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
November 9, 2012
Perhaps I’m slow. Perhaps I’m backwards. But whatever the case, when I decide to work a specific design into a hand embroidery project, I rarely know right off the bat what threads, stitches, or fabric I’m going to use. I usually work these things out, through the aid of small samples.
November 8, 2012
Satin stitch is one of my favorite stitches. Silk is one of my favorite embroidery fibers. Add the two together, and I’m in embroidery heaven. (I’m sure there is such a place…)
November 7, 2012
Here on Needle ‘n Thread, I like to index each step-by-step project in one place so that it’s easy for you to find it and follow the various articles in the series. You can find my indexed step-by-step projects under Tips and Techniques, at the top of the page, under Hand Embroidery Lessons & Step-by-Step Projects.
The purpose of today’s short article, then, is to create an index for the Hungarian Redwork Runner project. Here, I’ll list in chronological order every article that has to do with this project, from development through finishing.
November 6, 2012
After much musing, pondering, testing, head scratching, flubbing about, and whatnot, I’m moving forward on this embroidery project that I’m calling The Hungarian Redwork Runner.
I thought of titling the project “Rectangular Center Table Cloth with Red Embroidery in a Hungarian Design,” but that just seemed a bit much. For the sake of brevity, I’m sticking with Hungarian Redwork Runner. Technically, though, just to clarify, this is not really the typical Hungarian red embroidery that you would see on hand embroidered textiles from that country. I’ll be using a different thread and different stitches. But the design is from Hungary, and the embroidery will be red, so I think the name works ok!
November 5, 2012
Last month, I introduced you to a hand embroidery thread that’s not quite on the market yet, but hopefully, will be available next year some time (fingers crossed!). It’s called silk gimp, by Access Commodities. You can read about it in this article on silk gimp, and you can also see the autumn tree I embroidered with it in this article.
When we were discussing the silk gimp, several folks chimed in with the information that Pipers Silks also makes silk gimp. I thought it would be fun to compare the two. I ordered some of the silk gimp made by Pipers so that we can look at both types up close and perhaps understand better the structure of different threads and their uses.
November 3, 2012
To conclude this short series of posts on transferring embroidery designs to fabric, here (in one place) are my favorite methods of design transfer.
Again (I keep making this point – covering my “six,” as my dad would say!), I am not saying these are the Only Ways to transfer embroidery designs. But these are methods that have been safe and reliable for me, that I’ve used and have confidence in. For those who are looking for alternate ways to transfer embroidery designs, these may help you. If you already have a method and it works for you, then that’s great. I’m not dismissing all other methods. As is always the case on Needle ‘n Thread, I’m just offering what works for me, and how I do things, in case it may help someone else out there.
Note: always test your transfer method ahead of time on any major project, before you start marking up an expensive piece of ground fabric.
To determine what type of method to use, I always think in terms of the end product. Is the project meant to be washed? After I finish stitching it, can it be washed? If so, I proceed in one direction. If not, I proceed in another.
If I’m working on a project that can and will be washed after stitching – say, whitework on linen, regular cotton floss on cotton fabric or on linen, even wool on linen – then these are the methods I use for transferring the design.
Light, easily see-through fabric: After my fabric is washed (pre-shrunk) and cut and the edges are neatened, I spray starch the fabric and iron it. I like Niagara spray starch in the pump bottle rather than aerosol cans, personally, but I doubt the kind used really matters.
Then, using a sharpened HB pencil, I trace the design using a light box or a piece of plexiglass with utility lights underneath it, depending on the size of the project.
November 2, 2012
My friends, my friends! Let’s talk about design transfer again today, shall we? It’s a wide-reaching subject in the world of embroidery, because eventually, we all have to do it if we ever want to embroider a design that isn’t in a pre-printed kit.
Today, I may shake you up a bit. I might even make some of you a little miffed. That’s not my intention! My intention is to caution you, to perhaps save you some heartaches, some time, some money. As my mom was wont to say, “I’m saying it because I love you” – preceding, of course, something I didn’t want to hear!
