The original design has two facing angels in it, but to fit in the square, we cut the design in half, to good effect, I think!



I've already mentioned the embroidered butterfly once, when talking about seed stitch, but here's a shot of the completed square.



I love this little teddy bear - the eyes crack me up for some reason!

So there you have some close ups on the baby girl quilt. Marlene is doing a great job putting it together, and I'll let you see the finished project soon!

By the way, all the stitching was done by members of the Assumption Embroidery Guild. Most of the gals are beginners, and I think they did a marvelous job!

Labels: beginner embroidery, guild, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, May 11, 2007
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, May 10, 2007
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As usual, this summer I will be teaching free embroidery classes to children, as a "community project." I'm batting around ideas about what kind of projects would be good for relatively young children (9-11) and for children a little older (12-14).

Last summer, my children's embroidery classes didn't produce much in the way of finished projects. I taught them basic stitches, but we didn't produce a "finished" piece.



They worked simple designs that they drew out by hand or that they traced onto the fabric using cookie cutters. The design above was a lesson on buttonhole wheels and fishbone stitch. You can see buttonhole stitch (technically, blanket stitch) as the grass, and a line of chain stitch underneath. They also incorporated stem stitch and French knots in this little practice piece. You can find other pictures of what they did last summer at Embroidery for Children: Small Projects.

But this is the thing: I think, when teaching children, it is good for them to enjoy the success of finishing "something." A whole, completed project is better, I think, than many practice scraps (although the practice scraps are necessary, too!), especially when it comes to boosting confidence and awakening interest. It also teaches them the discipline of finishing what they start, which I think is good for any child to learn.

So I thought I'd ask the world-wide embroidery community for suggestions! What do you think would be a good idea for a project, and do you have any good links or resources that would be helpful as I plan this summer's classes? Input would be greatly appreciated!! And you never know who else you may help - or what child may benefit!! Thanks heaps!

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery for children, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, May 09, 2007
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, May 09, 2007
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This embroidered quilt square of an old-fashioned Sunbonnet Sue was worked in simple embroidery stitches on flannel, using stranded cotton. I've already displayed the complete Sunbonnet Garden square, but I thought you might want to see some close-ups with some embroidery stitch explanations.

This embroidered quilt square is an 8-inch square, in soft pink flannel. I transferred the design by tracing it with a Macro art marker in two stages: first, I traced the Sunbonnet girl, which I had saved on my computer. I sized the pattern in Photoshop, then traced it using my monitor as a "light box." I don't necessarily suggest this practice - but it worked for me!

After I finished the girl, I wanted to add a garden, so I flipped through my copies of Inspiration Magazine, looking for a little inspiration. I found a great pattern for a needlecase in issue #53, and I drew my garden from that. I loved the fact that the needlecase had bees on it - so I had to have a bee, too!



This little bee is worked in the following order: first, a bullion stitch in yellow forms the body; second, using black, I added some stripes and a head by just couching over the bullion; last, a couple lazy daisy stitches make the wings. The flight trail was originally going to be worked in a dashed black line using running stitch, but instead, I decided to use white so the contrast was not so obvious. Unfortunately, the write in running stitch didn't show up too well, so I decided to use a whipped running stitch instead.



The flowers in Sue's apron are a combination of lazy daisy (petals and leaves), straight stitches, and French knots.



The daisies in the flower bed are the same - on some of them, I filled in the centers of the lazy daisy stitch with straight stitches in a contrasting color. The centers of the flowers, for the most part, are French knots.



The hollyhocks are made out of buttonhole wheels, and the centers are satin stitched in yellow. I've posted before about hollyhocks - I think they make great flowers in embroidered flower gardens! The leaves are worked in fishbone stitch.



Sunbonnet Sue's dress was a lot of fun! It is outlined in a medium purple, in stem stitch, using two strands of DMC. Then, I added a horizontal fly stitch border in green. The little flowers that make up the print of the fabric are just straight stitches, worked in one strand of DMC. Then I speckled the background of the fabric with light green straight stitches, randomly scattered all over.



