About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

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How Much Thread?

 

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When working any hand embroidery project – but especially a big one that’s going to take a lot of time and a good quantity of specialty threads – the rule of “better too much than too little” should apply when ordering your embroidery supplies.

At the same time, though, to keep the costs of the project reasonable, you don’t want to over-estimate your thread amounts too greatly, or you could end up with surplus threads that you don’t need or want. (Well – are there ever any threads we don’t want?!)

Flat Silk Thread Amounts
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Laying Flat Silk: Direction of Filling

 

In the Medallion Project that I’ve been working on, the background is stitched in flat silk that is held down by a meandering gold thread in a technique called “vermicelli.”

Today, I’d like to show you how I lay the flat silk, and explain why it’s useful to change the direction of filling an area while doing so. For the most part, I don’t change the direction of stitching, but instead I turn my frame 180 degrees. We’ll look at laying flat silk threads, and then how to fill an irregular shape, changing the direction of the filling process along the way.

Laying Flat Silk Threads in Hand Embroidery
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The Wrap Up

 

The 12 Days of Christmasneedlework give-away series is over, though you still have time to enter comments on the give-away posts! So if you haven’t entered yet, jump to it!

I think the series has gone well. Who knows? Maybe this can be the beginning of a Christmas tradition on Needle ‘n Thread!

I hope you enjoyed the series as much as I did. The fun part for me – besides preparing it – was reading all the comments! My goodness, there were lots, and I enjoyed them all! Yes, I do read them – each one – as those who received e-mail replies can attest. They always put a smile on my face, or thoughts in my head, or inspiration in my heart. Thank you for participating!

12 Days of Christmas Needlework Give-away
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Eleventh Day of Christmas: Millenium Frame!

 

I love my new Millenium needlework frames. (That’s a link to my review, if you’re not sure what the Millenium frames are and you’d like to read about them.)

It was one of those love-at-first-try sort of situations. I set up the frame the first time and was completely twitterpated. It was so easy to set up a large project: no tacking, no sewing and lacing up a slate frame. Oh wow. I was really besotted! But I knew that infatuation doesn’t always last, so after working with the frame for a couple weeks (and calming down a bit), I sat back to re-assess my first impressions.

And they didn’t change. The Millenium frame is a magnificent tool!

Millenium Needlework Frame
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