Because it’s Friday (which has nothing to do with anything), but really because I’m leaving this weekend for a week, I’d like to introduce you officially to Garden Swirl, the Stitch Snippet stitch-along that will be developing here on Needle ‘n Thread over the next couple months.
If you are new to Needle ‘n Thread and the Stitch Snippet stitch-alongs, I’ll explain below what they’re all about and how they work.
I’ll also share information on timing, kit availability, and what you’ll learn and experience with this little embroidery project that we will work through together, from start to finish.
Garden Swirl is a small embroidery project worked in simple stitches, and finished as an insert in a decorative box lid.
How Does the Stitch-Along Work?
In the stitch-along, we’ll work the project from start to finish. I’ll take you step-by-step through the embroidery and through the finishing, which involves mounting the embroidery in the box top.
Each lesson in the stitch-along will be posted here on Needle ‘n Thread – about one lesson a week, sometimes two – for you to follow along. If you have not subscribed to the Needle ‘n Thread newsletter, this is a good reason to do so! That way, you won’t miss any lessons when they’re posted.
The lessons show up just like my regular blog posts, and between lessons, I continue with regular blog posts on other embroidery subjects. That way, if you aren’t following the stitch-along, you can still enjoy regular content.
As the stitch-along progresses, each lesson will be added to a Project Index, so that they are easy to find in one place. You can see an example of the Project Indexes for the various stitch-alongs here, under Tips and Techniques.
Additionally, for members on Patreon, each lesson will be available as a downloadable PDF that you can save to your computer, print conveniently, load onto mobile devices, etc.
The stitch-along lessons will begin about a week after we finish shipping the kits. Our last element of the kit will arrive the week of July 7th, if the manufacturing and shipping elves are working in our favor. This means that, if all goes as scheduled, we’ll be able to ship kits before mid-July.
Garden Swirl Kits and The Box
We will have a limited number of embroidery kits available with the design pre-transferred for you onto a fine white linen twill, if you wish to purchase a kit. (You don’t have to – you can still follow along without a kit.)
Each kit will include the linen twill ground fabric with the design transferred on it, all the threads you’ll need, and needles. The instructions develop on the website and are not included in the kit.
We will also have a limited number of the decorative box that we used for the sample shown here. We opted for an affordable box solution, to keep the project within the “Stitch Snippet” concept.
One of the purposes of this project is to demonstrate how to mount embroidery in a box top, and since the Stitch Snippets are usually practice pieces for learning, I decided that the box had to be affordable. It could not be an heirloom quality, expensive box. If you want a hand-made, higher end heirloom quality box, you can certainly pursue that with a cabinet maker or someone local to you who does the kind of work. Generally, such boxes are quite expensive (as in, hundreds of dollars) and outside the Stitch Snippet range.
These boxes that we’re offering are nice for our purposes. They are finished on the inside with a black velvet lining, and they have a hinged lid with a decorative border around the frame. They are a composite material with a kind of laminate on the outside. They meet a reasonable price point.
They will be available on the website when the kit is launched.
Of course, you don’t have to mount the embroidery in a box top – you can frame it or finish it however you wish.
Quantity and Availability – the Nitty Gritty
In the recent past, we’ve been preparing a very generous amount of kits for the stitch-alongs. Recently, though, we’ve found that we were over-producing the kits. We can’t afford to over-produce these kits, especially because of the extra time it takes for preparing them with the transfer.
We’ve gone back to our original approach, then, of doing an initial (smaller) run of kits to sell, which we will re-stock as quickly as possible if they sell out.
We also don’t have the space to store an excessive amount of these boxes, so they are also limited in number. If they sell out when the kit is launched, we will re-stock as quickly as we can.
Once I know for sure when we will launch the kits and boxes, then, I will announce the date and time here on the website. Usually, I’ll let you know at least three days and up to a week in advance of the launch. Then, you can set a reminder for that time, to check in to order.
As always, members on Patreon will enjoy a private shopping event before the kits are launched on the website.
I apologize for having to do it this way, with the pressure of limited quantities, but it takes time to prepare the kits with this many transfers, and we are simply limited on time, space, and … admittedly … capital.
Thanks for understanding!
I’m excited about this project! It’s a lot of fun, it’s accessible to beginners and beyond, and the results are quite pretty. The finished box will make an excellent gift – a beautiful jewelry or treasure box for you or someone you love – and the techniques involved are great for any embroiderer’s repertoire.
And that, my friends, is what you can expect with Garden Swirl!
I’ll be out of town next week, but I have some articles ready for you – including a look at new books. We’ll revisit Garden Swirl as soon as I return and we can move forward on getting the kits out to you.
Anna will be holding the fort while I’m gone, so if you need anything or if you place any orders in the shop, she’ll take care of you!
Have a lovely weekend!
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