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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Needle ‘n Thread Technical Stuff: RSS Readers!

 

Amazon Books

For those of you who read Needle ‘n Thread via an RSS feed – and especially via Google Reader – I thought I’d address some technical issues that are coming up in the next month.

I don’t generally like writing about the technical side of blogging because it can be really boring for folks who aren’t interested in that kind of stuff. You’re here for an embroidery fix, after all – not for technical tips on using the internet!

But there’s a changes coming up, especially for those of you who read Needle ‘n Thread and other blogs through Google Reader, so I thought it might be a good time to address those changes.

Now, for those of you who read Needle ‘n Thread directly on the website or via the daily e-mail newsletter, this doesn’t necessarily apply. If you still want to have your morning coffee with me, read on. If not, I understand!

Reading Needle 'n Thread through RSS feed
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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Czech Inspired Folk Flowers

 

Here’s a free hand embroidery pattern for you, doodled up over the weekend. It is a slightly altered version of a design from an old book – resource below!

The embroidery pattern come about like this…

Step back to my childhood with me! Memorial Day weekend transports me to childhood. Those three day weekends at the beginning and end of the summer – Memorial Day and Labor Day, respectively – were reserved for certain family rituals.

And while most people were beginning or ending the summer with picnics and cook-outs, or enjoying the first or last summer fling of camping by the lake, or lining streets for parades while slurping snow cones or dissolving into sticky messes of cotton candy – not us! No, no! We had our own unique family ritual.

It was called “Cleaning the Garage,” and while it’s a family joke now, it has become a deep-seated kind of urge. Memorial Day weekend comes around, and I feel compelled to clean the garage.

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern
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Mission Rose: Leaves Accomplished – Rose … Getting There!

 

If you’re just popping in here on Needle ‘n Thread for the first time, we’re working our way through a hand embroidery project called “Mission Rose,” worked in silk (and eventually gold threads) on a silk ground. You can find all the articles relating to this project in the Mission Rose Index, if you’d like to follow along or catch up on the project.

Well, after a distressing series of mishaps with the little leaves around the rose, they’re finally finished. And I’ve moved on to the rose, which is a refreshing change from greens.

Let’s look at what happened with the leaves at last, and then see some progress on the rose.

Mission Rose Silk & Gold Embroidery Project
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Needle Tins – Store Your Needles in Style

 

There’s something about needlework accessories… something that compels us to buy them, use them, enjoy them.

When I first started embroidering as a kid, accessories were never part of the package. I didn’t even have real scissors at first. I remember biting my thread to cut it!

But as an adult, I’ve found that needlework accessories and specialty tools are part and parcel of my whole love affair with embroidery. However, I’m not prone to “collecting” them just for the sake of having them. They have to be useful. And if they’re attractive to boot – well, that’s just the best type of accessory, in my mind!

Today, I’d like to show you a new accessory on the market – one that I believe is useful, unique, and attractive. I love these little needle tins!

While we look at them, we’ll chat with Lamora Haidar of Access Commodities, who conceived the idea for the needle tins and had them made for distribution. We’ll learn a little bit about the whole needlework accessory market, how ideas come about and progress to a finished product, and glean a little insight to this love of accessories to which many embroiderers are prone.

Needle Tins
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Working with Soie de Paris (& Other Filament Silk)

 

Do you love the look and idea of stitching with fine silk threads, but are intimidated by working with them? Are you frustrated when you work with certain silk threads and wonder why the heck anyone would stitch with the stuff?

Today, I want to chat about silk embroidery thread, and specifically about filament silk embroidery threads, and even more specifically about Soie de Paris. Hopefully, through a discussion about these silk embroidery threads, we can allay frustrations and overcome Silk Thread Fear.

Soie de Paris Filament Silk Embroidery Threads
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