Now, her little sleeve was troublesome. Originally, I planned to work it in white, so I stem stitched a white outline around the whole thing, and then added white seed stitches in the middle. I embroidered the cuff of the sleeve in white, in a padded satin stitch. But the whole thing looked awful, primarily because it didn't show up well. So I decided to go with green, but I couldn't pick all those stitches out, or I would have ruined the fabric. Instead, I whipped the stem stitch with the green, covering up the white completely. Then I added green seed stitches, intermingling them with the white. On the cuff, I worked a series of horizontal fly stitches so that it would look a bit lacy.



The apron is worked in two strands of medium pink DMC, the outline in a whipped stem stitch, then the whole thing filled in with seed stitch. I wanted a contrast between the front of the apron and the turned up hem, so I just worked the seed stitches closer together on the turned up part of the apron.



I was somewhat pleased with the way the bonnet turned out, especially considering that, when I started it, I didn't like it! The blue on the outline was a little too dark. I worked the outline in backstitch, so I was able to whip the backstitch with a lighter blue to lighten the whole thing up. I was going to leave the inside of the bonnet blank, but it looked "too" blank, so I worked double straight stitches of light blue in a semi-pattern over the whole thing. The flowers on the band are straight stitches (two for each petal, worked in the same hole) and French knots.

So there's my little Sunbonnet Garden Girl. I like her! I think the quilt will be darling - and I can't wait to see it, either!

I think this square is a good example of what you can do with random mixed simple stitches. There's nothing difficult about any of the stitches in this particular square. If you want to learn them, please check out my video library of hand embroidery stitches.

Have fun stitching!

Labels: beginner embroidery, guild, Hand embroidery stitches, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, May 08, 2007
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Finally! I've finished my second square for our guild baby quilt: an embroidered "Sunbonnet Sue" type pattern (an old-fashioned Sunbonnet girl), in a garden. I had great fun with this square, but got a little carried away!

The pattern for this Sunbonnet girl was online somewhere, at some point, but I can't locate it again. In the original pattern, she's holding chicken eggs in her apron, but I thought the flowers would be a nice "girly" touch for this girl's quilt. Of course, if she's holding flowers, she has to be in a flower garden! And every flower garden has a bee, right?



This is the square still in the hoop right after I finished it up. I'll put up some close-ups later, and some images of the completed quilt when it's assembled!

The fun thing about this square is that it's all really simple stitches! More on this later... too many thunderstorms rolling through lately to get much done here!

Labels: guild, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Sunday, May 06, 2007
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Here's a video tutorial for a rose bud made out of bullion knots. The bullion knot can be used to make beautiful roses and rose buds, and, believe it or not, they're actually really simple to make once you get the hang of it!

The video tutorial for the bullion rose bud is rather long. It covers not only making the bullion rose bud, but also beginning and ending your threads when making little flowers like the bullion rose bud.



This is the bud that I make in the video. The filming was done a bit farther away than usual, but I think you can get the gist of the method pretty clearly. This is the order of stitching:

1. The first center bullion in stitched in dark pink or red. It's the bullion on the left in the picture.
2. The second center bullion is stitched in dark pink or red, to the right of the first stitch. It's a little bit longer than the first stitch.
3. The third bullion is stitched in medium pink, to the right of the second stitch, starting just above and to the right of it, and wrapping down below the middle of the two center stitches.
4. The fourth bullion is stitched in medium pink, to the left of the first center stitch. The stitch actually begins above the first center stitch, and wraps around below bullion #3.
5. The fifth bullion is stitched in medium pink, immediately to the left of bullion #4, and a little bit lower, wrapping around below and slightly to the right of the last stitch.
6. The sixth bullion is stitched in light pink, to the right of bullion #3 (on the right side of the bud). It starts slightly lower than bullion #3, and wraps around below the end of bullion #5.

After the sixth bullion is completed, a fly stitch is used to add the green at the base of the bud.

