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
May 29, 2012
Ruth Chamberline’s Beginner’s Guide to Goldwork (which I reviewed about five years ago) is an excellent instructional book in silk and goldwork embroidery. Meandering through my bookshelf the other day, I took the book out and started browsing through it. Next thing I knew, I was reading it again, cover to cover. It’s a terrific instructional book!
May 28, 2012
After finishing the Medallion Project, I’ve got an itch to stitch something completely different, to get back to basics, to explore several projects that have been brewing in my brain.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way, with “next up” embroidery projects.
May 26, 2012
Yesterday, we discussed English needles and the manufacturing of needles today. Most embroidery needle manufacturing in the world has been outsourced to regions where they can be produced with cheaper labor. As one reader commented, “the world is changing… and nothing is as it was or will be again.”
It may well be that the world has changed to the Cheaper Labor / Higher Returns model in manufacturing, and I do sympathize with the Producers of Goods who have been pretty well forced into that model, but there are companies in the needlework industry that have resisted that model. And these companies, in general, produce higher quality needlework products.
When it comes to needles, in Europe, there are still some factories that manufacture sewing needles. The best known of these is the Bohin company in France. Apparently, there is a manufacturer in Spain as well, but I haven’t been able to track that down and verify it.
May 25, 2012
Yesterday in her article English Needles No Longer Made in England, Trish Burr brought up a subject near and dear to my heart: The Needle.
May 24, 2012
Here it is, the final article on the Medallion Project, and a little how-to bit on one way to appliqué a piece of hand embroidery to another ground fabric.
May 23, 2012
It’s been a very long while since I’ve shared any free hand embroidery patterns here on Needle ‘n Thread! This design is from a series began last year, called Lilly’s Legacy, which you can read all about in the first article of the series (which also includes a free pattern).
Today’s design was a little difficult to render as a line drawing, as the image itself is quite crowded. But I love the original painted design, with its fiery color. I hope you like it, too!
May 22, 2012
I’d like to ask each of you to descend upon my little town in Kansas and help me stitch today. I’m doing the appliqué work on the Medallion, and admittedly, I’m quaking a bit in my boots. This always happens to me when it comes time to do the Final Finish on a project. I end up hesitating, putting off, thinking through the process about a gazillion times before I actually leap.
Funny thing is, once I leap, I find out it wasn’t that big of a deal!
