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Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

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Purple Posy Project Index

 

Amazon Books

Today, just a quick note to set up this project index for the Purple Posy stitch-along, so that you can easily find all the articles relating to the project here on the website.

As we continue with the stitch-along, I’ll add each new installment to the list of articles.

You’ll find this Index under “Tips & Techniques” in the main menu here on Needle ‘n Thread.

For members in the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon, I posted the latest PDF that covers embroidering the sides and adding the beads, so that information is already available over there.

Purple Posy Stitch-Along
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Crewel Threads: a Close Look at Wool Embroidery Threads

 

Friday strikes me as a great day for some Thread Talk, don’t you think?

Today, we’re going to wiggle our toes about in the waters of Wool Threads to get familiar with them, and then we’ll take the plunge into thread comparisons and explorations.

First, I’ll introduce you to my plan for discussing wool threads and talk about them in general. We will look at four popular brands of crewel wool up close and see what’s different about each of them.

Down the road, we’ll go further with stitched samples and comparisons, and then we’ll bring in some lesser-known brands and work with them a bit, too.

Wool Embroidery Threads: Comparisons and Explorations
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Purple Posy, Part 2: Embroidering the Top & Base

 

Today, we’re going to get going on the embroidery for Purple Posy. We’ll be embroidering the decorative top and base of the tape measure cover.

If you are just joining in, we started this project last week and you can find the first installment here.

If you would like a materials kit, we still have a small number of kits available here.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received all of this information in a handy-dandy PDF format for downloading and printing, so you’re good to go! Still, it won’t hurt to read through today’s article below, just in case I mention something or link to something that you might find helpful.

Let us begin to stitch…

Embroidering a tape measure cover: purple posy
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Embroidery Tip: The Order of Work

 

Whenever I start working on the preparation stages of a new embroidery project, it tends to occupy my thoughts quite a bit.

That’s what happened this weekend. We recently started preparing a new goldwork project here in the studio, and it was on my mind a lot this weekend. Mostly, I was thinking about the order of work in embroidery.

The order of work is the logical sequence you follow when working on a project. Sometimes, order of work doesn’t matter at all. But sometimes, it matters quite a bit. In the goldwork project that’s coming up, the order of work is quite important. And that’s why it was occupying my thoughts.

But even on little projects, order of work can be important simply because it might save us a little frustration. I’ll illustrate this with the recent wool embroidery project I’ve been piddling about with.

Wool Embroidery Bouquet and the Order of Work in Embroidery
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Purple Posy, Part 1: Design, Materials, and Preliminaries

 

Here we go! Time to get started with Purple Posy: a Tape Measure Cozy!

In this first installment of the stitch-along, we are going to talk about materials, the design, and other preliminary information, including transferring the project. We aren’t going to cover stitching just yet, as I can’t fit everything in one blog post! Today’s information will get you started and set-up, ready to stitch.

If you have the Purple Posy kit, which is available here, you’re in great shape – you have everything you need to create the tape measure cover, except typical embroidery tools like a hoop or frame, scissors, and a few incidentals for the finishing work (like glue, pins, and sewing thread).

purple posy set-up
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The End and The Beginning: More Wool Explorations

 

On Friday, I shared with you this exploration in wool thread, using DMC’s new Eco Vita line of crewel-weight needlework wool.

I had planned to finish the piece that very day – after all, wool stitches up Fast – but as luck (and Time) would have it, I never did get to my coveted afternoon stitching session. And I didn’t have one minute of stitching time over the weekend, either. What is this world coming to, I ask you?!?

But Monday came around, and lo! I snatched time in the afternoon to finish the project up.

DMC Eco Vita crewel wool embroidery thread
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Stitch-Along Explanations & Expectations: FAQ’s

 

Happy Monday, Everyone! It’s a fresh start to the week – and a very exciting week it is, too, because we’re going to start the Purple Posy Stitch Snippet stitch-along this very week!

Most of you have had a chance to receive your kits in the mail. Those who are following along without the kit will be able to source materials, working from your own stash, or with materials purchased from your own resources, or with possible suitable substitutions that we will talk about as the project progresses.

I have had a small influx of questions about the stitch-along, so today, I want to address those questions to better clarify what a stitch-along is and what you can expect from it.

It seems I haven’t been clear enough about what you can expect, and I apologize for that. Part of this is the nature of blogging. We live in a world of hurry, hurry, hurry and short attention spans. We tend to skim rather than read, and often, we miss the information that’s there, especially if the formatting is poor or the blogger (that would be me!) tends to say too much, and people just see words, words, words. (Guilty as charged!)

So… without further ado, here are some Frequently Asked Questions and their answers concerning the stitch-alongs here on Needle ‘n Thread!

Besides these questions below, I encourage you to read this article from a couple weeks ago that introduced Purple Posy.

Stitch-Along FAQ's
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