Happy Halloween, everyone. I've never really embroidered for Halloween before, but I do have two pumpkins I'll (re)share with you - resurrecting an old project that I had a lot of fun stitching!

These are embroidered pillowcases, and the theme for them is "opposites" - so I embroidered one black and one white pillowcase with faces. On the white pillow case, they're all awake and having a blast, and on the black pillowcase, they're snoozing away comfortably.



The pumpkin was easy enough to embroider while he was awake...



... but sleeping pumpkins pose a slight problem, when it comes to closing their eyes. When I worked this project, I think I embroidered those eyes two or three times, trying to get a "sleepy" look.



Yep, I can safely say this was one of my Just for Fun projects that was really fun!

I hope you have a fun day, that you get out and enjoy the autumn weather (if you're in the same hemisphere - spring, for the rest of you!), and that you have a terrific weekend!

Labels: embroidery for fun, holiday stitching, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, October 31, 2009
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Laurie Latour of Future Christian Homemakers is quite an enthusiast when it comes to hand embroidery on gingham. If you have not seen her Gingham Museum on her website, it is worth taking a look at, especially if you are interested in elaborate "chicken scratch" embroidery that is unique and really beautiful. She has quite a collection of embroidered aprons, and they're all detailed with close-up photos and commentary.

Laurie's been experimenting with gingham lately, coming up with several Christmas designs that are really attractive. I especially like this series of Christmas trees she's been working on, so I was very happy when she said I could share them with you.

Traditionally, embroidery on gingham is worked in white or in the color of the darkest square on the fabric. Laurie played a little with this, but found that contrasting colors worked best on this series of trees.

The trees are embroidered on 1/8" homespun fabric (available online through Jubilee Fabric), and their finished size is approximately 3.25" tall by 2.75" wide - the perfect size for an ornament or a Christmas card.



This first tree is worked with a combination of dark green and sparkly white thread - although I like it, I have to admit I like the trees worked in colors that contrast with the fabric better. Laurie used two strands of DMC 890 (green) for the tree, and two strands of Treasure Braid Petit High Gloss (P410) for the circles and x's.




I like this tree a better, with the green stitched on the red homespun. She used the same color green as on the tree above, but instead of the white braid, she used Treasure Braid Petite (PB68), a multi-colored sparkly thread. It's hard to capture the sparkle in the picture, but you can imagine how nice it looks if you're familiar at all with Rainbow Gallery's Treasure Braids (pictured down below).



This tree, I really like. I like the kelly green floss on the red, with the gold braid! It's very pretty, and oh-so-Christmassy.



This tree, however, is my absolute fave. I love the contrast of the bold red stitches, and I like the dark geen with the gold braid.

Which is your favorite, of the four trees above?



Although this isn't a full tutorial, if you are interested in working up some similar trees, in the photo above, you can see the "skeleton" pattern for the design. For further directions on gingham embroidery, you can check out some tips for embroidering on gingham at the Future Christian Homemakers website.



This, by the way, is Treasure Braid. You can find it at most local needlework shops that carry cross stitch or needlepointing supplies.



While wandering through Laurie's website, I came across this little book that Laurie publishes, Classic Prayers for Children. It is a sweet book of prayers and poems for children, beautifully illustrated. It struck me as a perfect stocking stuffer or First Communion treasure for little kids.

I love the work of preservation that Laurie is doing with gingham embroidery. She is building quite a collection of vintage gingham embroidery and documenting them so that we can see the unique designs and stitch combinations used in the technique. If yuou get a chance, make sure you check out her website!

Have a terrific weekend!

Labels: Christmas, embroidery for children, Embroidery for the Home, embroidery tips and tricks, gingham embroidery, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 30, 2009
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I've really been itching to do some goldwork lately, but I've got so many projects already going and several projects that I need to get started on, that all I can do when it comes to goldwork right now is dream. You know how that is, don't you? This one particular design has be besotted...

BibliOdyssey is one of those places I go to get inspired, and last week when I visited, I wasn't disappointed - there was no lack of inspirational stuff floating about the website. This post on The Tudor Pattern Book really caught my eye, and this one pattern in particular struck me as particularly suitable for goldwork.



When considering an picture or design that is not made specifically for embroidery, I usually try to isolate the elements within the design that would work as an embroidered image. So I took this picture from BibliOdyssey, opened it in Photoshop and got rid of the background. I didn't spand a lot of time cleaning the thing up - just a few button clicks - but I did at least isolate the part I like.

At this point, I figured I could trace the image in Inkscape or a similar program, to end up with a crisp line drawing, but instead, I started playing with a couple very basic filters in Photoshop and reduced the image to this:



For some reason, a black and white image is my preferred format for any kind of potential embroidery design. I seem to see more possibilities when I can reduce the image to outlines with a bit of shading but no color.

With this piece, I'm thinking in terms of a combination of silk shading and goldwork.

So what do you think? Should I just chuck everything else and launch into a completely senseless goldwork project?

Oh well! Since "chucking" everything else right now probably isn't prudent, I suppose I'll just stay the present course. However, if I do drift off...

... you'll know what I'm doing!

Labels: embroidery design, free embroidery patterns, goldwork, miscellaneous embroidery musings

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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A couple weeks ago, I posted a hand embroidery pattern for a Quaker sampler design, converted for surface embroidery. I haven't had time to stitch it myself, but Jan Miller has. Using the bird in a tree design, Jan made a beautiful Christmas ornament - and she sent pictures. Thanks, Jan!

My first thought when I finished converting this design into a surface embroidery pattern was that it would make a pretty Christmas tree ornament. So I was delighted to see Jan's rendition.



Using simple stitches that suit the pattern very well, Jan stitched the ornament on white velvet, I think. She finished it with a matching hand-made tassel.



I love the dark green and the deep red - they suit the design. One reader suggested that simple color tones were best, rather than a variety of shades, since plain color choices would work best in keeping with the simplicity of the Quaker design.

I still want to stitch this pattern up, and hope to one of these days! Has anyone else tried this design? I'd love to see what other people do with it!

Thanks again, Janice, for sending along the pictures!

What are you working on? If you want to share photos of your recent needlework adventures, drop me a line!

Labels: Christmas, needlework pictures, pictures, Quaker designs, readers embroidery

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Sometimes, photos of needlework can be the best source of inspiration for me. When I see a beautiful piece of needlework in a photo, it makes me..... well. It makes me want to DO something - to make something beautiful! But the fact o' the matter is, there just aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the year to do all the needlework things I'd like to do! Do you ever feel that way? So, often, I content myself with looking at pictures. And along those lines, here are some photos of magnificent examples of Schwalm whitework embroidery.

