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
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
April 13, 2013
Last week, I introduced you to a new embroidery project I’ll be working through here on Needle ‘n Thread, called Mission Rose.
So far, we’ve looked at fabric choices for the ground fabric, transferring the embroidery design to the ground fabric, and framing up the fabric to get it ready for stitching.
Here’s the pattern I’m using for Mission Rose, in case you want to follow along on the project.
April 12, 2013
I’m always excited to share products that I think can improve the embroiderer’s life, especially when the improvement has to do with seeing our needlework better. I’d like to introduce you to a tool – a tool that can change the way you look at your embroidery. And I mean that literally!
Craftoptics are an incredible tool for people who do detail work – any kind of detail work – but they are especially wonderful for those of us who have vision problems and need to use magnification when doing embroidery.
Imagine small binoculars (or two jeweler’s loupes) that magnify your work considerably. Add a directional light beam that brightens up your work surface, and imagine both of these effects – good magnification and bright light – without a bulky magnifier positioned between you and your needlework. That’s what you get from Craftoptics.
April 11, 2013
I love chain stitch! It is So Very Versatile. From using it as a line stitch or as a filling stitch, to whipping the chain stitch and lacing it, to working buttonhole stitch across rows of it… there’s just a lot you can do with chain stitch.
When stitches work together in happy combinations, they make me happy! And this stitch combination – chain stitch + buttonhole stitch – works particularly well together, to make a sweet little scalloped edge.
April 10, 2013
Yesterday, we looked at the beginnings of a new embroidery project that I’ll be writing about here on Needle ‘n Thread over the next few… well, probably months rather than weeks! The project is called Mission Rose, and we’ll be working through it together intermittently, covering techniques and tips and mistakes and fixes and all that kind of stuff.
With the design for Mission Rose hammered out, and the ground fabric choices made and the fabrics prepped, it’s time to look at design transfer methods and framing up. I’ll also do my best to answer some questions that came in after yesterday’s article covering the start of the piece and ground fabric choices.
The topics of design transfer and framing up are open to interpretation. Keep in mind that this is just how I do these things. You might have a better way that works for you, and that’s just fine. In situations of embroidery design transfer, and in questions of embroidery frames, there’s no “only one right way,” so I’m sharing with you what I’m doing with this particular project, but feel free to pursue your own tack on these things, if it works better for you!
April 9, 2013
Well, isn’t it about time? I finally have a full-fledged embroidery project underway, and I can’t wait to share updates, tips, techniques, mistakes, divergences, and so forth with you again. I always have Much More Fun with my embroidery when I journey through a project with you!
Let’s talk about ground fabric, shall we? Besides coming up with the embroidery design and a general idea of colors and threads, ground fabric is my First Big Consideration when starting a project.
April 8, 2013
Browsing through a copy of Élizabeth-Félicie Bayle-Mouillard’s Nouveau Manuel Complet de la Broderie (1840) – thanks to the direction of a kind reader who pointed out the book! – I came across a page of motifs intended for embroidery on a net ground.
I liked this one, so I made a few very minor adjustments to make it embroidery-friendly, with goldwork in mind. I think it’d make a great little design for a beginner goldwork project! But it would also work well for all sorts of embroidery – whitework, regular surface work, you name it.
And, since it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a free hand embroidery pattern on Needle ‘n Thread, I figured it was about time to do so.
April 5, 2013
In embroidery, thick stems and branches often get the same treatment: filled with stem stitch, filled with chain stitch, sometimes satin stitched, maybe a little texture added with knots and so forth. And all these techniques work great!
Here’s another option, though, that can supply a little bit of color depth and a little bit of texture, without a whole lot of complex effort. It’s easy, it’s fun, it’s quick. It would work great in crewel embroidery, in regular surface embroidery, with different types of threads – you can mix it up and play with it and come up with all different looks to it. But it really is just one simple stitch: whipped chain stitch.
