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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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    Over 75 Embroidery Stitch Videos to Help You Learn

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September 3, 2025

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 6: The Finish!

 

Amazon Books

Welcome to the last installment of Garden Swirl, wherein we mount the finished embroidery project in the lid of the decorative box. Woohoo!

For those who are just coming upon this stitch-along, you can find all the previous installments of Garden Swirl available here in the Garden Swirl Project Index.

You can also find a materials kit (with everything you need to stitch the project – including the design pre-transferred for you on fine linen twill) – and the decorative box to mount the project in – available here in the shop. Get the kits before they’re gone, as they won’t be back in stock in this format again.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon, you already have this information in the handy-dandy downloadable and printable PDF that was posted for you yesterday.

Let us commence with the final steps…

Garden Swirl - finishing and mounting in box lid
Continue reading “Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 6: The Finish!”

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August 28, 2025

Line Stitches to Use for Filling

 

If you’ve ever browsed through a stitch dictionary, you’ve probably noticed that embroidery stitches are often arranged according to the job they do.

Line stitches, for example, are stitches that work up in lines – and this is where you’ll find stitches like backstitch, stem stitch, split stitch, and chain stitch.

Filling stitches fill up spaces. Here’s where you’ll find satin stitch and long & short stitch, lattice fillings and the like.

But there’s no hard and fast rule that says line stitches can’t be used as filling stitches – and sometimes, a line stitch is really the best option for filling up a design area.

Today, let’s look at a few examples of how line stitches can be used to fill spaces on an embroidery project.

Stem stitch filling on a monogram
Continue reading “Line Stitches to Use for Filling”

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

August 26, 2025

Garden Swirl 5: Finishing the Embroidery

 

It seems as if Tuesday is becoming my new Monday, thanks to what I like to call The Upheavals of Life. Hopefully, there will be some Downheavals soon. Thanks for your patience!

Last week, we finished up the major flowers and centers on Garden Swirl, the current stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread. Today, we’re going to finish up all the embroidery and prepare the embroidery for the finish work of mounting the embroidery in the box lid.

If you are new to the Garden Swirl stitch-along, you’ll find all the previous installments of this project – including design, materials list, and instructional content – listed here in the Garden Swirl Project Index.

Garden Swirl 5: Finishing the Embroidery
Continue reading “Garden Swirl 5: Finishing the Embroidery”

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August 21, 2025

Blues: Experimenting and Shading on Embroidered Lettering

 

Lately, I’ve been sharing progress and thought processes, designing process, and so forth on this embroidered maniturgium that I wrote about here.

I’ve made a little progress, and I’m into the stitching now. There are always adjustments to make, and there’s always the battle against persnicketiness, but at some point, on projects like this, you just have to take the leap, make a decision, and start, trusting that, overall, the idea will work out.

So I started.

Shading embroidered letters
Continue reading “Blues: Experimenting and Shading on Embroidered Lettering”

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

August 19, 2025

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 4: Flowers & Centers

 

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday in Kansas – a little later start to the week than intended, but here we are.

Today, we’re going to move forward on Garden Swirl, our current stitch-along on Needle ‘n Thread. We’re almost finished with the embroidery. It’s a little project and it goes pretty quickly, but the nice thing about a stitch-along is that you can work it at your own pace.

If you’re not quite caught up, that’s ok! You’ll find all the lessons for this project listed here in the Garden Swirl Project Index, so that you can catch up at your leisure.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon, you have already received these instructions in PDF format, for easy download and printing. You have everything you need right now to finish the embroidery on the project.

If you would like a materials kit for Garden Swirl – with the design pre-transferred for you on beautiful, fine white linen twill – you can find those kits available here.

If you would like a decorative box for mounting Garden Swirl (along with the finishing supplies for mounting in the box lid), you’ll find those available here.

Garden Swirl: Flowers & Centers
Continue reading “Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 4: Flowers & Centers”

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August 13, 2025

Voided Monograms – and Other Good News!

 

Today is a Milestone Day here in the studio!

After I-Don’t-Know-How-Many-Years (ok, I do – it’s been 9 years ago this very month!), I have finally completed the design collection and stitching guide for Voided Monograms!

Now, it’s true. I haven’t been working on this for nine years running. But sometimes, it feels as if I have!

I’m excited to make this new PDF – Voided Monograms: Design Collection & Stitch Guide – available to you! Many people have asked for it over the years, and at long last, here it is!

These voided monograms are packed with color, stitches, texture – everything that’s fun about embroidery – and a lot of leeway for your own creative input and manipulation. They’re great fun to stitch, they will teach you all kinds of lessons and help you hone your embroidery skills, or simply allow you to relax and stitch your heart out!

Voided Monograms: A Design Collection with Stitching Tips and Instructions
Continue reading “Voided Monograms – and Other Good News!”

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

August 11, 2025

Garden Swirl 3: A Few More Flowers

 

Happy Monday!

Today, we’re going to move right along on Garden Swirl, by stitching a few more flowers on the piece.

If you’re just joining in on the stitch-along, you can find the Garden Swirl Project Index here. There, you’ll find all the previous installments, including design and materials, listed in chronological order.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received today’s lesson last week, in a downloadable PDF format. If you haven’t picked that up yet, hop over to my Patreon page, where you’ll find it listed under “Collections” in the main menu.

Garden Swirl stitch along 3: more flowers
Continue reading “Garden Swirl 3: A Few More Flowers”