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

Contact Mary

Connect with Mary

     

Archives

2025 (72) 2024 (135) 2023 (125) 2022 (136) 2021 (130) 2020 (132) 2019 (147) 2018 (146) 2017 (169) 2016 (147) 2015 (246) 2014 (294) 2013 (294) 2012 (305) 2011 (306) 2010 (316) 2009 (367) 2008 (352) 2007 (225) 2006 (139)
 

Mission Rose: Goldwork Outlines

 

Amazon Books

This whole Mission Rose project has me a little bit excited – I love seeing an embroidery project come together! I’m dying to get on to the goldwork around the frame of the piece!

But before I can move to the outside, I have to finish the inside. Isn’t that always the way of it? It’s another case of “dinner before dessert”…

After finishing the filling on the large leaves, the next step is doing all the outline work on the rest of the rose part of the design. So here it is – the goldwork outlines on the lower part of the rose stem and around the large leaves.

Mission Rose Embroidery Project in Goldwork and Silk Embroidery
Continue reading “Mission Rose: Goldwork Outlines”

Victoria Classics: Monograms – A Review

 

Are you a magazine person? I’m only sometimes a magazine person.

There is only one magazine I subscribe to regularly – Inspirations Magazine. If you only ever subscribe to one needlework magazine, let it be Inspirations. It is gorgeous. Each issue is a book of fine needlework projects, instructions, and insight.

Occasionally, I’ll pick up Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly as well. It’s a good magazine, of special interest to those who like topics related to historic embroidery.

But now and then (pretty rarely these days), I come across a magazine at a newsstand or bookstore that catches my eye. I like meandering through a good magazine while sitting on the front porch, or while whiling away passenger hours on a road trip or a long commute. But it has to be a beautiful magazine – one that delights the eye and feeds the mind – and one that doesn’t bombard the reader with really annoying ads on every other page.

Recently, Hoffman Publishing put out a special issue of Victoria Classics on Monograms. Well, given the subject matter, and given the fact that Victoria Magazine is generally a beautiful magazine, I couldn’t resist! So here’s a review of the special issue, so that you can decide if you want a copy, too!

Victoria Classics: Monograms
Continue reading “Victoria Classics: Monograms – A Review”

Mission Rose: Curls & Leaves

 

With the goldwork on the main rose on the Mission Rose project finished, I moved on to the curlicues on the side of the rose, and then onto the large leaves.

Before I delve into a deep explanation (there actually isn’t one) of why I did the leaves the way I did them, I should probably remind everyone again that this is a stylized design. That is, it’s not supposed to look real.

And. Uh. It doesn’t.

Mission Rose Goldwork Embroidery
Continue reading “Mission Rose: Curls & Leaves”

What’s a Scissor Pull?

 

One of the projects in my e-book Lavender Honey & Other Little Things is an embroidered scissor pull.

The term “scissor pull” garnered a lot of questions. What’s a scissor pull? How do I use it? Why do I need one?

It occurred to me that maybe you know it by a different name, like retractable scissor leash.

I call it a scissor pull because it’s something you hang your scissors on and… pull.

Scissor Pull Continue reading “What’s a Scissor Pull?”

Mission Rose: Large Rose Finished

 

Last time we visited the Mission Rose project, I was almost finished with the goldwork on the central rose. Well, I haven’t moved ahead as much as I’d like, as Life keeps interrupting in unpredictable ways.

Still, I always figure Some Progress is better than No Progress. No matter how little, progress is always progress, and it keeps us moving towards an eventual completion, right? 15 minutes here or there, squeezed in whenever you can, might be all the time you have to work on something, but those short bouts of stitching add up!

(Yes, I’m just trying to make myself feel better for not having more to show you!)

Mission Rose Goldwork Embroidery Project
Continue reading “Mission Rose: Large Rose Finished”

Embroidery Iron-on Transfer Book – Tres Nice!

 

I don’t often use iron-on transfers for hand embroidery. I’m more of a trace-your-pattern sort of gal, or transfer it in other ways, depending on the project. But good iron-on patterns have their place, and they are a Very Convenient way to get an embroidery design onto a piece of fabric.

The problem is, there’s not that great of a variety of embroidery designs available as iron-on patterns. There are, of course, the Aunt Martha iron-ons which have been around for a long time. And there are the fun-and-funky, very trendy Sublime Stitching (and similar) designs, for craft embroidery.

But for other types of general surface embroidery designs that are a little more classic and will withstand the test of time, it’s somewhat difficult to find iron-on transfers. Generally, if I’m looking for iron-on transfers that fall into this category, I look for them abroad among the French and the Italians. (For example, these Mani di Fata iron-on transfers from Italy or these iron-on transfers from Mains et Merveilles of France.)

And that brings us to the book I want to show you. DMC France has a book out that is jam-packed with a huge variety of embroidery designs in iron-on-transfer form. It’s called Fleurs en Transferts or Flower Transfers.

Fleurs en Transferts: Iron-on Floral Transfers for Embroidery
Continue reading “Embroidery Iron-on Transfer Book – Tres Nice!”