These first two pieces belong to a friend, Joey, who helped Luzine Happel with the translation of two of her Schwalm embroidery books, Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework and Fancy Hems.



This first piece is a teacloth embroidered by Luzine. Isn't it gorgeous? You can click on the photo for a closer view of it. The stitching is so stunning! Check out the variety of filling stitches!



This second piece is a decorative pillow, with the Schwalm work covering a red pillow - which makes the whitework stand out beautifully. I had not considered finishing a whitework pillow this way, with a contrasting fabric behind the whitework, but it makes all the sense in the world if you really want to show off the whitework. Again, you can click on the photo for a larger version.



The books above are published by the Museum der Schwalm in Germany. The books are a kind of photographic journal of the pieces that have been featured in the museum's displays. Talk about inspiration!



Here's one piece featured in one of the books. Pretty, isn't it? I don't know if it's exactly "traditional" Schwalm embroidery as far as design goes - the design seems a bit more contemporary. I like it a lot!



A lampshade! I think I would love to have this in my house... but I can't help wondering if it would stay this pristine? I'd feel obliged to put it under glass to keep the Kansas dust off it!

Yep, I do love to browse through these types of books!! They goad me into doing something with my needle and thread.

A Give-Away!

Now, speaking of Schwalm work (again), I'd like to give away another book. Joey sent me a copy of Fancy Hems, but since I already have one, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put this excellent book into some other keen stitcher's hands.

You can read my thorough review of Fancy Hems here on Needle 'n Thread, to see what the book is about. Note that it's not just for stitchers interested in Schwalm whitework. Anyone interested in drawn thread or pulled thread embroidery will find this book useful and instructive.



If you'd like to win this copy of Fancy Hems, here's how the give-away works:

Leave a comment below (on this article, on the website - not via e-mail or on other posts), answering the following question:

If you could launch into a Schwalm project right now, assuming you have the materials and instructions at hand, what would you make?

Make sure you leave a name, even if you use the "anonymous" feature when posting your comment. I'll draw for a winner on Wednesday, October 28th, by 5:30 am.

Best of luck!

Labels: Book Give-Away, needlework pictures, pictures, regional embroidery techniques, Schwalm, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, October 26, 2009
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Stem stitch is a beautiful rope-like hand embroidery stitch that works great for writing with a needle and thread. There are two real difficulties with stem stitch: stitch direction and curves. I'll try to eliminate both of those difficulties in this tutorial.

Before venturing into the tutorial, you might want to take a look at my stem stitch video to get the hang of the motion of the stitch, and you might find it useful to read this article on stem stitch vs. outline stitch.

The best way to keep your stem stitch always looking right as you embroider words is to first establish your stitch direction. Now, with stem stitch, whether you are right handed or left handed is an important consideration, so let's first clarify some stitching directions for both types of stitchers.

Right Handed Stitchers

Stitching Direction: For righties, stem stitch always travels left-to-right. It is true that you can move your hoop around and work the stitches vertically, but for right handers, whenever you consider the line you are stitching as horizontal to the floor, you will notice that, if you're working stem stitch, the direction of your line is going to be from left to right.

Needle / Thread placement: For right handers, when looking at your horizontal line that is moving from left to right, the working thread always hangs below the line, below the needle.

Left Handed Stitchers

Stitching Direction: For lefties, when you stitch a line horizontal to the floor, it will always travel from the right to the left. Even if you are stitching vertically, if you "turn the hoop" in your mind's eye, the line should always be moving from right to left.

Needle / Thread placement: For left handed stitchers, the working thread should always be above the needle, above the stitching line.

Now, these principles of stitching direction and thread placement hold true, even when traveling around curves. To change the placement of the thread as you round a curve in order for the stitches to hold themselves in the curve will mar the look of your stem stitch.

[I have to throw this note in, because it does put a wrench in the works, but please consider these directions to be written for s-twisted threads only. If stitching with z-twisted threads, the directions must be reversed. But let's forget that consideration for now, and assume that we will mostly be working with s-twisted threads - your typical DMC stranded cotton, pearl cotton, floche, most stranded silks, etc. If you want to see a close-up picture of what I mean about Z-twist and S-twist on threads, check out this post on The Silk Mill threads. There is a close-up picture of threads half-way through the post that show the difference in twist direction. Additionally, if you really want some in-depth reading on thread twists, this PDF on knowledge of sewing threads is somewhat interesting.]



To begin, I'm going to anchor my thread just as I did in the first backstitch lettering lesson. I will be traveling from the base of the circle on the "q" around to the top of the circle, down the long tail, and then up and around the curl on the tail.



To keep the stitch direction from left to right (I am right handed), I turned the work over. As I progress around the curve, I'll simply turn my hoop, so that I can keep the same direction with ease.



As I round the curve and come to the top of the head on the "q," I am back to working right-side-up again.

Now, I could make a sharp "corner" here where the loop runs into the back of the "q", but instead of doing that, I'm going to make a smooth, tight curve here. To do this, I am taking my stitches very small in the corner, but I'm still keeping the correct placement of the working thread.



Now, I've turned my work again, keeping the left-to-right direction of stitching, and heading down the back and the tail of the "q". Coming right out of the curve, I resumed a stitch length that is slightly longer than the stitches I used in the curve, but not so long as to look thinner or out of proportion with the other stitches on the "q" so far.



Approaching the point where the tail curls back over on itself at the base of the letter, I'm going to keep right on going with my stem stitch, crossing the intersection of the lines, and moving into the tight curve of that little curl.



As I start into the curve, I'm going to start decreasing the length of my stitches.



After I worked around the curve in shorter stitches, keeping the working thread below the needle and turning the hoop to keep the left-to-right direction, I started to lengthen the stitches again slightly coming out of the curve.

Now, keep in mind that this shortening and lengthening of stitches does not have to be mathematically accurate or anything! You just want your stitches to "take the curve" while keeping the closed-rope-look of the stem stitch, so just adjust your stitches slightly if you need to, in order to get them comfortably and neatly around the curve.



Now it's time to cross the curl over the back of the "q" and this is quite easy. As you approach the already-stitched line, simply jump your next stitch over the line. Work the stem stitch as you normally would - only cross over the stitches already there.



Return back to the end of the previous stitch, just like you would with any stem stitch, and cross over one more time, to complete the stem stitch.



And there's the finished letter.

The techniques for rounding curves and crossing over already stitched lines will remain the same throughout the rest of the tutorial here, so I won't go in as much detail with each letter.



