About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

Connect with Mary

     

Archives

2025 (45) 2024 (135) 2023 (125) 2022 (136) 2021 (130) 2020 (132) 2019 (147) 2018 (146) 2017 (169) 2016 (147) 2015 (246) 2014 (294) 2013 (294) 2012 (305) 2011 (306) 2010 (316) 2009 (367) 2008 (352) 2007 (225) 2006 (139)
 

Gorgeous, Exuberant Crewel – Talliaferro is Back!

 

Amazon Books

For those of you who have been hanging out with me on Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you might recall a review I wrote about five years ago for the Royal Persian Blossom crewel embroidery instructional guide from Talliaferro Classic Needleart.

For those of you who are newer to the fold, if you haven’t seen that instructional guide, take a look at it! It’s worth a gander!

When that design first hit the market, I was thrilled! Here was traditional crewel embroidery, kicked up about a hundred notches into something new, something artistic, something fabulously exuberant, and yet worked in traditional crewel techniques, with wool.

Well, you’ll be most happy to know that Anna, the artist behind Talliaferro, has done it again, recently releasing a stunning new design called La Serenissima. Today, I want to show it to you and review the instructional guide for this gorgeous piece of modern, yet traditional, crewel embroidery.

La Serenissima crewel embroidery from Talliaferro Classic Needleart
Continue reading “Gorgeous, Exuberant Crewel – Talliaferro is Back!”

Big Beads, Little Stitches, and Levels of Embroidery

 

As you know, I’ve been working through Late Harvest – an embroidery design from Hazel Blomkamp that can be found in her book Crewel Intentions.

I’ve been making pretty decent progress on it (and having a lot of fun with it!), pretty much because it’s the only project I’ve got out right now.

While I’d like to be working on some other projects, and while I need to be working on some other projects, I find myself taking the Path of Least Resistance. It’s just easier to work on what’s right in front of me instead of going through the set-up phases on other projects.

One of these days, I’ll snap out of my Lazy Mode. But in the meantime, I justify it by telling myself that at least I’m getting something done with my needle and thread. Gosh, I’m good at justifying these things!

As I’ve worked through different parts of the project, I’ve found myself contemplating a few things. We’ve already discussed some of them, like changing the order of work.

In one prolonged moment of stitching reverie last week, I found myself contemplating the subject of levels of embroidery.

Late Harvest Embroidery Project - small flower element
Continue reading “Big Beads, Little Stitches, and Levels of Embroidery”

A Controversial Little Embroidery Tool that I Love

 

How can an embroidery tool be controversial?

Well, controversial might be an exaggeration – it’s not as if the use of a specific tool for a hobby is a matter of serious debate or anything, and a tool’s use is hardly a matter of principle on which we’d stake our lives.

But surprisingly, there’s one little tool that I think is super-handy for embroidery, that weighs in on a love-hate scale.

There are lots of people who use these tiny tools all the time, whose stitching lives wouldn’t be complete with them, while others avoid them with vehemence.

I fall on the side of over-use of them. I love ’em. I use ’em. I rarely stitch without ’em.

I present to you My Case in Favor of the Magnet.

Magnets for Needlework
Continue reading “A Controversial Little Embroidery Tool that I Love”

Stumpwork by Celeste Chalasani – An Overview & Design Tip

 

This morning, I’m excited to share with you a beautiful guest post for you from Celeste Chalasani.

Celeste will chat about what inspires her stumpwork projects and show us some of her favorite stumpwork embroidery pieces. She’ll also share a great design tip to help you come up with your own stumpwork designs. At the end of the article, you’ll find a discount link for Celeste’s class Stumpwork: Raised Embroidery Essentials on Craftsy, in case you want to explore three-dimensional stumpwork embroidery further.

So, prepare yourself for some gorgeous embroidery! To really enjoy the photos, feel free to click on them for larger versions. (All photos credited to Celeste Chalasani, except where noted.)

Celeste Chalasani Stumpwork Embroidery
Autumn Jewels (photo credit: Craftsy)
Continue reading “Stumpwork by Celeste Chalasani – An Overview & Design Tip”

Embroidery Frame vs. Embroidery Hoop – A Dilemma!

 

I have a dilemma. A Real Stitching Dilemma. And I’m hoping you can help me solve it!

If you’ve been reading Needle ‘n Thread a while, you’ve probably figured out that my Thing is surface embroidery of the free-style type. It’s what I love doing and what I do most, when it comes to needle-and-thread-related things.

But occasionally, I also enjoy a little foray into counted work.

Last year, I was challenged to undertake a very large counted project, one that will probably last years and years. I succumbed to the challenge, ordered the chart, accumulated and organized the 200 thread colors required, and prepared the fabric, so that I could at least get the gargantuan thing under way.

Vidal Madonna and Child in counted thread embroidery
Continue reading “Embroidery Frame vs. Embroidery Hoop – A Dilemma!”

Late Harvest: A Long Stumpwork Leaf & Some Tips

 

A Fabulous Friday all around! Today, I’ll show you some progress on Late Harvest, discuss some woes and triumphs, offer some tips that you might find helpful in your own embroidery pursuits, and beat myself over the head for some deliberate oversights.

For those of you just joining in here on Needle ‘n Thread, one of my latest Pleasure Projects – one of those projects I’m working through just for the fun of it – is Late Harvest, designed by Hazel Blompkamp and featured in her book Crewel Intensions, which I reviewed in depth here.

And Late Harvest IS fun! Even though I run into many self-induced snags along the way, it’s rather exhilarating to work my way out of them and to make up my mind how to attack similar situations later on.

It’s a particularly fun project, too, because there’s enough variety in it that you don’t get bored doing the same thing over and over again.

At the same time, there’s enough similarity among many of the elements that you really have the opportunity to improve on certain skills. I figure there’s always room for improvement in every path of life, including my embroidery. Anything that makes me better, I like! Even if the experience can be kind of grueling at the time!

So, here’s a recap on my latest jaunt with Late Harvest.

Late Harvest Embroidery Project - Stumpwork Leaves
Continue reading “Late Harvest: A Long Stumpwork Leaf & Some Tips”