If you’ve been hanging around Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you probably know I’m a sucker for embroidery tools and accessories.
Tools that are useful, pretty, well-made, and affordable are hard for me to resist. If a particular tool can help make embroidering easier or more pleasant, if it can enhance the results of my embroidery, if it can serve a useful purpose and look great while doing so – well, that’s the type of tool that set my little tool-lovin’ heart a-flutter!
Recently, in the dead of night, unbeknownst to the wider Needle ‘n Thread World, I slipped two such tools into the shop. I brought them in because I have been using them and I like them! I find both tools very useful. They’re just nice tools!
Let’s look at them!
This little awl and this bar needle minder both hail from Avlea, the company that produces these folk embroidery kits that I stock here and that I’ve written about here and here.
I really love the needlework products and kits that designer Krista West produces. I find her kits absolutely charming and accessible for anyone who enjoys cross stitch, and I really like the folk style of them. They’re folky, but they’re also very elegant. (On that note, I recently added these three drawstring bag kits. The bags are lined with coordinating Liberty of London cotton lawn. Pretty and useful!)
Krista’s tools are equally lovely and useful! And when she added this mini blunt-tipped awl (I use it as a laying tool) to her offerings, I knew I had to bring it in, too.
I like a laying tool that has a slightly blunt tip.
Many laying tools have very sharp tips. The BLT (Best Laying Tool), for example, has such a fine, sharp tip that it could be wielded as a subtle and effective weapon in the next needlework murder mystery you happen write.
And while that sharp tip comes in useful for many things in embroidery – and I use it for some things! – in most cases when I just want a laying tool, I prefer a tool that doesn’t run the risk of snagging threads or fabric. (Not familiar with a laying tool, what it does, and why it’s useful? You can read more about laying tools and see how to use them here.)
So these little rosewood-handled awls fit that bill. They are sharp enough to use as an awl to open small holes in fabric. They are perfectly smooth and therefore suitable as a laying tool. But they are not so sharp on the tip that they’d snag your thread or fabric inadvertently while in use as a laying tool.
Additionally, did I mention it’s a mini awl? It clocks in at a total length of 2 5/8″ long, with a 1″ long tip.
So yes, it’s a Small Awl! And that makes it great for tote-ability. It will fit easily into your traveling needlework pouch, taking up very little room, but is still capable of doing its intended job.
The handle is made from a beautiful, smooth, polished rosewood. It’s comfortable to hold and it’s attractive.
All in all, it’s swell small awl!
Then, there’s this bar needle minder. It’s a very pretty hard enamel needle minder, 2.5″ long and 5/8″ wide, with three magnets along the back. It is not a deadly-strong needle minder: it works very well for holding needles, but don’t expect it to hold heavier tools.
Needle minders are handy-dandy tools! They make stitching easier and more efficient. And you know what? They make me happy. I love a pretty or cheerful or fun needle minder mounted on a project!
If you’re not sure how needle minders work, you can read about them here.
Essentially, they hold onto parked needles. I especially appreciate a needle minder when I’m working with multiple needles at a time. I can park the idle needles on the minder – threaded, ready to go, and easy to find – while I’m stitching with the working needle. Parking needles this way makes stitching so much more efficient!
I think these needle bars are a nice addition to the line-up of enamel needle minders we already carry, which you can find listed here. And because they’re long and roomy, you can keep several needles propped on them, distinct from each other and easy to grab when you need them.
Where to Find Them
You can find these two tools – and other handy dandy needlework tools – in my shop under Embroidery Equipment, here. I plan to keep them stocked, so if they happen to sell out, never fear! They’ll be restocked pretty quickly.
And that’s the Tool Talk for today!
Coming Up!
Later this week, we’ll return to transfer methods. I’m going to review something that recently showed up on the market, so keep an eye out for that!
And I’ll be showing you the hem on this project. Yes, the hem that I totally flubbed up. We’ll learn a good lesson – think things through before you LEAP! – and I’ll show you my salvage effort.
Finally, finally, we will be releasing a stitch-along this summer, despite the incredible delay in absolutely everything on every front. We finally have all the kit components and the samples are almost finished. I’ll introduce you to it next week, and I believe the kits will launch the last week of July.
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