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
May 2, 2014
Earlier this week, I reviewed this very instructive and thorough Hedebo embroidery book – Guida al Ricamo Hedebo – and today, compliments of Stephania Bressan, I’m giving away a copy.
If you’d like a chance to win your own copy to add to your needlework library, read on…
May 1, 2014
When it comes to learning a new embroidery technique or improving your skills in a technique, I think one of the best ways to learn, short of private classes, is to work a kit designed by an expert in that particular technique.
I never hesitate to recommend stitchers to various designers around the world who provide excellent instruction through their embroidery kits.
When it comes to authentic crewel work, Phillipa Turnbull’s Crewel Work Company, located in the UK, produces beautiful, historical crewel kits replete with all the right materials and excellent instructions.
During May, Phillipa is offering something special to readers here on Needle ‘n Thread – an excellent way to learn crewel work, with an extra component beyond a kit. Read on, read on…
April 30, 2014
Hedebo embroidery is a type of whitework originating in Denmark, perhaps as early as the 15th century (according to Flora Klickmann in The Cult of the Needle).
Hedebo is unique style of whitework, in that it involves seven distinct types of stitched elements in its composition, each type being added to the general make up of Hedebo over time as Hedebo developed and evolved. What began as stylized, rather stiff geometric drawn thread embroidery eventually evolved in the early 1800’s to a freer type of openwork ornamented with satin stitch, cutwork, and needle lace.
Today, we associate Hedebo mostly with cutwork and needlelace, as these make up a recognizable part of most Hedebo embroidery.
Guida al Ricamo Hedebo, or Guide to Hedebo Embroidery, by Laura Marzorati and Stefania Bressan, is an excellent beginner’s guide to the basics (and beyond!) of Hedebo. Here’s a closer look at the book.
April 29, 2014
Last month, I spent a day playing with silk threads. These silk threads, as a matter of fact.
Last week, I finished up some thread organization with the very same silk threads, which are from The Silk Mill.
April 28, 2014
Ever since Friday afternoon, I’ve had a song stuck in my head. It goes something like this, to the tune of “On the Road Again”:
The Green is Done. I’m so happy that the Green is Done. It took forever to stitch all that Green. But now it’s over and the Green is Done…
It doesn’t really work rhythmically with the song, except in my own tuneless, rhythm-less way of singing.
Are you glad this isn’t an audio-blog? (Trust me, you’re glad…)
April 26, 2014
From 1809-1829, during the Regency era, Rudolph Ackerman published a periodical called the Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics, or, for short (thankfully!) Ackermann’s Repository.
Ackermann’s Repository can serve as a nice source of free hand embroidery designs, and today, I’ll show you how to access the designs easily.
So grab a cup of coffee and join me for a browse through a fascinating piece of history!
April 25, 2014
