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
March 12, 2012
Let’s start the week with a bit of Stitch Play!
If you’re doodling about with hand embroidery stitches, and you’re looking for a way to create a wide line with a bit of added interest to it, you might like this simple combination of chain stitch and buttonhole stitch.
March 10, 2012
Flat silk is filament silk that has no (or very little) twist to it. It has an incredible sheen and, when it’s a good flat silk, it’s one of the most luxurious of hand embroidery threads. Flat silk is used in different types of hand embroidery – for example, I used flat silk as a background for my Medallion Project.
If you’re not sure what flat silk is, and if you’d like to read a little more about flat silk and what it is, you’re welcome to read these two articles comparing flat silks, which I wrote a long time ago:
Comparing Flat Silks for Hand Embroidery, part I
Comparing Flat Silks for Hand Embroidery, part II
Flat silk is probably probably best known for its use in Japanese embroidery. Flat silk used in Japanese embroidery is fairly recognizable – it comes on cardboard tubes in a beautiful range of colors!
March 9, 2012
Making decisions about the next step in a needlework project is sometimes tough, and if you aren’t careful, that whole decision-making process can bog you down and bring your productivity to a halt. I decided to face a decision about the stitching on the Medallion Project pretty much the way I face decisions in life: if you spend too much time in deciding, you lose a lot of time when you could be doing. It seems that once I make a decision, I’m always happier, so why prolong the anxiety created by that middle ground of uneasy deliberation?
Today, I’ll show you my hang-up on the Medallion Project, tell you about my decision-making process on this particular part of the project, and then … well, hopefully, I won’t disappoint you with the decision I ultimately made!
March 8, 2012
The bluebird has long been a symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity. It’s such a chipper, lovely little bird, and my favorite harbinger of spring. Here in Kansas, I’ve had bluebirds hopping around my birdbath and feeder since January! I just love the little flitty things!
The other day, a pal popped in for a visit, carrying with her a piece of art she had appropriated from her sister’s wall. Much to my delight, it featured the bluebird – in silk and gold embroidery, Chinese style. The piece was purchased at an antique shop, and it was uniquely framed – encased in glass on both sides, so that the embroidered piece floated in the middle of the frame, and any wall behind it showed through. The frame job made it somewhat difficult to photograph, but I did my best, because I wanted to send the Bluebird of Happiness your way!
March 7, 2012
Have you ever hesitated to switch threads in the middle of stitching a line, because you weren’t quite sure how to invisibly end the thread and start a new thread without causing a break in the line?
March 6, 2012
When last we visited the Medallion Project, I hadn’t quite finished the goldwork edge around the long and short stitched monogram. After a little break for a short bout of travel, the first embroidery-related thing I did on my return was finish up the gold outlining. It is finished, and I’ve even moved ahead a bit.
Actually, I moved ahead quite a bit… but I am picking it all out today! But more on that (disaster) later!
March 5, 2012
Elizabethan Stitches: A Guide to Historic English Needlework by Jacqui Carey has just hit the market – and it’s another one of those “You Definitely Need This” books, whether you’re a fan of historic English needlework or simply a surface embroiderer who is interested in all kinds of stitches and their applications!
