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December 26, 2012

A Merry Give-Away – Coton a Broder in Every Color!

 

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I’ll share a secret with you. I love embroidery thread.

You already knew that, didn’t you?

But there’s embroidery thread, and there’s Embroidery Thread. When it comes to cotton Embroidery Thread, I have two Favorites: floche and coton a broder.

Coton a broder is often called “cutwork thread,” and in white, it comes in various sizes suitable for different types of whitework and cutwork.

But if you want many colors of coton a broder, size 25 is the size to look for. Coton a broder size 25 is a marvelous thread for monogramming. And it works beautifully in heirloom sewing applications (like smocking). It’s a nice thread for all kinds of surface embroidery applications. It comes in a total of 182 colors.

Coton a broder size 25
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Hand Embroidery Patterns

December 24, 2012

Joy 3 – Putting the Design Together & Patterns

 

Day before yesterday, we talked a little bit about developing an embroidery pattern that incorporates monograms into a one-word design. We started with the letter J in this Holly and Joy design. Yesterday, we added the letter O, and today, we’ll finish off with the last letter, a simple decorative border, and some layout options.

JOY - Hand Embroidery Design with Monograms
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Hand Embroidery Patterns

December 22, 2012

Joy 1 – Developing an Embroidery Design

 

Embroidered monograms are an obsession of mine. I love monograms! I collect all kinds of monogram and letter sourcebooks, antique and new.

Combining my love of monograms with my never-quite-fulfilled dream of an entirely hand-made, embroidered Christmas (every gift, every decoration? it won’t happen!), I have fiddled around with many a Christmas design that features lettering of some sort, and especially monograms.

Today, I’m going to show you the first step in one such fiddling endeavor. My hope: that this inspires you to fiddle around with designs as well. At the end of this short series, I’ll give you the full embroidery design. Think of it as my Christmas present to you!

Developing an Embroidery Design: Joy
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December 21, 2012

Needle ‘n Thread + Stitchin’ Fingers – Coming in 2013

 

Have you heard of Stitchin’ Fingers? If you haven’t, I’ll tell you a little about it.

If you have heard of it – if you’re a member or you’ve visited the Stitchin’ Fingers network – you already know that Stitchin’ Fingers is a wonderful source of needlework inspiration and online camaraderie with other textile and needle-arts enthusiasts.

Stitchin' Fingers
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December 20, 2012

Stitch Fun: Round Red Berries

 

Notice the new title? We’re no longer going to call this series of tutorials Stitch Play – we’re going to call it Stitch Fun! Same exact idea – just a different name! Hope it doesn’t cause too much confusion!

So, it’s now time to touch up our embroidered evergreen sprigs and fly stitched holly with some bright red berries! This is a great technique for creating round red dots of any kind on your hand embroidery projects.

There are different ways you can add dots to embroidery (padded satin stitch dots are a favorite of mine), but for some reason, I find this round Rhodes stitch little ball easier to work than a padded satin stitch dot, and a lot more forgiving. And, because it isn’t padded – it’s actually self-padded, it doesn’t take as long to work up.

Stitch Play Hand Embroidered Christmas Greenery
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