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
Contact Mary
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
Contact Mary
February 3, 2020
How about a little bit of simple Stitch Fun! to start off the week?
With the voided floral monograms I’ve been working on lately – and the other floral filling I’m playing with on another sample – I’ve been fiddling a bit with how to take simple stitches just a notch upwards. In this case, I’m raising the daisy stitch.
This is a fun way to stitch a ring-like flower that has a little lift to it!
January 31, 2020
Real thread color cards – they are such a magnificent tool for the embroiderer!
Today, thanks to The Wooly Thread, I’m giving away a set of Appleton’s real thread color cards!
If you love working with wool (crewel or tapestry wool), if you do a lot of crewel embroidery or other fiber art with wool, then this will be a handy tool for you!
January 29, 2020
This year, there are many embroidery-related books being published. Search Press alone has over twenty coming out in 2020, and there are other publishing houses with some notable works on tap for 2020, too. It’ll be a banner book year!
One of the books that I’m really looking forward to is Embroidered Boxes by Heather Lewis. I have a thing for box making – though not always out of embroidery. Fabric and paper covered boxes are fun and a bit quicker than embroidered boxes, and the techniques carry over into any method of decor that you want to use on a box.
For those of you who are intrigued by “cartonnage” – the craft of creating boxes covered with fabric, paper, or embroidered fabric – I thought I’d introduce you to some of my favorite books and chat a bit about box-making in general.
January 27, 2020
I’ve been sharing a bit of progress with you lately on this voided monogram worked with cotton floche. It’s a fun project, and I can’t wait to share the Whole Thing with you!
There’s more to it than meets the eye, too. As soon as the stitching on the samples is complete, I’ll be finishing them into something useful. It’s always nice to be able to finish small embroidery things into something useful, isn’t it?
And there’s also a non-monogram design that goes with this set. But more on that project a little later!
Today, I’ll show you two approaches to the same design, one worked in color and the other in white. You’re never limited in your interpretation of an embroidery design, after all!
January 24, 2020
Last year, there was an exhibit at the Cluny Museum in Paris titled L’Art en Broderie au Moyen Âge – Embroidery Art in the Middle Ages.
Much as I would have loved to see it in person, it’s a bit of haul from Kansas. So I did what I often do when there’s a major museum exhibit that I can’t get to: I looked for the exhibit catalog.
Most major museums that host an exhibition of some importance produce an exhibit catalog, which is a book that details at least the major pieces (and sometimes all the pieces) in an exhibit.
Exhibit catalogs also include a lot of research and information on the individual pieces, the places, the times, and so forth. They’re worth having, if you have an interest in a certain area of art and there happens to be a good exhibition with a good catalog.
January 22, 2020
Welcome to Wednesday! It’s a slushy, snowy morning in Kansas, and promises to be a pretty glum and rainy day – perfect for staying in and stitching cheery things. (I’m not complaining!)
What a week it’s been so far! I’ll tell you more about that below. But in the meantime, here’s a bit of stitching progress and some tips along the way, for the floral floche piece I showed you last week.
January 20, 2020
Many moons ago, back at the end of last October, I made this rather humbling confession about my messy embroidery worktable.
The problem posed was that I couldn’t find my tweezers. Many of you chimed in with questions about my tweezers. Many wanted to know… “What are those tweezers?”
I featured them in my Thanksgiving Eye-Spy puzzle here, and they showed up in my Christmas one, too.
They keep showing up here on Needle ‘n Thread, because I keep using them day to day. Lately, they are never off my work table.
Today, I’ll show them to you in all their little 1″ x 1.5″ glory. I’ll tell you what they are, why I like them, and share some pros and cons.