The next step is to travel your thread on the back of your work up to where the next letter starts.



Whip your thread around the stitches on the back of the letter, taking the most direct path to the spot where the next letter begins.



Here, I'm stitching the connection between the q and the u, stopping at the point where the connection meets the downstroke of the u. If I were handwriting this, I would not lift my pen off the paper at this point, but when embroidering letters, I don't double these lines.



Now, I've turned my work so that I can continue working left-to-right. I've ended the last stitch where the connection meets the downstroke of the u, and then I've brought my needle up at the top of the downstroke. I did not need to "travel" my thread at all here, because this spot is pretty much directly above where my last stitch ended, and only a very short distance away. I'll be stitching through that carried thread on the back - it will line up with my next stitches and not show through to the front of the work.



I continued down the downstroke, then around the curve, then up the other side of the u.



Then I moved back down and stitched the connection between the u and the i.

Again, as a reminder, as you stitch your letters, always look ahead and work out a sensible path to follow for stitching. On this u, two paths presented itself, and both would have been fine: the first path is the one I took - down the downstroke and up the other side of the u. Alternately, I could have gone down the downstroke, around the curve, and stopped where the curve met the second downstroke on the u, then worked the downstroke and the connection. Either way would've been fine, and perhaps the second way would have been more consistent, as it would have matched the first half of the letter better. But it really doesn't matter in this case - the letter is clear, and the stitching is tidy. And that's really what you want to achieve.



Here, I've stitched the downstroke of the i, and the connection with the c.



Now you can see I'm in a situation where I can't carry my thread across to the next beginning point, nor can I "travel" the thread on the back through any stitches already there. Yet I have a long enough thread to keep stitching... so, what to do?

I could end my thread and start again, but why bother, when I can "start" without ending??



Just as I start a thread by taking tiny anchoring stitches, here, I'm taking tiny stitches along to the next starting point. I will cover these stitches up with the stem stitch, and I've avoided having to end my thread and start a new one and having a thread carrying visibly across the back of the fabric.



To keep the left-to-right direction of stitching, and to keep my working thread in the correct place in relation to the needle (below the needle), I started the c upside-down and turned the hoop as I progressed through the curve.



Continuing from the c, I worked my way up the top loop of the k.



I turned the work to accommodate the direction of the line, taking smaller stitches around the top of the loop of the k.



Then, coming down the back of the k, I stopped here for one main reason: I was out of thread. This was a good place to stop. If I had had more thread, I probably would have continued down the whole back of the k, but I will pick that part up with the new thread, and move up the k here, instead of down.



When you get to a point where two lines converge to make a sharp corner, as happens here in the middle of the k, it is necessary to end one line of stitching and start a new one. End the line of stitching around the loop right in the corner, as you see in the photo above. To start the next line of stitching (the downstroke of the k here), bring your needle up in the fabric a stitch length away.



Then take the needle down into the fabric right in the corner, to make the first stitch. Basically, I'm beginning this stem stitch line with a backstitch, if you want to think of it this way.



Now, bring your working thread up halfway the length of that backstitch, on the line, but above the stitch, to continue on with the stem stitch.



And the last stroke of the k is finished!

So, there you have the stem stitch worked on cursive lettering, using two strands of DMC stranded cotton.

If you're interested, feel free to check out my other tutorials on hand embroidering text. The next tutorial will focus on smaller text using a finer line.

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery tips and tricks, hand embroidered lettering, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, needlework tutorials, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 23, 2009
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 22, 2009
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Remember when you learned penmanship and your teacher had to remind you to dot your i's and cross your t's? The same thing holds true when writing with your needle and thread - dotting the i's and crossing the t's are important, but dotting the i's is the part that's tricky. The dot floats above the lettering, presenting the problem of traveling up to it to stitch the dot. You don't want your thread to show through the front, so how do you get up there to the dot, without traveling a thread on the back of your work? Here's one way.

When hand embroidering your lettering or text, by the way, it doesn't really matter when you dot your i, not like it does in penmanship. With embroidery, you already have your lettering mapped out for you. You know exactly where that dot on that i is going to be. So while it may seem to be out of sequence to talk about dotting an i before we've even written the word, the fact is, it doesn't really matter! Besides, since you might be writing a completely different text on your sampler, I thought it a good idea to address this question, in case you already have some i's to dot!



Start by bringing an unknotted thread to the front of the fabric, right where you want your dot. The thread does not connect to any other lettering - you're just starting out with a new thread, and bringing it to the front of your fabric. In this particular tutorial, I'm using two strands of DMC cotton, but the technique applies equally as well to stitching with any kind of embroidery thread, really.



On the back of your fabric, leave about an inch-long tail, so that you can easily get ahold of it to snip it, later.



Now we're going to work a couple anchoring stitches. Going back to the front of your fabric, take one tiny straight stitch over only one or two threads of fabric. If you're working with a larger text on muslin or a high thread count cotton, you can certainly take the stitch over two or three fabric threads. It depends a bit, too, on what size you want your dot. If you want your dot to be relatively small, then take this anchoring stitch over as few threads as possible in your fabric, making the anchoring stitches as small as possible. After you take your first tiny stitch, bring the needle back up right next to that stitch.



Now, take your second anchoring stitch straight into that first tiny stitch.



Now your thread is anchored sufficiently to stitch the dot. Turn the fabric over, pull your working thread out of the way, and snip off the one-inch tail that you left on the back. Snip as close as possible to the fabric, but don't pull up on the tail with any force. Just try to snip right next to the fabric.



On the front of your fabric, this is what you'll have - two tiny stitches, worked perpendicular to each other, the second stitch stitched into the first.



Now, stitch over those anchoring stitches with two straight stitches, side-by-side, that cover the anchoring stitches. Bring the needle up right above the anchoring stitches and go down right below them, then bring the needle up again in the same exact hole above the ancoring stitches, and go down in the same hole below them, arranging the two straight stitches to lie right next to each other over the anchoring stitches.

If you are working with a single strand of thread, you might have to take several straight stitches to cover your anchoring stitches. The trick is always going up and down in the same hole above and below your anchoring stitches, and making sure your straight stitches are lying side-by-side. This is what will make the dot look round.



Now, turn the work over, and take the needle through the stitches on the back, running through them twice, once in one direction, and once perpendicular to that. If you can't manage a perpendicular stitch, then run the needle under the stitches twice, going in the same direction each time.



Cut your thread close to the fabric, but don't pull up on it before cutting. Just get as close as you can, without risking cutting your stitches or your fabric.



