I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more
Contact Mary
I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more
Contact Mary
April 8, 2024
Hurray!! A beautiful new book on Japanese-style bead embroidery by Margaret Lee is finally out – The Art of Bead Embroidery 2. I’ve been looking forward to this book, because there’s a project in it that I want to make!
If you’ve been waiting for the book as well, you can find The Art of Bead Embroidery 2 available here in my shop, in stock and ready to ship.
Let’s look at the book up close, and I’ll tell you what you can expect from it.
April 5, 2024
Well, well, well, here we are, at the very last step of Purple Posy, our latest Stitch Snippet stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread.
If you’re just coming across this stitch-along project, you can find all the previous lessons for the stitch-along in the Purple Posy project index here. You’ll learn, step-by-step, how to create a beautiful covered tape measure for your needlework toolbox.
If you’re just joining in and you’d like to create your own covered tape measure, you’ll find a complete materials kit available here, with all the components you need to embroidery and build your own covered tape measure – including the retractable tape measure, fine embroidery linen, full skeins of embroidery floss, all the finishing materials, and the specialty beads, charm, and wire.
For members of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received the PDF for this installment of the stitch-along yesterday. You can find it posted over on Patreon, ready to download and print.
Let’s move on to this last step – creating the beaded pull fob for the tape measure!
April 3, 2024
I’m a little late to the game here, wishing you a belated Happy Easter!
I took a much-needed short break starting mid-week last week, and by this coming Friday, I should be back to regular scheduled work.
If you have placed any orders in the shop this past week, they will ship by this Friday.
In the spirit of utter unoriginality, I’m sharing one of my favorite Easter pictures again. Not the greatest photo in the world, mind you, but oh, what a cutie!
March 25, 2024
I’m afraid today is going to be a big photo and information dump, as we assemble and then work the decorative edge on Purple Posy, our current stitch-along project.
I intended to divide this in two parts, with the first part posting this past Friday. Unfortunately, I’ve been under the weather with whatever virus / cold / flu / etc I’ve picked up again. Third time since January! Anyway, I’m working on recuperating.
And that brings me to this point: I need to recuperate on many levels at this point, so after today’s post, I’m taking some time off. We still have the fob to finish on this project, but I won’t be able to get that out until next week some time. I still have photo editing to do on that, some diagrams to make, some video to edit, and I just can’t put that much screen time in on the computer right now.
Funny how the past month has been one slam right after another. Sometimes, I guess life is like that.
But in the meantime, you can get your tape measure covers sewn up and the decorative edges finished! So let’s do that…
March 20, 2024
The last time we looked at wool embroidery threads, we were comparing four different brands of crewel wool, stitched in lines using stem stitch.
We were able to see their twist, how heavy a line they made, and we talked a bit about the stitching experience with them: which ones were a little more fuzzy, more bouncy, and so forth.
Today, we’ll look at the same four threads, this time in filling stitches, specifically satin stitch and “soft shading” or long and short stitch.
My samples here are quite small, so I’ve enlarged them so that you can see the details of the thread.
March 18, 2024
Moving along in our Purple Posy Stitch Snippet stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread, today we’re going to transform the embroidered design parts of Purple Posy into the pieces of the tape measure cover.
I’ll give you the list of supplies I used for finishing – gather all your supplies before you start and read through the instructions! – and then I’ll take you step-by-step through making up the pieces of the cover.
For those who are just joining in, you will find all the previous articles for this stitch-along available here in the Purple Posy Project Index.
If you are a member on Patreon, you have received the PDF download for this part of the project – all the way through to finishing the decorative edge.
And if you would like a kit for Purple Posy, we still have some available! You can find them here. The kits have all the materials you need for finishing, including the template plastics and the interfacings (not to mention the tape measure), to save you money and time in hunting down supplies.
March 15, 2024
Following up on this previous article comparing crewel wool embroidery threads, today we’re going to look at a few stitched samples of these threads so you can see how they work up.
News: The Purple Posy stitch-along installment that should have been posted today is postponed until next week, due to some eye problems and medical issues that I’m currently dealing with. As soon as I can spend a little more time on the computer, I will finish those lessons up and get them posted. I hope to be able to finish them up this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed that my eyes cooperate – they are recovering from another ocular stroke and subsequent blind spot.
