October 13, 2012
Looking for Free Blackwork Embroidery Patterns?
If you enjoy blackwork – or if you haven’t tried it but are keen to – here’s a wonderful online resource for an extensive collection of blackwork filling patterns – and it’s free!
October 12, 2012
Old Silk & Goldwork Fragment – Ugly?
Over the last few months, we’ve looked at some pieces of old embroidery featuring silk and goldwork. The three pieces we’ve examined so far (this example of Chinese embroidery, this gorgeous tambour and goldwork embroidery panel, and this goldwork and silk on velvet piece) are all in fairly good condition for what they are.
Today, I’m going to show you another old fragment featuring silk tambour embroidery and metal threads.
It’s not the most beautiful piece of embroidery you’ll ever clap your eyes on. In fact, as far as my preferences go, I’d say it’s a bit on the ugly side, the poor thing.
There are some intriguing things about the fragment as well, though, and the whole thing begs to be examined more closely. But let’s start with a brief look.
October 11, 2012
How to Embroider a Wee Pumpkin, in less than 5 minutes
I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps it’s because I couldn’t get over the orange kick, after playing with orange Trebizond silk and plaited braid stitch. (Remember that? I’m not really an orange person!)
More likely, though, it’s because everywhere I look right now, someone is proffering the latest Pumpkin-Something, and I am beginning to feel Oddly Short of Mainstream. To solve the problem, yesterday I took five minutes out of my already off-course day and fiddled with orange thread to create a pumpkin.
If you want to add a of Petite Pinch of Popular Pumpkin to your embroidery, here’s an easy and quick way to do that!
October 10, 2012
15 Most Popular Embroidery Books on Needle ‘n Thread
I haven’t done a “Top 10” list of embroidery books in ages upon ages. One reason is that it takes ten forevers just to collect the stats and figure them out. But since I was updating my Embroidery Book List the other day, I took the plunge and did some real work… for a change!
So here’s my list of Most Popular Embroidery Books on Needle ‘n Thread for 2012 so far. I’ve included 15, because numbers 15 through about 9 all rank very close in popularity. They’re all excellent books in their own way, and worth having for reference or instruction.
I’m eager to know if you agree with the popular consensus! What books are you surprised to see on the list, or not on the list?
Maybe you’ll find something here to add to your own library (or at least to your Christmas Wish List). Each entry on the list is linked to my book review for that entry, so feel free to browse!
October 9, 2012
Embroidering Trees, Part 2: The Leaves
Yesterday, we looked at embroidering a tree trunk, and today, I’d like to show you how I added leaves to my silk gimp tree. I would’ve included all the information in one article, but holy cow! I was up to 2,000 words, and I figured no one needs that much of me in one day!
October 8, 2012
Branching Out: Embroidering Trees, Part 1
While playing around with silk gimp the other day, I was struck with the inspiration to embroider this tree.
Now, trees may seem like fairly mundane, unimportant things, but can you imagine life on this earth without trees? Trees may be common, but they are, at the same time, essential, and in art, throughout history, the tree has enjoyed an important representative role, symbolizing many different things across cultures.
Trees show up in hand embroidery in practically every era and every culture, in some respect or another. Therefore, I didn’t feel too odd about branching out with the silk gimp the other day and embroidering a tree.
Today, I’ll show you how I worked the trunk and branches, and while meandering through the topic, I’ll talk a bit about the silk gimp used for the tree (making some clarifications about the thread, what it is, and its pending availability), and a bit about how you can adapt the process covered here to other materials. Ready?
October 6, 2012
A Little Taste of Autumn
Here in Kansas, the leaves are changing, the air is chilly, the landscape is blazing autumn under a deep blue sky. It’s finally fall, my favorite season.
Most people probably think that Kansas is one unending expanse of flat crop land, that we all live in Auntie Em’s farm house, and our next door neighbors are either munchkins or green-faced witches.