This may sound confusing, but if you watch the video, you'll see how easy it really is to make perfect little bullion rose buds!

You'll need three colors to make this bud: a dark pink or red, a medium pink, and a light pink. I'm using 2 strands of DMC in the video, with a milliner needle, on a tightly woven, high thread count muslin.

Here's the video:



If you want to learn basic embroidery stitches, check out the rest of the embroidery video tutorials available in my Video Library of Stitches. Feel free to share the link with stitching friends, or people just getting into the art of embroidery!

Have fun with it!

Labels: beginner embroidery, Hand embroidery stitches, video tutorials

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, May 05, 2007
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The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont is hosted online by Project Gutenburg. Thanks to Sharon for the link - it's a great learning tool for any level of embroiderer. What will you find in the book?

There are about 600 pages in the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont, and within those pages, you'll find just about any technique related to needlework. Some techniques are covered more thoroughly than others, and, like many old books, the author assumes familiarity with the basics. However, this isn't to deter the modern needleworker! You'll find fantastic patterns, ideas, and inspiration that will enhance your future projects.

Take, for example, the section on Venetian Lace.



While Venetian lace may not be part of your embroidery repertoire, the design is certainly adaptable to other embroidery styles, such as Jacobean or crewel work.

If you like blackwork and other counted thread techniques traditionally worked on linen, you will love the section on patterns for linen embroidery. You'll find an array of patterns that can be modified for all kinds of projects!



The encyclopedia even has step by step instructions on knitting and crochet.

If you haven't perused the Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont yet, take some time to browse through it, and add it to your favorites! It's a great resource for any needleworker! Enjoy!

Labels: book review, embroidery resources, Hand embroidery stitches, historical needlework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, May 04, 2007
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Smocking is a form of embroidery where the stitches are worked over pleated fabric, creating a somewhat elastic effect in the fabric. Smocking is especially popular for baby goods, such as clothing and bonnets.

The Old Fashioned Baby is an online shop devoted to classic baby clothing and accessories. The site also offered pre-pleated goods that are ready to smock, so that you can add your own personal touch to them. These goods would make great baby gifts!

The patterns of the goods on the site are by Jeannie Baumeister, whose works are often featured in Sew Beautiful Magazine, which is geared more towards machine embroidery than hand embroidery these days, but is still a wonderful source of inspiration for those interested in hand-made, embellished clothing, especially for children. If you like "Old Fashioned Baby," you will probably like Heirloom Sewing for Children, a website devoted to heirloom patterns, articles on fabrics, accessories, and tips and hints for heirloom sewing. I especially like the articles on fabric choice (batiste) and garment storage, which are useful for anyone who works with fine fabrics.

Back to The Old Fashioned Baby by Jeannie Baumeister - I was especially interested in the pre-pleated, ready-to-smock baby bonnets offered on her site. You can purchase these already assembled and pleated, ready to smock, or, in some styles, you can purchase the kits that include pattern, fabric, lace, and threads, to make your own bonnet for decidedly less money.



I think the bonnets are darling! I ordered a small selection of pre-pleated ones to smock for gifts. I thought I'd save time by ordering them ready to smock. We'll see how it goes!

When smocking bonnets, depending on the size and style, it's good practice to keep your stitches a little looser than you would on a dress, for example. This generally accommodates the head better, so that, when moving the bonnet on and off, you aren't stretching out the stitching.

For me, these will be low-priority projects, but I'm looking forward to working them!

After a hectic week of family reunioning - with 75 of us all together for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary - it's time to re-organize and re-prioritize, which means I'll be sorting out my upcoming projects and getting a few specialties online soon, including more video tutorials for hand embroidery stitches. I've got a few stitches lined up and ready for editing - oyster stitch and a bullion rose bud tutorial among them.

Thank goodness summer is coming!

If you have any good sources for ready-to-smock baby wear, etc., please feel free to share them with the rest of us! Thanks!

Labels: embroidery resources, smocking

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, May 03, 2007
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