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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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The French Needle – Embroidery Kits & Supplies, and a Special Discount!

 

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I know I’ve been on an embroidery-kit-writing trend lately! I hope you don’t find it a “turn-off,” but I do like to see what’s available in the needlework world, and I’m very interested in what designers are marketing these days.

I call it trend-mapping. The trend I’m currently mapping is interest in the traditional, or classic, surface embroidery kit. There aren’t a lot of them available, you know. Classic surface embroidery kits are not the most popular of needlework-related kits. Compare the number of surface embroidery kits you see available on the market with the number of cross stitch kits, and you’ll understand what I mean!

But I have noticed in the past few years an increase in interest in regular surface embroidery kits, and, answering that increase in interest, suppliers are beginning to include surface embroidery more frequently among their selections.

So, I like it when I find another place that offers what look to be nice surface embroidery kits!

Do you know about The French Needle? Mostly, they specialize in cross stitch kits and charts, but Lisa of The French Needle is “on a mission” to push surface hand embroidery, and is now offering some interesting hand embroidery kits.

If you go to her Boutique page, you’ll see she has a page of surface embroidery kits that feature, predominantly, monograms – and they are really beautiful monograms! I’d love to work all of these 7×7 monograms – I love the A, the V, the W, and the Y, especially! These would make terrific gifts for weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays (already worked and framed, or as kits for your needle-working friends). Note that they don’t come with thread – they come with the design stamped on linen, instructions, and suggested color lists for different thread manufacturers.

The French Needle Surface Embroidery Kits

But besides the monograms, it’s the Bayeaux Tapestry kit that caught my eye! Now, I think this would be fun! If you like historical embroidery, you might be especially interested in this kit, and if you don’t like historical embroidery, I think it would be a neat framed piece for a home – a conversation piece! It’d also make a great gift, finished and framed, for a lover of history, art history, literature, and so forth.

The French Needle Surface Embroidery Kits

Besides the monograms and the Bayeux kit, you’ll find a couple really nice floral pieces – a very bright one on a dark background, a pillow sham with flowers and bugs and garden creatures on it, and a couple more natural-looking flower pieces, like Graminees. There are also a couple fun alphabet samplers, too, for surface embroidery, which is nice. Normally you see alphabet samplers in cross stitch, so it’s fun to see a few in surface embroidery for a change! The ABC Fruits looks fun!

The French Needle Surface Embroidery Kits

Besides surface embroidery offerings, The French Needle has a long list of popular cross stitch designers’ charts, such as Long Dog Samplers, Rouge du Rhin, and others – lots of Quaker-look samplers, many European designs, some sampler reconstructions, and other pretty offerings. I especially like the sampler kit, Dutch Beauty. If I were going to work a cross stitch sampler, that would interest me.

I like the Long Dog Samplers a lot, too. In fact, I’m getting ready to work Angel Pavement with my 13-year-old niece on 28 count linen (over 1). Well, she wants to learn on something “fun,” so that’s what she picked out! Charts at the French Needle are reasonably priced, too – at least $1 below other places, from what I can tell. And I paid $3 more elsewhere for Angel Pavement!

Discount for Needle ‘n Thread Readers! (For April!)

Lisa is generously offering a discount to Needle ‘n Thread readers! For the month of April, you can get a 10% discount on all kits and charts, by typing “Mary sent me” in the special instructions box at checkout. Lisa will adjust your order on her end at the time of processing, taking off 10% from your purchase! Isn’t that great? The discount’s only available for this month (April, 2009), though – so if you’re in the market for a new project and any of her kits, charts, etc., appeal to you, now’s a good time!

 
 

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(8) Comments

  1. What lovely kits! I hope she adds more.

    I really like the dark background piece with vivid colours and bird (birds are always good). It reminds me of what I think of as Hungarian-style embroidery.

    Isn’t the Bayeux kit cool? I think that’s the one I bought last year. (It was the only one I could find with horses; the horses are my favourite part of the Bayeux tapestry.) It’s really BIG and I haven’t had the right mindset to start it yet. It has a lot of the same stitch over and over and over so I have to really talk myself into working that kit, but I will….someday. 🙂

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  2. Oh Mary,
    Your blog posts never cease to inspire me! Soooon, I will embroider something…that is something besides running stitch initials on the toes of men’s socks. (How else can I evenly distribute socks from the laundry to a husband and 3 teenage boys, can you imagine?) I’m actually starting to monogram socks in the manner of old-fashioned clocks, but I’m trying to keep the project simple, so I can get it done with already, and move on to something actually pretty. Anyway, thanks for all your instruction and inspiration. I’m working on a little stitching post for my blog, and hope to link back to your beautiful blog and the French Needle website. (Just waiting on a photo permission…) Hope you’ll visit.
    WendyBee
    http://www.wendysbees.blogspot.com

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  3. I emailed the French Needle, and she very graciously sent me a page of other kits available of the Bayeux Tapestry not listed on the website, along with their prices. I have ordered one with the multi-colored ships and sails. Thanks for the tip! I’m so anxious to get started on it, it’s been one of my dreams to work on it.

    And, Happy Birthday Mary!

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  4. Dear Mary,
    I’ve been meaning to leave a comment for ages and this is the perfect post! When I was in Bayeux years ago I picked up a kit of Harold riding his horse with his falcon and finally finished it 6 years later in college. I need to take a picture so I can show you.
    I’ve been printing out patterns from your site for months now, and someday will get pictures up.
    Thanks for such a wonderful site!

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  5. Hi, Dzithendo – Thanks for the comment! I’d love to see a photo!! Glad to hear Needle ‘n Thread has been useful to you!
    Best,
    MC

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  6. I just found this site but I can no longer find the alphabet your Majestic V is from on “the French Needle”. I also cannot read the description in your screen shot. Would you direct me to a source?

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  7. I am looking for a chart that I saw in SANQ Winter 2008. It is on page 49. Could you tell me where I might buy it ?
    Thank you,
    Peg Regan

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