“Stitch Glitch” is a little series of articles here on Needle ‘n Thread, where we look closely at certain aspects of particular embroidery stitches that are sometimes difficult to figure out. For example, in past Stitch Glitch articles, we’ve explored how to work isolated French knots (method 1 and method 2), how to invisibly join chain stitch circles, how to take sharp corners or make scallops with stem stitch, how to restart new threads in the middle of a line of Spanish knotted feather stitch, and a few other similar topics.

Most of the topics in Stitch Glitch are reader-generated. Normally, these articles come about because a reader wants to know “How do I…?” and a photo tutorial is generally the most helpful way to answer.

Today’s question was posed over on the Ask & Share forum here on Needle ‘n Thread, and it has to do with Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch.

Perhaps the most frequently asked question that arrives in my inbox is a variation of this:

I’m new to embroidery and don’t know where to start. Can you recommend a book or a project for a beginner?

What happens when you combine an afternoon of cleaning and organizing your workspace with a desire to play with silk?

You end up playing with silk, of course!

Yesterday, I set about cleaning and organizing my workroom, with the aid of my Minion. My workroom is a garage-gone-studio + general-household-storage space. If you’re curious to see it, you can find pictures of moving in and organizing here, pictures at the end of a typical day in the workroom here, and pictures of my workroom when set up for a class here.

So, yep. That was the plan. Clean up. Straighten up. Organize. The Mid-Week Re-Group & Re-Charge. The Wednesday Afternoon Ritual.

Only I had this box of vintage silks that needed my attention. Or… er…. that caught my attention.

And my attention was happy to oblige!

You are my justification for the distraction. After all, it’s vintage silk. It’s fun to look at. The tags make great reading. And we can even glean some good tips from them!

Remember last week when I mentioned that I’d taken up embroidering on eggs? Well, it’s a mammoth subject to write about!

To make it more manageable, I’m going to divide the instructions over several articles that will appear intermittently over the next few weeks. The articles will be filed away into a series under “Tips and Techniques” here on Needle ‘n Thread, so that they are easily accessible for you.

Today, let’s talk about preliminary supplies.

Now, keep in mind, this is my approach, developed from piddling around with the concept for the past year. It’s just the way I do it – and there are always other ways to do things. So if you find a better way, don’t hesitate to use it!

My One Weakness (among all my other One Weaknesses – there are many!) is vintage linens embroidered with whitework. I have a hard time resisting beautiful vintage linens, and I’ve collected quite a few over the years. When I can’t get my paws on “new” additions to the collection because the budget just won’t allow – and because, really, where could I possibly put another one? – I have a worrying habit of crawling the internet for photos of luscious old linens embellished with whitework.

It’s a curse. Or a blessing. It all depends on how you look at it! I find heaps of inspiration in old embroidered linens. They are a great springboard for design ideas, and a wonderful source for the study of embroidery techniques.

Several years ago (back in 2008!), I wrote a short article about a vintage embroidered linen with a pretty crocheted edge. The whitework embroidery on the linen is very pretty, but the real eye-catcher on the whole piece is the edging.

Last week, we looked at this high-relief embroidered goldwork lily, taking a preliminary look at how it was made by making some observations about it before taking it apart.

Today, let’s take it apart and look inside!

If you’ve been reading Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you might recall a couple years ago, I highlighted the pearl and goldwork embroidered frames by Larissa Borodich, a reader in Russia. Larissa’s needlework is beautiful, so if you haven’t seen her gorgeous frames, you might jump back to that article and take a quick look!

I love hearing from Larissa and seeing what she is up to – she never fails to amaze me! If you use Pinterest, she has some lovely boards on Embroidery. While you’re there, check out all her antique ecclesiastical pieces from her own collections – absolutely gorgeous stuff!

Larissa recently sent me some photos of some embroidery done by her friend Elena Emelina, and of course, I had to seek permission to share! One aspect that really caught my attention was Lena’s ingenious use of pearl purl in her metal embroidery.

Lena’s work is vivacious and captivating! I thought you might enjoy seeing it, too.

You can click on the photos below for a larger version.