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Mary Corbet

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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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Embroidered Needlebook – I Fixed It

 

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Last weekend, I showed you the Big Mistake on the monogram on the needlebook I’m presently embroidering. Most of the feedback on the monogram pushed me to fix the problem on the loop of the T. You were all pretty much right! It was bugging me too much to leave it the way it was, so I picked it out and fixed the stitching. I’ll tell you a bit about that…

Below, you can see the original “finished” embroidery on the monogram, with the mistake on the upward loop of the body of the T. This really bugged me more than I realized at first.

Embroidered needlebook progress - repaired monogram

Do you ever start a project, greatly enthusiastic about it, run into a snag, and find that you lose steam right away because of that mistake? This is what was happening to me with the monogram. I disliked it so much that I found myself losing interest in finishing the project! And that’s bad, because not only did I invest a bit in the kit, but I really Like the kit a lot. How could I let a mistake sit there, turning me off the whole piece?

So I finally buckled down and made myself sit down to fix the stitching.

Embroidered needlebook progress - repaired monogram

And this is the fix. Much better, I think. I know it isn’t exackitackily Perfect, but I’m happy with it now! The funny thing was that I pictured myself spending hours trying to fix this, gritting my teeth in frustration the whole time. In reality, I made a few snips with the scissors, careful not to cut any of the padding threads, then removed the stitches back to a reasonable point to work up to the area of The Mistake.

It took me a whole ten minutes to fix the problem.

Embroidered needlebook progress - repaired monogram

The moral of the story: from now on, when something in my stitching is bugging me, I will correct it right away. No more pining over mistakes and building them up in my mind as insurmountable errors!

I finished the front of the needlebook in the same sitting as correcting The Mistake. So far, I’m pleased with it, and the more I work it, the more pleasure I get from it. I’m quite twitterpated with this kit!

If you’re looking for this needlebook kit, you can order it from The Mad Samplar. It’s called “Nichole,” and it’s one of a series of needlebook kits designed by Roberta Chase and distributed by Access Commodities. There will soon be a fourth one of these kits on the market – but I haven’t seen the third one yet. I’m hoping to track it down one of these days to see what it looks like! Has anyone else run across it? I’d love to see a photo.

 
 

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(10) Comments

  1. "Do you ever start a project, … run into a snag, and … lose steam"

    Do I ever. Most of my unfinished projects are ones that I was not happy with my workmanship or got so far and can't work out how to do the next bit or make it up into a finished item. It's infuriating!

    Mary, could you not have backed the linen with calico (muslin) to help with the surface embroidery?

    I think that it looks beautiful. I hope that 'T' enjoys her new needle book and realises that it has been made for someone very special 🙂

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  2. Hurray! Nice to hear that you tackled this fix, with such great results, and it is, indeed, a good lesson. I have had similar experience, and it is always fun to check the time involved, and see that this did not suck down too much of your life after all- 🙂

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  3. Hi Mary, I love the way you have redone the stitching and yes if it was bothering you so much, it was worth redoing the portion.

    This moral holds good for all of us since these snags often take on gigantic proportions. I hate it when I make mistakes in my embroidery and though it may be hardly visible , I eventually go back and redo that irritating portion!

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  4. I think sometimes we spend more time complaining about things we don't want to do than the actual time it would take to DO the thing we don't want to do!

    Nice fix. It looks much better.

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  5. BRAVO! BRAVO! Mary! So glad you went the extra mile to correct a small problem, that if left to stand, would deepen your dislike for the project. This is a great lesson for all embroiderers.
    Karole

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  6. I hate redoing things, and I used not to. But since I'm blogging and sharing pictures with my cyberfriends, it bothers me a lot when I make a mistake. Not only because what I show does not look good, but also because there is a little voice telling that you ladies would redo it. 🙂
    So I've been redoing things for three years now, when need be, and to avoid those horrible UFO 🙂

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  7. Sometimes I don't even need the snag to make me lose steam. Unless we're going to count having to stop for silly things like employment/cooking/cleaning/laundry/kids.

    I'm glad the fix is done and wasn't a big effort, it looks great.

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  8. Your Needlebook is coming along beautifully! What you say is so true: often the fix is so much easier than all the anxiety about fixing it!! Beautiful. Just Beautiful!!

    Bobbi

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  9. Haha, if I'm up against a "huge" mistake I tend to get super frustrated too, set the project aside and tell myself that I will fix it tomorrow when I can look at it with fresh eyes. I usually do pick it up the next day, as soon as I can, and get through it; however, if I don't get to it the –very next day– the project never, and I mean never, gets finished (well maybe a year or two down the line when I am looking through UFOs wondering why I "never finish anything").

    This is looking beautiful, the colours really are fantastic and the kit translated very well with the changes you made.

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