February 14, 2024

Hardanger Filling Stitches – Review & Pre-Order

Here in the US, the time is drawing near for the release of Yvette Stanton’s newest needlework book, Hardanger Filling Stitches! Yay!

This is a book I’ve been anticipating ever since I heard she was writing it! So I’m pretty excited it’s almost here, and I’m even more excited to be able to offer it to you through my shop, where you can pre-order it now for shipment in the first week of March.

Hardanger Filling Stitches is everything you could want in an instructional book on Hardanger fillings, from traditional to contemporary. If you are a Reticello enthusiast, you will immediately recognize that the filling techniques covered in the book can apply equally well to Reticello and other forms of gridded cutwork that produce a lace-like effect.

Let’s take a look at the book up close…

Hardanger Filling Stitches by Yvette Stanton

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February 9, 2024

Purple Posy Materials Kits are Here!

Today’s the day! Wooohooo! I am So Excited about launching Purple Posy and getting started with the stitch-along!

There’s nothing better than getting a project going, is there? And I love it when we have a project going together. It’s fun to be a little more “connected” as we work through the stitch-along, don’t you think?

Besides launching the kit for Purple Posy today, I have some other technical news for you having to do with small changes in Needle ‘n Thread operations, so please read on so that you’re not taken by surprise.

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February 7, 2024

My Current Bullion Knot Frenzy

I’ve been experimenting with a different, new-to-me method for making bullion knots.

It came about this way:

A couple inquiring minds directed me to a reel on Instagram and asked me to explain to them what was going on in the reel and what the resulting stitch was. They thought it looked like a bullion knot, but it didn’t seem to be made like a bullion knot.

Subtly, there’s more than one aspect to their question at work here, which I plan to explore further down the road. It will be fun to delve deep into all facets of their question, because without knowing it, they’re proposing a couple different really interesting topics related to embroidery stitches.

Experimenting with a different bullion knot method

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February 2, 2024

Introducing Purple Posy, a Tape Measure Cozy!

At the end of next week, I’ll be launching the kits for the first Stitch Snippet stitch-along of 2024. I’m very excited about it, and I hope you are, too!

Stitch Snippets is a series of stitch-alongs here on Needle ‘n Thread. The instructions are offered here on the website for free, for you to follow along at your own pace. If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you’ll receive all the lessons for the stitch-along in a downloadable and printable PDF format, along with other little bits of instruction that we’ll talk about along the way.

With every stitch-along, my goal is to offer a project that results in something finished and ready to use or display. So whether the embroidery project results in a small framed piece for display (like Autumn Fire) or a needle and scissor wallet (like Cotton Quartet) or a bead-embroidered pincushion (like the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion), at the end of the whole step-by-step process, you’ll have a finished piece of embroidery that you can be mighty pleased with!

This approach will not only help you learn different aspects of embroidery, but it will also increase your confidence in finishing your own embroidery into beautiful and useful items.

Without further ado, then, I’d like to introduce you to Purple Posy, a tape measure cozy.

It’s a fun Snippet, with all kinds of great learning aspects to it!

Read on, and I’ll tell you what you can expect…

Stitch Snippet: Purple Posy Tape Measure Cozy

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January 31, 2024

This Just In: Life in Seasons!

Today, I’m going to review a gorgeous new book that’s just arrived in the studio – Nicola Jarvis’s Life in Stitches, Volume 1: Winter / Spring. It’s our first new book in the shop this year, and I’m excited to share it with you!

At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the book. I am familiar with Nicola’s style and approach to embroidery, but I wasn’t sure how it would come across in a printed volume.

If you’re already familiar with Nicola’s work, you know that her “signature look” lately features artistically rendered wildlife and floral combinations. She is an artist, and her embroidery projects are imbued with her exceptional qualities as an artist, foremost.

Life in Seasons is a project and instructional book, but it’s also a very personal book. The author really transports the reader into her world and into her artistic life. And because of this, I find the book exceptionally unique and compelling.

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January 29, 2024

Fire & Thread: What’s a Burn Test?

Have you ever come across a stray piece of fabric or an labeled skein or spool of thread and wondered what type of fabric or thread it was?

Sometimes, you can know just by looking. But sometimes you can’t. Especially if blends are involved, discerning a type of thread or fabric can be tricky.

To help me figure out what an unlabeled or thread might be made of, I usually resort to a burn test. A burn test involves igniting fibers to see how they burn and behave. This is something you can do at home with a few simply tools.

The more you burn test different fibers, the more you’ll get a better notion of what to look for in the burn, the ash, and the smell, to help you discern particular fiber content.

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January 26, 2024

Embroidered Writing – My Favorite Stitches for It

It’s happening again!

I’m getting lots of emails lately about embroidered writing – which has me thinking that there’s either a big project going on out there somewhere involving embroidered text, or embroidering hand-written text is becoming trendy again on the social media waves.

I always know Something is Up out there somewhere, when I get an influx of email asking basically the same questions. Sometimes, it happens with particular stitches that are featured in sped-up reels that are hard to follow; sometimes, it’s a technique that’s being used in a kit that’s gone viral. Or sometimes, it’s just something that’s become trendy again.

In this case, I’ve had quite a few questions about embroidering hand writing.

I wrote this series of tutorials for embroidering lettering and handwriting eons ago, but that series doesn’t include my now-favorite stitch for this type of embroidery, so if you’re interested in embroidering handwriting or text, I’ll point you to some tutorials below.

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

Hardanger Filling Stitches – Review & Pre-Order

Purple Posy Materials Kits are Here!

My Current Bullion Knot Frenzy

Introducing Purple Posy, a Tape Measure Cozy!

This Just In: Life in Seasons!

Fire & Thread: What’s a Burn Test?

Embroidered Writing – My Favorite Stitches for It

Connect with Mary

How-To Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos