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
September 5, 2013
After posting this exuberant flower embroidery pattern a couple weeks ago, and this openwork flower embroidery pattern last week, I received some questions from readers about old needlework catalogs and gleaning patterns from them.
So I pulled out my copy of the old Herrschner’s catalog from the first decade of the 1900’s to illustrate some points on developing line drawings that are suitable for hand embroidery patterns.
September 4, 2013
Are you a thread parker? I am!
Parking your embroidery threads is a great way to save time and thread. If you’re not sure what “parking” means, I’ll show you!
Thread parking varies from project to project. On some projects, you might not need to park your threads. On other projects – especially projects that involve a lot of color packed into a small space (think needlepainting projects, very complex cross stitch projects, and the like) – you might have anywhere from two to a dozen or more threads parked at a time.
September 3, 2013
Treasures of Ancient Yaroslavl is a book that features gorgeous embroideries from the Yaroslavl region of Russia.
The city of Yaroslavl, founded at the end of the first millennium, is located some 150 miles north of Moscow on the Volga River. It has a strong tradition of textile arts, including those relating to icon embroidery and pearl embroidery.
If you’ve been reading Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you may remember these examples of pearl and goldwork embroidery by Russian embroiderer Larissa Borodich. Perusing the fantastic photos in Treasures of Ancient Yaroslavl, you’ll discover that this combination of pearl and goldwork to embellish religious art is an ancient tradition in Russia, and Yaroslavl is home to many exquisite examples of this work.
September 2, 2013
Labor Day weekend always marks the official end of summer in my mind.
Given the fact that the summer temperatures still soar here in Kansas until well into September, I’m not really sure why that is. I suspect that it has to do with the fact that, when I was growing up, the new school year started after Labor Day. And then there was the “white shoe rule,” that unwritten rule (or maybe it was written?) that said you shouldn’t wear white shoes after Labor Day, since it wasn’t summer anymore. Remember that?
Both of those points are pretty much defunct now. Schools start well before Labor Day and white shoes seem to be fair game any time.
Still, I like to have something to officially mark the end of summer. And this year, that something is the End of a Project.
August 31, 2013
Here’s a free hand embroidery pattern for you – a design that would make a great piece for practicing openwork fillings, like the kind used in different types of pulled thread and drawn thread embroidery, Schwalm whitework, and the like.
Of course, the design can be used for any type of surface of work, too. Feel free to experiment!
August 30, 2013
The other day, I received a nice email from a reader who explained an embroidery problem that was perplexing her. This is her note:
Whenever I want to stitch small leaves on an embroidery project, I’m always stumped. The only stitch that comes to mind is the single chain stitch [detached chain, or daisy stitch], but I really want to add a little more variety to my projects. Do you have any recommendations for stitching leaves?
Since leaves have been on my to-do list for a while now, there’s no time like the present! So today, I’d like to kick off a series-within-a-series. As part of the Stitch Fun series here on Needle ‘n Thread, we’re going to look at a variety of ways to create individual embroidered leaves, using stitches other than the detached chain stitch.
First up, fly stitch leaves!
August 29, 2013
The other day, we looked at this fantastic piece of goldwork embroidery by Cristina Badillo. When Cristina sent the piece off to Larissa, who commissioned it, she sent along some samples of the various gold threads in the piece.
Larissa, understanding my inordinate infatuation with goldwork threads, generously shared some cuttings with me, and today, I want to share them with you, virtually.
I like to examine embroidery threads from different countries, especially goldwork threads. Here in the States, most of our goldwork threads come from England and Japan, but there are other goldwork thread manufacturers in other parts of the world, too; looking at these threads may give us a broader perspective on goldwork and may also help those who are interested come up with resources in their own countries or in other countries.