And there's your perfect little dot, floating by itself above the text.

Next up, we'll cover the lettering on that word, using stem stitch and focusing on connecting cursive text and keeping the direction of the stem stitch right.

For more tutorials on hand embroidered lettering and text, visit the Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text Index of tutorials.

Any questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer them!

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery tips and tricks, hand embroidered lettering, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, needlework tutorials, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, October 19, 2009
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To keep this series of embroidery tutorials a bit organized, I'm going to stash all my tutorials for hand embroidered lettering and text on this page, and then I'm going to list this page in the top right column under "Editor's Floss" while the tutorial series is on-going. I'll also have a link on the Tips and Tricks for Hand Embroidery page (which you can also find listed under "Editor's Floss" in the top right corner.

Hand embroidery is an excellent way to personalize gifts, household objects, momentos and so forth. Text and lettering is an excellent way to personalize, but sometimes, writing with a needle and thread can be kind of difficult.

I've put together a series of tutorials to help stitchers improve their embroidered lettering. As the tutorials progress, I'll index each one here so that you can have easy access to it.

I hope you find these tutorials useful and fun!



Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 1 - This tutorial covers setting up the lettering sampler. In this particular article, you won't learn much about stitching your letters, but there are a few tips and tricks for design transfer discussed, if you want to take a look! You can also get a good look at the text sample that I'll be using in this series.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 2 - This tutorial features lettering in backstitch, but it focuses mostly on how to "travel" your threads in order to achieve a clean, finished look from the front. I discuss the path of the embroidery, noting that the path you would follow for hand writing is not necessarily the same path you would follow for hand embroidery.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 3: Dot Your I's. In this tutorial, I focus on one method of dotting I's. You know how the dot floats so far away from the text? Well, how can you dot, without carrying your threads? I'll show you how, and then the technique can apply for a variety of different dotting stitches.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 4: In this tutorial, the focus is on stem stitch, especially how to travel in the right direction to keep the stem stitch looking like stem stitch, and to keep the working thread in the right place in relation to the needle. This sample is in cursive, so we will also look at how to travel the threads to achieve a nice cursive text, without bulky double lines. Finally, this tutorial also addresses the question of crossing over previously stitched lines.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 5: This tutorial will focus on a suitable stitch for very small text - whipped backstitch - and how to keep the whipped backstitch smooth and consistent in its twist. We'll look at the difference between whipping the stitch while traveling in different directions, and discuss how to avoid changing the direction of the stitching. Also, check out this article on stitch direction for whipped backstitch - it'll show you the difference in the look of your stitching depending on the direction.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 6: Did you know that you can combine your stitches on the same lettering for very nice results? Well, you can, and this tutorial is going to look at using a combination of stitches on the same lettering, specifically buttonhole stitch and stem stitch.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 7: Working the initial letter in padded satin stitch makes it really stand out! The rest of the lettering in this tutorial is stitched in chain stitch. I used embroidery wool for this, in a beautiful red, and I've written up a little review of the thread (Simply Wool) within this tutorial.

I'll be adding links to the individual tutorials as the tutorials are posted. The series will cover more than five tutorials, but so far, I only have samples embroidered for these!

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery tips and tricks, hand embroidered lettering, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, needlework tutorials, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Saturday, October 17, 2009
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DMC and Coats are both well-known needlework thread producers, world-wide. I marvel at the variety of threads they produce for the various markets around the world. Jeanine up in Canada recently sent me a gift from Italy - two types of thread that are available on the Italian market, but not available here in the US. Check them out...

The threads are DMC Alsatian Twist (or Retors d'Alsace) and Coats Cucirini (Anchor's Italian branch) Ritorto Fiorentino. Both threads are similar to pearl cotton, but they are not the same as pearl cotton.



There are three hanks here - the two green hanks on the left are DMC Alsatian Twist and the white on the right is Coats Ritorto Fiorentino. I put the typical 6-stranded DMC floss next to the hanks, so that you could get a proper sense of the size of the Italian bundles.



Both threads come in two sizes: 8 and 12. They are similar, as I said, to pearl cotton, though there is a difference in look and feel. The Alsatian Twist, for example, feels heavier and limper than pearl cotton, and it has more of a sheen.

Jeanine mentioned that the Alsatian Twist by DMC is a return to an old style of thread DMC stopped making at the turn of the century. They re-released the thread this past May in Italy, and they may release it to other markets as well, though there are no present plans to release it in North America. You can find references to Alsatian Twist in the old advertisements in needlework and pattern magazines from the turn of the last century, and especially in the Therese Dillmont books like this one, Motivi per Ricami (Embroidery Motifs) - a PDF hosted on the Digital Archives. Check out the advertisements in the back of that book (which is full of beautiful embroidery motifs, by the way), and you'll see this thread listed.



The Alsatian Twist is listed on DMC Italy's website, if you want to take a look at it. You can drop the URL in Google for a translation if you want. The thread comes in 77 colors in size 8 and 56 colors in size 12 - all in 20 gram hanks like these above. (They're... HUGE!)



The Coats Ritorto Fiorentino is produced exclusively for the Italian market. It comes in many colors as well, in 40 gram hanks (even HUGER!). You can read more about it on the Coats Italian website.



Now that you're in a very Italian mood, I want to direct you to another resource - a nice Italian website (with a good English translation!) - called TuttoRicamo. You'll be able to click on a flag in the left column, to choose the Italian or the English version. This is an amazing site to browse - full of great resources and inspiration. While you're there, check out the Techniques section, to read about different embroidery techniques, and the How It's Done section for many excellent photo tutorials on different techniques. What a great resource!

Thank you, Jeanine, for the thread - I'm happy to know a little bit about it and the Italian thread market, and I can't wait to try the thread out!

(I think tonight is a spaghetti night...)

Labels: embroidery resources, pictures, regional embroidery techniques, threads

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 16, 2009
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Here's the first stitching instruction installment for hand embroidered lettering. Yesterday, I showed you the lettering sample I'll be using for these tutorials, and how I set it up to start stitching. Today, the stitching begins...

The first sample of hand embroidered lettering is on the word "The" at the beginning of my sample sentence ("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"). I'm using two strands of DMC cotton and a #8 crewel needle, and the stitch I'm using is backstitch. Fabric and hoop were discussed in yesterday's post.



To begin stitching, I started at the base of the T. With knot in the thread, take your needle down into the fabric about a half an inch away from the base of the letter. Take two small straight stitchs in the fabric, towards your starting point and away from the knot, ending at the back of the fabric. Then, bring your needle up at the very base of the letter, so that you're ready to travel up the line of the T, covering up the small stitches en route.

