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
June 17, 2014
If you’re traveling this summer and you happen to make it to London – or, more accurately, to Oxford – after the first of August, and if you’re a 17th century embroidery fan, you’ll not want to miss The Eye of the Needle exhibit at the Ashmolean!
June 16, 2014
I have A Thing for hand embroidered monograms. I love them – and it doesn’t matter whether they’re my initials or not. I just love them.
Embroidered monograms are popular these days. If you don’t believe me, search “embroidered monogram” on Pinterest, and you’ll come up with a whole slew of them – enough to keep you busy browsing for hours!
So I was delighted to receive several emails from readers here on Needle ‘n Thread who have been dabbling with embroidered monograms in a variety of styles, and it is my pleasure to share these masterpieces with you!
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Here’s the first one:
June 14, 2014
It’s time to add a new monogram alphabet for hand embroidery to the embroidery patterns page!
I love this particular alphabet! It’s from the late 1800’s – early 1900’s (it came out in two different editions of a French publication). I’ve cleaned it up and added the missing letters from the alphabet (I and W… or was it J and W?).
Often, in old publications that offered alphabets for hand embroidery, certain letters were left out.
Sometimes, it was the I or J, because they can be interchanged for each other. Sometimes, the W was left out, because the M could be flipped. Sometimes, the alphabets are missing X’s or Z’s – maybe because there aren’t as many people out there whose names begin with X and Z? Or perhaps because, in the particular language in which the embroidery pamphlet was printed, the letter didn’t figure as a common letter for the beginning of names?
Whatever the case, eventually, the complete alphabet will be available here on Needle ‘n Thread. We’ll start with A, B, and C.
June 13, 2014
Today, I’m sharing with you some fishy embroidery from Needle ‘n Thread readers.
Now, just so you know, fishy is not meant in any dubious way! I literally mean fishy, as in fish-related embroidery.
Since it’s summer here in the States and a perfect time to think of beaches, rivers, lakes, water, and sunshine, I thought I’d group these three contributions together in a fish-related theme.
June 12, 2014
Hazel Blomkamp has done it again! If you fell in love with Crewel Twists, Hazel’s first book published in 2012, you’re going to love her new book, Crewel Intentions, too!
In Crewel Twists, Hazel introduced us to her unique and colorful approach to surface embroidery. Incorporating beads, a huge variety of stitches and filling techniques and various types of threads, her embroidery designs are Jacobean flavored with a decidedly signature look to them.
She carries this forward in Crewel Intentions by combining the same approaches found in Crewel Twists, with a few new twists!
June 11, 2014
Speaking of tea and embroidery and continuing with embroidery by others influenced by Needle ‘n Thread (SUI – Stitching Under the Influence?), today we’re going to look at an embroidered tea cozy.
For those who don’t know what a tea cozy is (it’s true – tea cozies are not so common in the US, more pity to us), it’s a cover for a tea pot that helps keep the tea pot warm.
Asia wanted to make a tea cozy and she wanted to make it super special, so she decided to embroider it.
June 10, 2014
Hello, Stitching World!
Today, let’s chat about beginner embroidery supplies.
I answer questions about beginner embroidery supplies very frequently. I thought this might be a way to compile some simple answers in one place and to open the topic up to other stitchers who can contribute some good advice.
