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
April 11, 2012
At the end of this past February, I reviewed Hazel Blomkamp’s new book, Crewel Twists. Hazel’s book is a technique and project book. She combines designs that you’d normally see worked in wool in crewel embroidery (many Jacobean in flavor) with various surface embroidery techniques, including embroidery with regular floss, bead embroidery and even goldwork. The projects in the book are wonderfully colorful and a heap of fun!
April 10, 2012
There are lots of reasons to own a software program that can help you create or design charted images for counted cross stitch or any other counted technique. The major reason for me is the convenience of being able to work out a stitch chart in an easy-to-use program and print it in a clean format ready for use. I use software to create filet crochet patterns for my mom, to work out monogram placement, to sketch up blackwork designs, to work out drawn thread edges or Hardanger ideas, or to work out patterns that I find on a vintage linens or on old samplers or what-have-you.
On Sunday, I posted a photo of some really pretty Pysanky Easter eggs that were resting on a beautiful Ukrainian embroidered cloth. I received an e-mail from a reader, and this is what she asked: I LOVE the design on the Ukrainian cloth you posted today and I want to stitch it sooooo bad! Beside drawing it out on graph paper, how could I make the pattern for it? Do you use software for that, or do you draw it on graph paper? Do you know if it’s easy to use that kind of software? Any suggestions are appreciated!
So that question prompted today’s article. There’s no affiliation here – I’m simply passing on information about a product that I use that I’m happy with. You may know of other good cross stitch software that you might want to recommend, and that’s fine. If you’re looking for this type of software, I suggest you shop around, read reviews, download demo versions and try them out, compare prices and features, and then make your own informed decision.
April 9, 2012
Last month, I posted a Anne Gomes’s video on twisting Japanese silk for hand embroidery. The other day, I had the opportunity to see some twisted Japanese silk up close, and the effect of this particular technique was really interesting! I thought I would share it with you, because I think it’s something that could be used with great effect in other types of embroidery as well.
April 8, 2012
Just a quick note to wish you all a very Happy Easter! Here’s a little eye candy (to take the place of all that chocolate!) that combines a beautiful symbol of Easter with some lovely Ukrainian hand embroidery.
April 7, 2012
It seems there’s lots of stuff going on in the hand embroidery world these days, and I think that’s an excellent sign! You really can’t convince me that hand embroidery is a dying art. No, no, no! I think it’s definitely a living art, and I think it’s growing in popularity by leaps and bounds! This is wonderful – but it also poses certain difficulties, which I’ll talk about some day soon. (I have something brewing in my head, you see!)
For now, here are some things in the World of Hand Embroidery that have caught my eye lately and I thought worth sharing. Kick back, pour a cup of your favorite morning brew, and let’s slog through this journey together, shall we?
April 6, 2012
Today, I’d like to share with you one of the patterns available in Church Patterns for Hand Embroidery, Appliqué, Paper Crafts, Painting, & More. It’s a cross interwoven with a crown of thorns. The design is from Thomas Brown & Son’s catalogue of church embroidery designs from the early 1900’s, where it appears as a “square” cross (or a cross with equal length arms on all four sides). Here’s the design, with a PDF at the end of the article:
April 5, 2012
Stretched pearl purl wound with a thickness of colored silk and couched down with the same color of silk is perhaps one of my favorite goldwork techniques. It’s a great way to combine silk and gold to make a striking, eye-catching twist that’s just really pretty.
I’m using this technique on the Medallion Project, and you can see it here along the edge of the “cinquefoil” that forms the center of the the whole medallion.