I've already posted a picture tutorial on beginning your embroidery threads in this manner, if you want to take a look at this technique in detail.



Using small stitches evenly spaced, I'm embroidering the base of the T with backstitch. I stitched all the way to the top of the line.

Now, at this point, if you were hand writing, you would probably pick up your pen and take it to the far left of the top line on the T, put the pen down, and draw a straight line to cross the T.

However, we're not going to do that here. Our last backstitch ended a whole stitch length below the cross line. If we were to take our thread to the left side of the cross line on the T, we'd end up trailing a thread across the back of the embroidery, where it could be seen.



Instead, I started my next stitch on the cross line right in the middle of the line and worked the backstitch all the way to the left end of the cross line.



To return to the center and finish the right side of the cross line, turn your work over. Wrap your working thread around the back of the stitches by "whip stitching" around the back of the stitches. You'll only need to whip the back of the stitches about twice to return you to the center of the cross line.



Finish backstitching the cross line all the way to the right. The next step is to return to where the H crosses the cross line of the T.



To do this, turn your work over and whip stitch around the back of the stitches, to the point where the H crosses the cross line on the T.



You'll only need to whip around the backs of the stitches once or twice - and make sure you don't pick up any fabric! Just take your needle underneath the threads, wrapping them.



I'm working the top of the H that extends above the cross line on the T. This way, I don't have to travel back up here later to finish the H. It's important to look ahead when you're embroidering text, to see the easiest (and "cleanest") path to follow for your stitches. In this case, stitching this little stem here will get it out of the way. Then, I can move back down and do the rest of the H.



Once you get to the top of the H, turn your work over and "travel" your threads back down the back of the stitches by whipping them as you did above.



Continue backstitching down the downstroke on the H. If you were hand writing, once you reached the end of the downstroke, it is likely that you would not lift your pencil or pen to bring it back up to the bump on the H. However, when embroidering text, you don't want to double different parts of your lines - they'd end up looking bulky.

So, just as you traveled your threads on the back before, now you'll turn over your work and wrap the back of the stitches up the point where the bump on the H begins.



The "traveling" on the back (by wrapping your thread around the backs of your stitches) is indicated by the dotted line here. When you travel to the right place, come to the front of your fabric and backstitch the bump of the H.



When you finish the H, turn your work over, and wrap the working thread around the stitches on the back. Cut the working thread.



This is what the back of your embroidery will look like about now. The E in "The" is separate from the other two letters, so I'm not going to travel my thread from the H to the E. The most obvious reason for this is that the thread will be seen from the front, through the white linen. Even using white thread with white fabric, your thread would be seen. And even if you were using DARK fabric with a light thread, carrying your thread across an empty space could still be visible, because the thread can form a small ridge in the fabric, especially once the fabric softens with time. Even though it is (admittedly) a pain in the neck to constantly be changing threads, it is best to get into the habit of changing them rather than carrying them across open spaces. If it's a habit, it won't seem like such a big deal when you have to start and stop often.

If it really bothers you to start and stop your threads often, when working up your text, consider arranging it so that each letter in every word touches. Then you can travel your threads on the back by wrapping them through the back of your stitches, and you won't have to start and stop for individual letters.



Begin the next thread the same way the first thread was begun, by a series of tiny stitches that will be covered up with the backstitch.

Considering the E, I decided to start from the base and work up around the loop, rather than starting at the inside of the loop and working down to the base. My reason for this was that I wanted a neat join, where the loop and the back of the E met, and I figured I could achieve that better by stitching the back of the E first, and then meeting the back after traveling into the loop.

You see, then, that it's a good idea to think ahead along the path that you want to stitch. Notice where the various parts of the letter meet.



When the E is finished, turn the work over and run your working thread under the backs of the stitches, then snip the thread.

And there is the end of the first word, stitched in a simple backstitch, which works well for this style of lettering. Though there are some curves in the lettering, there are not many tight curves, so the backstitch looks smooth and not too blocky with the simple printed lettering.

Next up, we'll work cursive in stem stitch.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and that there was a little tip or two that was helpful for you!

Other Posts on Hand Embroidered Lettering

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 1 - setting up the sampler

Labels: beginner embroidery, embroidery tips and tricks, hand embroidered lettering, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, needlework tutorials, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 15, 2009
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Using lettering and text in hand embroidery can be a great way to make personalized needlework items. But sometimes it's difficult to know what types of stitches, threads, and stitching techniques to use when writing with your needle and thread. In this series of tutorials, we'll look at stitches and threads suitable for embroidered lettering, along with little tips and tricks for producing neat embroidered writing.

If you want to follow along with this series of hand embroidery tutorials, you're welcome to join me!

You can choose whatever text you wish. The idea here is to learn techniques and to get the feel of stitching lettering, so really, any text will work. If you are the type of person who likes to create "samplers" that can be used for decorative purposes, I suggest picking a quote, short poem, saying, Bible verse or something of that nature that you like, and setting it up in an attractive way using a variety of writing styles, so that you can practice using different stitching techniques and threads on the sampler.

For this series, I sat down with a piece of graph paper and pencil and wrote out a sentence using a variety of handwriting styles. Then, to expand the canvas a bit so that I have plenty of samples, I repeated words and filled out the space with lots of lettering.



Because the sentence covers all the letters used in the alphabet, I chose "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." Before I started writing out the letters, I determined the space I wanted to fill, using my hoop as a gauge. I'm working with a 10" hoop to give plenty of room for the text, with extra room to work out some small tutorials on the side. You might want to work within a smaller space, and that's just fine.



After writing out the text in pencil, I traced over it with a micron pen so that the lines were clear and dark. Fine tipped Sharpies or micron pens are essential tools in my tool box - perfect for this step in any embroidery project.



I'm using a piece of white linen for this project. It is a plain weave (not even-weave) medium weight linen with a relatively close weave. You'll want to use a close-weave fabric - for practice, pretty much anything will do (though you'll find a natural fabric like cotton or linen easiest to work on).

Because the linen is light enough and the lettering on the paper is dark enough, I didn't need a window or light box to trace. I ironed the fabric smooth, laid it on top of the lettering, and traced the lettering onto the fabric with a regular pencil.



With the fabric hooped up, I picked out a few colors of DMC stranded cotton to start with. I'll also be using pearl cotton and floche, and any other threads that come to mind during the series here.

If you plan to join along with the stitching, you'll also want a variety of sizes of embroidery needles (crewel needles) in sizes 3 - 9 or 10. I'll be using size 10 (for tiny text with one thread), size 8, size 5 and probably a size 3 for pearl cotton #5.

