October 15, 2016
Your Weekend Entertainment a la Erica Wilson
Erica Wilson was an embroiderer, designer, teacher, and businesswoman who hailed from Britain but lived here in the US from … Continue reading Your Weekend Entertainment a la Erica Wilson
October 13, 2016
Autumn & Late Harvest Embroidery
It’s finally autumn in Kansas. The nights are chilly, and the days can’t decide between chilly and warm. The skies are a mesmerizing deep blue. The trees are changing. The gnats are swarming (sort of ruins the picture, doesn’t it?), and the year is ticking to a slow close.
With the harvest going on all around me, my thoughts naturally have turned back to Late Harvest, an embroidery project that I started eons ago and that’s finally ticking to a close, too.
When last we looked at this project, the right side was completely finished and I had finished most of the stitching on the left side. I still had one large leaf and two small flowers to work, along with all the beadwork on the stems and the leaves.
Well, the other day, I put my fingers to it and got down to work on the last stitching on Late Harvest, and here are the results.
October 11, 2016
How to Tame a Big Hank of Floche
Oooooh, you’re excited! You just bought a new skein of embroidery thread!
You can’t wait to try it for the first time!
You take it home.
You cut into it.
You pull a strand, you cut a piece, you stitch a bit, and you reach for the skein again.
Where is that dagblasted end?!
You find it. You pull. And then it happens.
A Nightmare Mass of interlocking, intertwining, interconnected, angry thread mushrooms forth with every inch you pull from the skein.
Excitement turns quickly to consternation, and consternation to downright frustration.
Before you know it, you’ve got a huge, convoluted jumble of thread rupturing from your lap.
I’m guessing this has probably happened to you before. I know it’s happened to me more times than I can count. And it’s always frustrating!
October 8, 2016
Needlework Terminology: Surface Embroidery
Grab your morning cuppa and let’s have a chat about surface embroidery!
Terminology can be a huge source of confusion for beginning embroiderers, and even for stitchers who have been plying the needle for years.
While there are lots of terminology lists with short definitions out there, I’ve always found that the one-line definition of A Thing doesn’t always do that Thing justice.
For example, take the term “surface embroidery.”
Wikipedia (which, next to Google, is apparently The Source of All Instant Knowledge) defines surface embroidery as “any form of embroidery in which the pattern is worked by the use of decorative stitches and laid threads on top of (their emphasis) the foundation fabric or canvas rather than through the fabric; it is contrasted with canvas work.”
The Wizard of Wiki goes on to explain: “Much free embroidery is also surface embroidery, as are a few forms of counted thread embroidery such as cross stitch.”
And then, a list of forms of surface embroidery is presented: appliqué, art needlework, crewel embroidery, cross stitch, goldwork, Jacobean embroidery, stumpwork.
To a beginner, that’s probably about as clear as mud. To a non-beginner, it still presents a few problems. Let’s chat about it a bit!
October 5, 2016
Coloris Kaleidoscope: A Colorful Hand Embroidery Project
Well, hello there!
Ready for a really colorful, super-fun hand embroidery project?
The concept for these hand embroidered kaleidoscopes that I’ve been playing with this year developed from a combination of inspirations and ideas: the whole adult coloring book craze, the desire to embroider with lots of lively color, and the addictive practice of doodling repeat geometric designs.
Earlier this year, the folks at Commonthread by DMC sent me a set of their new thread line, Coloris, and I agreed to work up a project and write an article about it for them. You can find my overview of the Coloris line here, and a handy chart of DMC floss colors that correspond with Coloris here.
October 3, 2016
Two Stitches, Two Threads, & Done Today
Just a quick little post this morning to show you a really simple, but pretty, approach to an embroidered monogram, using just two stitches and two skeins of floss.
It’s so simple you can finish it in a day!
And I don’t mean you have to stitch all day, either – tops, it’s about a three hour project.
Here’s all the information, with links to tutorials that will help you whip up this pretty monogram in a short time, with few supplies!
September 30, 2016
Welcome Home!
Throughout my whole life, whenever anyone walked into our home – be it stranger or friend, seldom seen or always around – my Dad always greeted every visitor the same way:
Welcome home!
Mom and Dad wanted our home to feel like their home. They wanted every visitor to be at home.
And to this very day, my dad still greets every visitor the same way: a warm handshake, a big smile, and a hearty Welcome Home!
Today, I want to welcome you home the same way – to my new online home, right here at Needle ‘n Thread!
