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
January 17, 2012
When you’re setting up a hand embroidery project, the way you cut your fabric makes a big difference in the outcome!
The concept I’m discussing here – fabric grain – applies to any woven fabric, but when it comes to cutting on the grain, I’m demonstrating working specifically with linen that has a visible weave.
January 16, 2012
Well, well, well. Who would’ve ever guessed it? I had to re-draw for one of the Inspirations Magazines subscription winners from the 12 Days of Christmas!
January 14, 2012
The vermicelli goldwork on the Medallion Project is finished!!
To celebrate, I’m going to show you the back of the embroidery, because, for some reason, people like seeing the back of other people’s embroidery. I’ve never quite understood why, but if that’s what you want….!
First you have to look at the front. It’s much more attractive.
January 13, 2012
I’m creeping towards the finish with the couched gold thread over the silk background on the Medallion Project. So close!
January 12, 2012
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?!)
January 11, 2012
Once upon a time, there was a hungry tortoise. Roaming the woods and fields, he came to a stony path. In the middle of the stony path, there rested a great strawberry – the greatest strawberry the hungry tortoise had ever seen!
January 10, 2012
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.
