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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Mission Rose: Outer Petal Edge

 

Amazon Books

Just a brief update on the Mission Rose embroidery project – enough of an update to change perspectives on proportions.

See, the embroidery on the rose so far has been a little deceptive. The long & short stitch shaded center and inner petals, now that they’re finished, give the rose a rather compact look. The central flower that’s supposed to be the focal point seems like it’s rather small and lost in the middle of those big leaves down below and that the looming bud above.

But now that the outer petal “turn overs” are underway, the perspective changes a bit. For example, the lower shaded leaves seemed to dwarf the rose before, but now, we can see that they won’t look quite as large when the whole rose is complete.

Mission Rose Embroidery Project
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Shadow Work Linen vs. Linen Cambric

 

Sometimes, when choosing ground fabrics for different types of embroidery, working up small samples to compare results is a good way to discern better from good. Often, once I work up a sample, choosing the better ground fabric for an intended project is much easier. But sometimes, I found out that either fabric will do fine – which is the case here.

To decide between two different types of linen for embroidering monograms, and especially for shadow work monograms, I worked up two samples, one of which (monogram M in shadow work) I’ve already shown you.

Today, let’s look at a different monogram worked on a different linen, but with the same threads and stitches.

Shadow Work Monogram A
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Stitch Fun: Oyster Stitch Buds

 

Oyster stitch is an isolated embroidery stitch made up of a twisted chain stitch wrapped with a regular chain stitch, to form a chubby roundish-oval stitch that works well for petals and the like. I’m pretty sure it’s called oyster stitch because it resembles the shape of an oyster shell.

I like oyster stitch, but I don’t use it too often on its own. Lately, though, I’ve taken to stringing oyster stitches together into a line of oyster stitches, so that they look like little buds.

For today’s Stitch Fun tutorial, I thought I’d show you how to make some oyster stitch buds, using oyster stitch as a line stitch.

Oyster Stitch Buds
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Needle ‘n Thread Technical Stuff: RSS Readers!

 

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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