A Perfect Fit: M on a Box!

I love it when a plan comes together.

But even better than that, I love it when something that wasn’t planned comes together.

For example, when I first started fiddling about with voided monograms ten years ago, did I know that these round floral voided monograms would fit so perfectly into the lids of these decorative boxes that I brought in for Garden Swirl?

No. I didn’t.

But they do! And I’m so glad, because I have several samples of these monograms floating around here. They had no place to land before now.

Now, they will have homes.

This is one of the voided floral monograms from my latest PDF project book (unoriginally titled Voided Monograms and available here).

It’s one of the first ones I embroidered, when coming up with the designs.

While the M is not my favorite sample, I’m delighted that it fit so perfectly in the box lid! I couldn’t have planned that better if I had tried – and I certainly didn’t try.

So it’s definitely one of those serendipitous delights!

Why is the M not one of my favorite voided monogram samples? You see, I hadn’t quite gotten the hang of the “balance” of the design, colors, and elements. Every time I look at it, I see a slightly more jiggly edge than I’d like, and I see places where I wish I had stitched this color instead of that color.

But really, in the scheme of things, it’s not all that bad, for my own little M Box. I might even take it home and use it for a jewelry box. Imagine – my own embroidery in my own house. How droll!

Everything You Need!

If you want to stitch your own voided monogram design like this – maybe you want to make a special gift for someone, or maybe you need a small jewelry box at your house, too – we have pretty much everything you need to make that happen.

You’ll find the downloadable PDF for Voided Monograms here. It contains designs for the round alphabet and the square alphabet, along with step-by-step photos, stitching instructions, and tips. You can read more about the publication here, if you’d like further details.

You’ll find the floche pack with the colors that I used available here (it’s the “Garden Bright” collection). We also have complete collections of floche available, in case you want to expand the colors in your monograms.

We have 6″ hoops that are perfect for stitching these monograms – they give you enough room around them to be very comfortable. And we have lovely 4″ hoops, if you just want to finish your monogram in a good quality hoop. Our hoops are available here.

We have some of The Best embroidery needles available today – these Tulip needles (an “Embroidery Thin” variety pack will supply you with the perfect needle sizes) and these Bohin variety packs, which are chockfull of a wide variety of needles and sizes.

And you’ll find the decorative boxes available here.

And What About Fabric?

These voided monograms can be worked on any fabric suitable for surface embroidery! I like linen, but they work on cotton, too, as well as blends. Look for fabrics that have a close weave, that can support the stitching.

We are developing a few more linen variety packs for embroiderers, that we hope to have available for you later this autumn (maybe even early October). Our linen comes from Italy, Belgium, and other parts of Europe, so this is a developing story. I will definitely let you know when they are available again.

Coming Up!

“Duc in Altum” is coming along! I’ll share progress on that project this coming week. I’m excited that it’s moving!

Plique-á-jour is on the worktable next week, as we finish up all the incidentals for instructions, photography, and so forth. It’s a “major” kit, and we want to make sure we have everything for it just right. It will include printed instructions. Our plan is to have it out before (cross your fingers, please) the onslaught of the pre-holiday brouhaha.

We’ve also been restocking other kits – like Wildflowers in Wool, our Holly & Evergreen complete kit, and Leafy Tree, which is perfect for autumn – and ordering components so we can restock other kits, too. All of our currently available embroidery kits are listed here, if you want to check them out!

So that’s what’s going on here in the Studio. I want to share a little more with you about an upcoming in-person class I’m teaching in January. And there are some other fabulous things going on around the webs and in the needlework world that have come to my attention lately, too, so loads to share!

Hope you have a great weekend!