So, now I'm ready to stitch! I'll begin with the word "The" (why not?) using a very basic stitch, with a focus on starting and ending threads and "traveling" with your threads so that they are invisible from the front.

Labels: beginner embroidery, hand embroidered lettering, Hand embroidery stitches, needlework pictures, needlework tutorials, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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This past weekend, I finished up a little project - some hand embroidered name cards for my nieces' birthday gifts. After a little trial and error, and a wee bit of "I'm-in-a-hurry-and-am-going-to-pull-my-hair-out" frustration, they finished up fine and I was happy with the results.

About a month ago, I reviewed a book on embroidery on perforated cardstock. The book focuses more on the decorative, lacy look you can achieve by cutting the perforated cardstock a number of ways, but it also shows a variety of hand embroidery motifs (mostly in tent stitch or cross stitch) that can be worked on the perforated paper.



Working at night, I found out that this kind of paper-cutting can be addictive. I don't suggest picking up your Xacto knife when you're supposed to be heading to bed! Though I enjoyed the late (late) quiet evenings cutting away the cardstock and watching the patterns emerge, I paid for it the next morning...



The first small pieces came out pretty well, so I decided to embroider my nieces' names on these cards and use them for gift cards.



Before embroidering the names, I had to decide on how I wanted them to look. I charted the names in cross stitch and also in backstitch. At first, I thought it would be fun to try different stitches on the cardstock. Chain stitch would work, I figured, so, using the backstitch design, I set out to work chain stitch on the first card.



I got through the first letter (a capital C) and immediately began taking it out, without even photographing it. Half-way through the take-out, I realized I needed a picture. The chain stitch simply looked too heavy for the paper. I was working with two strands of floss, and didn't like the look of the chain stitch At All. Switching to one strand of floss didn't help - it didn't show up well enough.



One major point of frustration while stitching these was the ability of the thread to snag up on the lacy points of the paper. I knew I had to be careful - I knew this would happen! But my gosh. It happened All The Time. And I swear I was being careful!

Part of my problem, too, was that I was racing the clock. It's never good to work on a delicate project when you're in a hurry!



I ended up cross stitching the names, and was pleased enough with the results. Clare Elizabeth got a middle initial on hers for two reasons: 1. Her first name is short, and it didn't cover much of the center card; 2. (and much more to the point!) I didn't center her first name correctly, and there was no way on God's good earth that I was going to take the whole thing out!

The cards are very light and lacy and pretty. They could be mounted on colored cardstock for a good effect, but I think the gals will appreciate the look of them like this. And since we're talking a 20 and 21 year old, I'm not really worried about the cards being torn to shreds!

I like cutting the paper, but I've learned that it's easier to stitch first and cut later, even though this requires very careful planning and counting.

These would make nice tags for Christmas gifts, for the Very Special people in your life. It's a time-consuming way to go about making a gift tag, but again, for special people or special occasions, I think it would be a really nice touch!

If you're interested in this technique, you can read my review of the book, Broderie et Dentelle sur Carton Perforé, where you'll find purchasing information. This particular cardstock is 22 squares per inch, while most other perforated paper available for stitching is 14 squares per inch. Personally, I like the higher count. The book, by the way, is also available on Amazon France.

Labels: counted thread embroidery techniques, embroider on paper, hand embroidered cards, needlework pictures, pictures

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, October 12, 2009
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Frequently, e-mails show up in my inbox requesting pointers on how to hand embroider text or lettering. Here are a few of the questions on this subject that have shown up in the last couple years:

What stitches should I use to embroider a name?

I'm hand embroidering a poem on a quilt. What type of lettering should I use and how do I stitch it?

How many strands of thread should I use to embroider text on a baby blanket?

I want to hand embroider a baseball cap but I don't know what stitches to use. Can you help me?

I'm using stem stitch to embroider a poem, but my stem stitch looks bad especially when I go around corners. Any ideas how I can fix it?

To answer all these questions and more, I've developed a plan...

... and I plan to work on the plan over this weekend. In the upcoming weeks here on Needle 'n Thread, I'll be presenting some short tutorials on embroidering lettering or text by hand.



Not to be confused with stitching monograms, embroidering text or lettering - especially multiple words - so that it looks good and is clear to read can be daunting. I want to address the subject so that beginners especially can get the hang of hand embroidered lettering without suffering too much grief along the way.

Do you have any questions about the subject that you would like to see particularly addressed? If so, now's your opportunity to bring them up, so I can address them in the tutorials!

If you've embroidered lettering before, I'd love to know what your favorite stitch is for lettering!

What do you think? Will this be a worth-while series of short tutorials? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Labels: beginner embroidery, hand embroidered lettering, hand embroidery information, Hand embroidery stitches, miscellaneous embroidery musings, needlework tutorials

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 09, 2009
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Just to convince you that I do still pick up a needle and thread now and then and do some stitching, I thought I'd give you an update on the Schwalm embroidery project I'm working on. The project comes from Basic Principles of Schwalm Embroidery by Luzine Happel, and although it seems as if I began the project a hundred years ago, I haven't gotten very far on it! So, to make up for the lack of noteworthy progress in stitching, I think I'll throw in a give-away!

First, the Schwalm whitework project! I've managed to get through the first two steps on one side of the square in the middle of the teacloth.



Woe is me! I know that looks just awful - a wrinkled mess! I don't want to iron it until I've finished the stitching and washed it because the transfer marks might set.

So far, I've outlined in coral stitch and I've done all the buttonhole scallops and wheels.

Not very impressive. *sigh*



I worked this mostly in hand (without a hoop). I think this lends to the general wrinkled appearance of the linen!

When working the buttonhole scallops, at first I progressed without a hoop, and it went ok, but I found it wasn't so easy to manipulate that much fabric while trying to work the scallops. I ended up wadding the linen up in one hand while stitching with the other.



Eventually, though, I decided to hoop the project up for the rest of the scallops and wheels. Stitching the scallops with a hoop seemed much easier!



I enjoyed stitching this part of the project. If I had all four sides of the square done, it would've been nice to keep going and going on buttonhole scallops and circles. It's a fun stitch! But my design has faded too much on the other three sides of the square, so I can't really do anything on those parts until I re-transfer the design.

So that's my progress right now on this project.

Now, for a give-away!

Thanks to Joey, who sent me an extra copy of Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework, I am offering this book to an interested reader who wants to try (or improve upon) techniques of Schwalm embroidery. Schwalm is a beautiful form of whitework, and the stitches learned in the technique can be widely applied to other embroidery styles.

