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
September 9, 2017
Happy Saturday!
This morning, a little peruse through the needlework and embroidery bits from hither and yon that have come to my attention lately – to get you through your morning coffee!
Let’s go for a little browse, shall we?
September 7, 2017
Howdy-ho, friends! I hope your week is progressing wonderfully!
Remember last week, when I reviewed the custom wooden boxes for mounting embroidery, hand crafted by Mark Harris at Mythic Crafts?
Welllllll…. it’s time to spread the love a bit, with a give-away!
For the details, read on, read on!
September 5, 2017
Once upon a time, I started stitching an embroidery sampler that featured circles. I suppose you could call it, literally, a spot sampler.
I had a specific color scheme in mind for it, and a specific effect that I wanted to get across in the finished piece – combining texture and color in such a way that a particular mood or scene is suggested.
One day, I put the sampler aside. I had other projects to focus on. But, in the whole Sorting and Shifting going on perpetually in my workroom, I recently came across it again. So I figured I’d tell you a bit about it and chat in general about sampler stitching.
September 3, 2017
Howdy, folks!
I apologize for popping in unannounced on a Sunday afternoon, but this particular information is time sensitive, so I wanted to let you know today, so you can be ready tomorrow.
How would you like to have free access to all of Craftsy’s online hand embroidery classes for one day?
Tomorrow, September 4th, is All You Can Watch Day on Craftsy, which means you can access any of their online classes for free all day long, from your computer or from the browser on your tablet.
Now, I know you probably won’t spend the Whole Day streaming online embroidery classes, but it’s a great way to explore thoroughly any particular Craftsy classes that interest you.
Read on, and I’ll tell you what you have to do today, to get in on it tomorrow!
September 1, 2017
Do you ever wonder how to finish small embroidery projects to display them, aside from hanging them on a wall?
The combination of embroidery and boxes is not really a new concept. After all, embroidered boxes and box lids have been around for centuries and centuries!
Creating a fully embroidered box is often the work of many years, if not a whole life time. Instead, for smaller projects, there’s the option of mounting embroidery projects in the display lid of specially crafted wooden boxes.
And while there are several sources for mass-produced display boxes for embroidery (often made of wood composites and the like), if you want something Really Special and really beautiful, a hand-crafted, exquisitely finished, conscientiously detailed, solid wood display box is definitely the way to go!
Today, I’m going to show you two just such boxes, made by Mark at Mythic Crafts. You might remember he’s the guy who made this gorgeous and functional slate frame that I reviewed a while ago? Well, he’s now making a line of boxes – and making custom boxes, too – that are perfect for displaying small embroidery masterpieces.
Update, 2019: At this point in time, I’m cautioning folks about purchasing goods from Mythic Crafts. After a very successful crowd-funding campaign in January of 2018, many of the backers have still not received their goods from backing that campaign. I hope that Mythic Crafts is able to fulfill the orders made during the crowdfunding campaign, but until they do, I don’t recommend ordering from the company’s website.
Update, July 2019: Mythic Crafts is out of business.
August 30, 2017
I’m working on a little hand embroidery design that features embroidered scalloped edges.
I like scallops! While there are a number of ways to embroider scallops on a design, I have a favorite method that’s a bit of a “cheater” approach – it makes for very evenly spaced spokes on the scallops (if your scallops have spokes), resulting in a nice, neat little design edge.
In working this particular embroidery design, I wanted some of the scallops to feature a little picot, or extra little bump, right at the top of the scallop.
So let’s look at some approaches to embroidering scallops (one of which is an utter failure). I’ll show you how to add a picot to the top of a scallop, no matter which approach you take. Then I’ll show you my cheater approach to buttonhole-like scallops, without the buttonhole stitch.
August 28, 2017
Good morning!
Before we get any further in the series of Embroidery Archeology articles that cover salvaging ecclesiastical embroidery for re-use, I thought I’d set up an organizational structure for the series to make it easy to reference.
If you’re relatively new to Needle ‘n Thread, under the main menu on the website, you’ll find a section called Tips & Techniques. In that section, there’s a list right at the top of indexes for all kinds of series of articles here on Needle ‘n Thread. You’ll find projects that evolve step-by-step, as well as collections of lessons and tutorials.
This particular index for all the articles in this series on Embroidery Archeology can be found on that list, and each time I publish a new article on the topic, I’ll add it to the list below in chronological order from first to last in the series. This way, you can follow along at your leisure and refer back to the index whenever you need it.
