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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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Monograms on the Brain – and Good Lighting for Needlework!

 

Amazon Books

Now that Lavender Honey & Other Little Things is finished and available, it’s time to move on to some embroidery projects that have been weighing on my mind. And some of those projects involve monograms.

I am a lover of decorative initials and monograms. And they don’t even have to be mine! I don’t care what initials they are! I love monograms and decorative initials, and I love, love, love them when they are hand embroidered. It’s that marriage of hand embroidery and lettering, I suppose….

Monogrammed Guest Towel
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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Dots & Flowers – A Swashy Doodle

 

Here’s a free little hand embroidery pattern for you that came about in a typical way.

Why “typical”? Because I think a lot of people do this – or they do it more than they realize. I call it phone doodling. And I do it all the time.

While cleaning up my desk the other day, I came across several scraps and notes that were phone doodled. They happen when I’m on the phone. Sometimes, they happen when I’m chatting with a visitor at the kitchen table (isn’t that what paper napkins are for?).

I saw this particular doodle and I thought of two specific things that could happen with it, with embroidery.

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Dots & Flowers
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Transferring Embroidery Designs with Spray Starch

 

Last week when I reviewed the LightPad for transferring embroidery designs, I mentioned that I’ve transferred 52 monograms in the past month-ish. This generated a lot of questions, but the most common one was about the transfer process itself.

What do you use to trace monograms (or any patterns) onto linen, if the monogram is going to be laundered. Should the transfer be permanent? What if you can’t cover it up?…. Lots of questions about tracing designs.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this tip before on Needle ‘n Thread, but if not, I should have! It deserves its own article, its very own space in cyberspace.

Spray Starch for Transferring Embroidery Designs
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Stitch Fun: Velvet Stitch – Some More Fluff!

 

Last week, we delved into the fun of creating fluffy stitches by examining Victorian Tufting, a technique involving layers of herringbone stitch which are cut and then fluffed up to create a dimensional pile on the embroidery surface.

Today, just for the fun of it, let’s look at another fluffy stitch. This one is called velvet stitch, and although it’s more often seen in canvas work, it can also be used in surface embroidery.

Velvet Stitch - Dimensional, Fluffy Embroidery Stitch
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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Art Nouveau & Variations

 

I’m calling this free hand embroidery pattern Art Nouveau, although it doesn’t quite have all the qualities of an Art Nouveau design. I think the reason Art Nouveau came to mind was because this is a pattern from an old catalog from the early 1900’s.

This was originally a cushion pattern, and the full embroidery design could certainly be used in the same way. But what I like about this particular design is that it can be taken apart fairly easily and reconstructed into different design schemes. It can be rendered in embroidery in many different ways.

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Art Nouveau
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