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

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The Thread Color I Didn’t Think Of

 

Amazon Books

I have a hard time letting go of something that’s nagging me on an embroidery project. If it’s nagging me, I want to tackle it and correct it right away; otherwise, it hovers like my own personal little grey cloud, detracting from the rest of the embroidery.

And that’s what was happening with the outer outlines on the leaves on the Secret Garden Project. They were bugging me. I had determined to leave them until later.

But there they were, hovering. Nagging. Whispering. Constantly distracting me.

After eight failed attempts at settling on a color and a stitch for the outer leaf outlines, in steps an email from Margaret Vant Erve (if you’re not familiar with her embroidered landscapes, you should be!).

She suggested one of two options: a dark maroon or a mustard yellow. I had already tried a maroonish color, but yellow – yellow never occurred to me at all!

Secret Garden Embroidery: Leaf Outlines
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Thread Organization for Whole Sets of Embroidery Threads

 

In my workroom, I now have six eight- and ten-drawer cabinets that I use to store all my embroidery threads in.

The cabinets are not quite tall enough to support a table top at normal sitting height, so they are lifted on plinths so that they can support my work table. Three cabinets fit tidily at one end of the table, facing outward, and three fit at the other end, facing outward. Right now, the table is slightly smaller in depth than three cabinets side-by-side, but eventually, once the budget allows it, I’ll be-take myself to the lumberyard, where I’ll have a custom 6 foot long tabletop made to fit the depth of the cabinets.

At that point, my workroom thread storage and worktable set-up will be complete. The set-up didn’t happen overnight – it took me three years to acquire the cabinets, buying a couple each year from The Container Store, when they have their yearly sale (which made a difference of $70 per cabinet).

I’ve found the cabinets a great way to store my whole thread sets. But I still need to finish my inventory system! And that takes a little time!

But for those who don’t have space for cabinets, here’s a great way to organize and store a complete line of threads with a built in inventory system, so that you can easily see what you have and what you’re missing.

DMC StitchBow Insert for Embroidery Thread Organization
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Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples & Motifs – Books Review

 

Yes, Books Review. I’m going to review two books at once, because they’re both closely related, by the same author & publisher, and they’re both So Much Fun that they deserver never to be separated.

The books are Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples and Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples: Motifs by Yasuko Endo.

If you like embroidering with beads, if you like embroidering little things, if you like embroidering on paper for cards and such, if you like embroidering on crazy quilts, if you like embroidering samplers, if you like embroidering decorative edges, if you like embroidering… if you just like embroidering, I think you’ll like these books! They’ll inspire many an idea for embellishing with needle and thread and beads.

Bead Embroidery Stitch Samples & Motifs
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Lots of Green – and Some Stitch Mistakes, Too

 

Seems rather shoddy of me to pretend this is something special for St. Patrick’s Day. After all, I’ve been working with green thread for the past several weeks, and it really has nothing to do with March 17th. But happy St. Patrick’s Day, anyway!

The Secret Garden Project, in my mind, is awash with green. My plan for the piece has always been very green and lush. And with all those leaves in the design, it’s no wonder. The leaves beg for green.

Now, I know there are so very many shades of green out there, but I’m quite taken with these bright greens I’ve been working with so far on the project. I think it’s the springy green-ness of them that gets me. They’re just chipper, and they make me happy.

Green is a color that tends to put people in a good mood. That’s one of the reasons grocery stores put vegetables and flowers right near the front of the store, so you see them when you enter. It lifts the spirits.

On that note, here’s some green to lift your spirits, and a couple mistakes, too, to keep us all from getting too green-giddy.

Secret Garden Embroidery Project - Leaves
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Long & Short Stitch Shading on Leaves

 

The larger the leaf, the longer it takes to embroider it. I know that’s just common sense, and I know I should know that.

But when I started the long & short stitch shading on the large leaves at the base of the Secret Garden design, it seemed to take So Much Longer than I had anticipated. And that’s because long & short stitch on a large leaf is not the same as fishbone stitch on a small leaf.

I’m just loaded with all kinds of common sense today, am I not?

In reality, though, the large leaves didn’t take all that long – it’s just a matter of plugging away at them.

So, today, let’s go through the large leaves together, and allay all our fears of long & short stitch shading on these leaves, or anything similar on your own projects.

Secret Garden Embroidery: Long & Short Stitch Shading on Leaves
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NeedleArts – It’s a Gorgeous One!

 

Are you familiar with the Embroiderers’ Guild of America?

If you’re not, and you’ve embroiled yourself in what you believe will be a life-long love affair with hand embroidery, you should get acquainted with the EGA. It’s an organization that spans the continent of the US, and if you live near a major city (and even some minor-major cities), chances are, there’s a chapter close by.

Even if there’s not a chapter close by, you can always be what I am, a Member at Large – I’m not attached to nor do I participate in any particular chapter, but as a Member at Large, I can enjoy the benefits of being a member of the EGA.

One benefit is receiving the magazine NeedleArts. True, it’s not the greatest benefit, but I like this magazine more and more. And the current issue is a whopper!

NeedleArts Magazine EGA
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