Summer will be shortly upon us here in this half of the world! And along with summer comes a fantastic opportunity to introduce kids to embroidery, giving them a gift that will last them all their lives – an appreciation for making something with their own two hands.

Usually around this time of year, I get a lot of requests for recommendations for children’s embroidery projects or books that can help introduce a child to embroidery.

Well, if you have children in your life, and you’re eager to spread the joy of needlework to them, there’s a fantastic new book out aimed just at kids, called The Amazing Stitching Handbook for Kids.

After seeing mediocre needlework books and kits and whatnot aimed at children come and go over the years, I’m really happy to see this particular book. It’s a terrific information, reference, instructional, and project book.

I like it a lot! I like it so much that I’ve purchased copies of it to use for summer birthdays (and other occasions) and bundled it with basic supplies. It’s an ideal book for helping a child to start stitching!

Let’s look at it in detail…

Good morning, my friends!

Today, let’s keep things short and sweet! This morning, I’m sending along a free hand embroidery design for a kaleidoscope that I call Seventh Heaven.

The reason for the name? Well, it’s a kaleidoscope of seven parts: seven arms and seven layers that can be broken down or grouped different ways.

So I’ll share the design with you below, in a handy PDF printable, and chat a bit about embroidery ideas for the design.

When a something in my needlework tool box starts to annoy me, I remove it. If it’s a tool that provides a service I need, I think of improvements to it, so that it doesn’t annoy me.

For example, I have a little pin cushion that works great for me outside my sewing box. But inside my sewing box, it Drives Me Nuts because it has a magnet on it, and the magnet catches on my scissors, my clips, or anything else it can suck into its Area of Attraction.

When my little magnetic pin cushion is stuck on my light pole by my stitching spot, it’s great. When it’s in my tool box creating havoc, it’s not. So I decided to pitch it in favor of something better.

And that something better was a quick little pincushion I whipped up in about 15 minutes. And you can do the same thing for your tool box or stitching area, too! I’ll show you how I did it…

When your hobby also happens to be your livelihood – which is the case for embroidery and me – it’s sometimes necessary to pursue a different hobby now and then!

I have a couple hobbies that are not needle-and-thread-related pursuits, but I don’t often indulge in them anymore simply because there’s not a lot of time outside Needle ‘n Thread for other creative activities.

But over the recent Easter break, I took some time to focus on setting up a non-embroidery related project (who knows – since it involves cloth, it may morph into an embroidery-related project!) that is still needle-and-thread related, and since some of you wrote in and asked about it, I thought I’d show it to you.

There are a couple tools and accessories involved that you might like, too, so I’ll share those with you as well.

Needlework authors and publishers have been busy in the past year or so, producing some really helpful and beautiful embroidery books. I have a whole stack of needlework books that I want to share with you, so that you can make informed decisions on which books to add to your needlework library.

I figure I better start chipping away at the pile; otherwise, they’ll be out of print before we know it!

For the silk ribbon embroidery enthusiasts, this is a book you don’t want to miss! Whether you use silk ribbon embroidery as a stand-alone art form, or for embellishing crazy quilts, or as part of other embroidery or mixed-media works, you will appreciate the instructional content and glorious projects in this book.

So, off the top of my stack is the reformatting and reprinting of this book, The Seasons in Ribbon Embroidery by Tatiana Popova, which I reviewed quite a while ago when Tatiana published it herself in both Russian and English.

Good morning, and Happy Friday! I had a nice little break this past week, during which I was able to catch up on a few things, experiment with some stitching ideas, start a non-embroidery-related project, and get some of my other ducks in a row. I hope you enjoyed the break, too!

As usual, I didn’t get as much as I thought I could get done, done. Isn’t that always the way of it?

Today, I’m going to show you an experiment with embroidery design transfer and laundry bluing. It involves the prick and pounce method of transfer that I demonstrate a while ago here, so if you’re not familiar with the basic techniques, you’re welcome to read that earlier article.

Prick and pounce – though a time consuming method of transfer – is a tried-and-true method. It results in an accurate transfer of your design, and it can be used on both light and dark fabrics. It is an especially useful method of transfer for large projects.

But let’s get on with the experiment!

Figures have played a dominant role in ecclesiastical embroidery since the Middle Ages.

During the era of Opus Anglicanum embroidery (1100’s through the end of the 1300’s), figures were the focal element of the style. The embroidering of saints and biblical figures to adorn vestments continued to develop after the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, beautiful figure embroidery mixed with exquisite goldwork developed in Belgium, especially, and also in Spain, Italy, and other parts of Europe.

Into and through the 1700’s, floral elements became more common on vestments and vesture. And by the Industrial Revolution of the mid-1800’s, figures – while still figuring in ecclesiastical embroidery – began to deteriorate, in some regards, as far as quality is concerned. The fully embroidered figure began to recede from the more common ecclesiastical use, and figures that were a combination of paint and embroidery began to emerge, in keeping with the trends and desires for quicker turnout in textile-related production.

Still, figure embroidery even today is part of ecclesiastical embroidery.

Here are a few images of figure embroidery that are relevant for today. If you haven’t ever seen pieces like these up close, hopefully you’ll find them as fascinating as I do!