If you're interested in owning your own copy of this superb book, leave a comment below (on this post, on the website) letting me know you're interested in the book. Please make sure you sign your name to the comment, even if you use the "Anonymous" feature.

The give-away deadline is Monday, October 12, 2009, at 5:30 am CST.

If all goes as planned tomorrow, I'm going to spend Friday evening making some serious progress on this piece! I want to get to the point of drawing out the threads for the center fillings - wish me luck!

Labels: Book Give-Away, needlework pictures, pictures, regional embroidery techniques, Schwalm, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 08, 2009
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I'm still playing with the idea of translating Quaker motifs (that are normally worked in cross stitch) into designs suitable for surface embroidery. Here's a free hand embroidery pattern of a bird-in-tree Quaker motif suitable for surface stitches.

Now, this is a pattern I really want to stitch. The first Quaker pattern I posted for surface embroidery stitches looked fun, but since I had already stitched it on paper in cross stitch, I find I'm a bit more eager to try a different design. I played again with some of the Mary Wigham designs offered on Needleprint, and this is one that I like a lot. I think it could be fun.

I "updated" the bird a bit after finding it a bit difficult to translate the gridded bird into something smoother for surface work. If you don't particular like this bird, you can always sketch your own into the design, I suppose! (Don't worry - I won't be insulted!) In considering the bird, I wanted something suited to more than just an outline stitch. The wings, tail, and crest give some room for playing with fillings.

Here's the pattern:



The double lines around the outside of the pattern would be a good place to practice composite stitches, like the raised chain band, or double herringbone stitch. Ladder stitch would work well there, too.

I'm thinking about filling the trunk of the tree with stem stitch in several shades of brown, working the branches in stem stitch in brown, and working the leaves in a couple of colors of green using daisy stitch. The small berries would be worked in red French knots, and I think the bird would be worked in a variety of stitches in red, though I'm still contemplating that one.

I was thinking this might a good design for a Christmas ornament, too. What do you think?

Here's a PDF of the pattern:

Quaker Motif #2 for Surface Embroidery Stitches

Enjoy!

Labels: free embroidery patterns, Hand embroidery stitches, Quaker designs, sampler

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Wednesday, October 07, 2009
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This past weekend was busy with a magnificent wedding, and to top the weekend off, a friend stopped by to show me her great-grandmother's hand embroidered wedding dress. I thought I'd share some photos of it with you - it's a magnificent dress from a by-gone era!

Made from a gorgeous silk Crepe de Chine, the dress and "court train" are completely hand embroidered in silk perle with a pattern of chrysanthemums, ribbons, and shamrocks. The shoulders and sleeves of the dress are made of embroidered tulle, and the waste is accented with a rhinestone and bead bow.



The dress, unfortunately, was not carefully packaged or preserved over the last century, so it shows some serious marks of deterioration. The tulle on the shoulders and sleeves has turned a dark brown, and although feeling somewhat brittle in some places, it can still be gently handled. The lining of the dress is decaying in shreds, but the silk crepe of the dress itself is still in lovely shape (despite discoloration and some spotting that looks like rust). The embroidery is immaculate, with the exception of an occasionally broken thread here and there.



The bodice of the dress is covered with an abundance of embroidered chrysanthemums and shamrocks. The lustre of the silk threads is amazing - only silk thread could withstand the test and ravages of time and still look practically brand new!



Here, you can see the waste sash and the edge of the train running down the length of the skirt. The train, which is relatively small by today's standards of fancy trains, is made from the same fabric as the dress. It is relatively narrow and falls not too much longer than the length of the gown. The sides of the train wrap just barely to the front of the dress, so that the beautiful embroidery that adorns the edges of the train can be seen from the front and then down across the lower edge where it trails on the ground.



The large chrysanthemums are made of sweeping petals, embroidered in satin stitch, and their centers are embroidered with French knots.



In the close-up above, you can see that the clusters of French knots and the satin stitching are still in perfect shape - absolutely lovely!



The tulle that forms the caps of the sleeves is browned with age, but the embroidery on the tulle is still in excellent shape, and though the tulle seems somewhat brittle, it is actually quite soft. I love the leaf designs on the edge of this sleeve cap.

This particular tulle forms a kind of cap at the top of the sleeves - it is a larger-holed tulle in the typical hexagon shape. The sleeve itself is made from a very fine tulle which is slightly more brittle and had tiny holes, making it a bit more opaque. At the edge of the long tulle sleeves is a ruffle made of a diamond-shape netting, delicately embroidered:



I am not certain if this particular lace that forms the ruffle at the edge of the sleeves is hand embroidered or not. The little flower designs are made of what looks like bullion knots, but they may actually be satin stitch (or overcast stitching). The very edge is lined with scallops topped with a little picot.



This is a closer shot of one of the smaller embroidered chrysanthemums, ribbons, and shamrock. It's beautiful from the front, but what's amazing is that it is equally beautiful from the back:



Do you see the row of "dots" at the top of the embroidery? That is a strip of tiny weights sewn to the edge of the train.

The dress is stunning - and so light and airy, despite what looks like a heavy embroidery design. The whole dress is petit in size - I would say it's equivalent to about a size 4 - and holding it up to me, height-wise, the length would fall about to my mid-calf - and I'm only 5' 3". The bride was certainly a petit little thing. The article accompanying the dress indicated that her veil was adorned with an orange-blossom crown and she carried a bouquet of roses.

Labels: historical needlework, needlework pictures, pictures, silk

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Tuesday, October 06, 2009
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A couple weeks ago, I took my Mom to a small cross stitch shop here in Kansas. She was looking for some kind of magnetic something-or-other to mark her filet lace crochet patterns, and I was happy to oblige her with the journey - I'm always in the mood for a needlework shop, after all! While we were there, I came across an interesting "tool" that captured my interest, so I bought it, thinking (if it does what it says) it would be an interesting tool to share with you.

But as it turns out, I am majorly perplexed by this needlework tool. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me on its value!



This is what it is: "thread straightener" rods, for silk or synthetic threads that are kinky, curly, etc.

Now, in concept, I am not opposed to a tool that would easily assist in relaxing the kinks out of silk threads. I, too, have been befuddled and frustrated by silk threads that are so boingy that they are a pain to use.

So I was more than willing to give this little miracle tool set a try.



These are two four-inch plexi-glass or pastic dowels, with a purple rubbery foam cushion hugging the middle of the dowels. The purple stuff feels a lot like the stuff that's used on the outside of drink bottles to insulate them.



