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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Secret Garden Embroidery Project: Preliminaries

 

Amazon Books

Or should I call this preliminary preliminaries? Whatever the case…

We’ll mark today as the official start date of this series on an embroidery project based on a design by Johanna Basford, from her book Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book, which I mentioned to you in December.

To start off, I’ll show you my preliminary steps in preparing to think about embroidering the design I chose from Secret Garden, and I’ll tell you what you can expect in this kind of step-by-step project development on Needle ‘n Thread.

Secret Garden Hand Embroidery Project
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From Embroidery to Wood – the Bayeux Tapestry

 

Being a lover of all things Bayeux-Tapestry-related, I think it’s ok to share this article with you, even though it’s technically not about embroidery.

Well, I take that back. It is about embroidery – it’s about how a piece of embroidery from a thousand years ago helped an artisan today.

The story comes from the Daily Mail online, and it tells of a wood carver who, to overcome the grief of losing his sixteen-year-old son, turned to the Bayeux tapestry – with carving tools.

Bayeux Tapestry in Wood
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Mission Rose: Corner Treatments & Finishing Touches

 

I finished the Mission Rose! But as usual, not exactly when I thought I would.

Last night at 5:30, I put the last stitches in. And then I sat back and breathed a big sigh of relief.

And then I realized it was dark. And too late to take good photos.

Today, I’ll show you how I treated the corners on the piece and added the last goldwork thread to outline the inner part of the outer frame. And Monday, I’ll show you the complete finished piece, good photos or not!

Mission Rose goldwork & silk embroidery project
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Introductions All Around – for All your Needlework Needs!

 

Since it’s still early in January, and since we’re heading into the weekend when you can take some time to do some browsing, today strikes me as an Excellent Day to introduce you to a very special set of needlework businesses.

Truly, taken as a whole, this group of embroidery-related businesses can supply your every needlework need, wish, want, desire!

Each business listed here offers something unique to the embroidery and needlework enthusiast. If you visit Needle ‘n Thread regularly, you’re bound to see their ads. These are my advertisers and they are, in a sense, hand selected. I only advertise for needlework businesses that are a good fit for Needle ‘n Thread, and whose goods and services I have experienced myself.

I know that they are quality businesses, and I hope that you will get to know them and find them as wonderful as I do!

So, without further ado, here’s my line-up of needlework advertisers on Needle ‘n Thread for 2014!

Needlework / Embroidery Shops, 2014
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Monogram Designs: Free Online Resources

 

For the past couple years, I’ve been on an unending quest to discover, read about, and explore everything I can on the subject of monograms.

Along the way, I’ve collected a bunch of links to online sources, built up a little collection of monogram-related images on Pinterest, and bought a bunch of out-of-print, in print, rare, and easy-to-find books on the subject.

In other words, I glutted on the whole monogram thing!

Paul over on BibliOdyssey – a blog on books and illustration which I follow pretty faithfully – wrote about one of my favorite old books this week. It’s called Monograms & Ciphers, by Albert Angus Turbayne, who was an American designer of books in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s.

Monograms & Ciphers by Turbayne
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A Shocking Blue Silk for the Mission Rose

 

Ahhhhh. I love this color of blue! But I’ve never had a chance to use this particular blue silk thread, because it just hasn’t worked in any of my projects.

So I was Positively Delighted when I realized that I could finally incorporate this almost-electric-looking deep blue into the Mission Rose project.

It might be a little shocking at first to see the color – you might be thinking She’s nuts, that color won’t work!… but bear with me here!

Mission Rose Silk and Goldwork Embroidery Project
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