According to the directions, you're supposed to wrap the cut ends of each thread around the purple foam center, and gently pull until you feel the thread relax. This is supposed to remove kinks, curls, etc.

For my first attempt, I took out some curly silk that was wound on a small, narrow spool, so it was a bit out the curly-bouncy side. I wrapped only the cut ends (about an inch or an inch and a half) around the purple stuff, one end to each dowel. And I pulled gently.

What I felt was the cut ends sinking into the foam center on the dowels. I didn't "feel" the thread relax. ??!! And the thread didn't look any different when I removed the ends from the dowels, except that the ends were a bit staticky.

Then I looked at the instructions again, and I thought that perhaps they really meant that, starting from each cut end of the thread, I was to wrap the thread all the way around the purple foam, into the center of the thread, so that the thread was wound onto the dowels, and then I was supposed to pull gently, pulling the thread off the dowels.



So I tried that, too, and ended up with a staticky mess of curly silk thread. I'm assuming my second interpretation of the directions was entirely incorrect - curly-boingy thread is one thing. Staticky-curly-boingy thread is another matter entirely, and practically impossible to stitch with.

Yes, I'm stumped. This isn't exactly my idea of a useful needlework tool. But perhaps I've got the whole thing figured wrong, and there's some way to make this $5 set of 4-inch plastic sticks useful? Any clues?

A tried and true method for relaxing kinked, curly, or bouncy silk thread: Take the whole bundle (assuming it's coming off a skein) and cut it to your preferred length for stitching. Then put the tea kettle on. Once it starts whistling, hold your bundle of threads in both hands, and pull gently on it while running it through the steam from the kettle. In this way, you've relaxed your whole bundle of threads in one go. Then fix yourself a cup of tea and let your threads dry out. You can also use Thread Heaven on particularly cantankerous threads, to good effect.

Labels: needlework tools, pictures, silk, threads

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Monday, October 05, 2009
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Schwalm whitework embroidery is often used to adorn tablecloths, table runners, and household linens of various kinds. Besides the beautiful and lace-like embroidery featured on Schwalm pieces, Schwalm work often depends upon the finishing of the embroidered piece with a fancy hem. A couple months ago, I introduced you to Luzine Happel's thorough book on Schwalm embroidery - Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework - which was newly translated into English. Today, I want to show you her latest book translated into English, Fancy Hems.

Fancy Hems is a book that any needleworker interested in drawn thread embroidery or whitework would find interesting, informative, and useful. It is not merely for folks interested in Schwalm embroidery in particular. The techniques explained in the book are suited to any kind of drawn thread work, really.



Like Luzine's Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework, Fancy Hems is a self-published book.



Within its pages, you will find step-by-step instructions for creating the fancy openwork and drawn thread hems that often accompany Schwalm embroidery.



The instructions are cleary photographed, so that you can follow each step of embroidery. And the English text is clear and precise.



The book begins with simpler fancy hems and works its way slowly to more complex hems.



Featured throughout the book are pictures of magnificent embroidery that has been "finished" with the addition of a beautiful hem. Each type of hem is thoroughly explained and demonstrated in the book.



Watching the intricate designs of the hems unfold before your eyes, though the photos, is amazing - Luzine makes it look so simple! And because her instructions are good, creating a unqiue and intricate embellished hem area does become relatively simple.



All the basics are discussed, by the way, before venturing into the more complex embellishment. So, if working something like the above drawn thread bars featured in the text, you not only learn how to embellish the bars, but you learn the basics of how to create the bars in the first place - a nice tidbit of instruction for those interested in drawn thread work in general.



The types of hems featured in the book range from narrower bars to composite hems, made up of a variety of different "bars" stacked together, as in this magificent piece below:



Wouldn't it be something to finish the edge of a tea cloth like this? It's amazing, isn't it?

In the most recent issue of Piecework Magazine (Sept. / Oct. 2009), a one-page article focus on an embroidery guild group in Canada who began working through the Fancy Hems book, each creating their own fancily-hemmed cloth. I think that would be a fun and challenging group project - to take a book like this and have each person compile their own "stack" of hemming motifs. I was glad to see that article in Piecework.

But even more than that, I was so happy to see Luzine's newly-translated book, which will certainly become The Definitive Guide to drawn-thread fancy hems.

If you're interested in obtaining a copy of this book, feel free to contact Luzine via e-mail. She takes Paypal, which makes ordering from Germany very easy.

I have to thank Luzine for sending me the book, which was quickly followed by a real treasure chest of Schwalm related instructional and inspirational books - and some linen! Oh, linen! How I love linen! Thank you, Luzine!

Luzine has actually self-published a whole slew of books in German on Schwalm embroidery, and I do eventually want to show you all of them. They are amazing - and So Thorough! A few are in English, but most are in German. Still, the step-by-step photos make the books accessible even for those of us who don't speak or read German. In the meantime, though, if you are looking for books on filling stitches for Schwalm work or drawn thread embroidery, you can ask Luzine what she has available. One of her books instructs on 175 (yes, 175! - that's a LOT!) filling patterns. It's amazing!

She also has a really nice book of Schwalm patterns for a variety of projects. I'm really looking forward to making use of it. The more I look at Schwalm work, the more I fall in love with it! And she's got some really pretty patterns in this book. I'll review that one a bit later, in detail, so you can see what it looks like. And she included some little books from the Schwalm Museum in Germany - they're full of clear black and white photos of various Schwalm pieces. Oh, if I could just reproduce them for you here! I think you'd be in awe of the work!

The thing that really attracts me about Schwalm whitework is that, though it is predominantly whitework, the techniques involved spill over into so many other areas of surface embroidery, while at the same time integrating extensive drawn thread and pulled thread techniques. I think that's why I had so much fun with my Schwalm chicken and pomegranate on my whitework sampler.

And what about my Schwalm project that's currently underway (taken from Luzine's Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework)? Well, I did indeed make the switch from another project so that I can focus on the Schwalm project during my 15-minute sessions, and I have enjoyed working on it in spurts. I actually accomplished a good bit of stitching on Wednesday afternoon of this week, which was nice for a change! I've finished the buttonhole stitching on one motif, and I'm ready to move on to the chain stitching, before starting the filling. I'm having fun with it - I'll update you with progress photos soon!

In the meantime, if you're interested in any of Luzine's books, drop her an e-mail.

Have a terrific Friday!

Labels: book review, drawn thread embroidery, Schwalm, whitework

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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Friday, October 02, 2009
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Posted By: Mary Corbet on Thursday, October 01, 2009
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