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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Are You Going?

 

Amazon Books

Last year, I made the over-hasty announcement that I would be attending Beating Around the Bush, 2012, down in Australia. Alas, for me, it was over-hasty, because I’m not going after all. At the time, I wasn’t aware of the various project deadlines that Country Bumpkin had to meet for marketing the event, and, having three teaching jobs in three different schools, I couldn’t meet the project deadlines by last January. So I had to renege. Life is like that.

Wouldn’t it be great to say, “Let’s meet in Adelaide and have a cuppa?” It would be so fun to meet you face to face and enjoy a real chat! And I think needlework events like Beating Around the Bush are a great way to connect with fellow stitchers and to enjoy that “community spirit” with a bunch of kindred spirits!

Beating Around the Bush, 2012, by Country Bumpkin
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My Box, sans Embroidery

 

I have a box. It is a Beautiful Box. It’s wood. Its finish is smooth as glass. It opens on elegant hinges to a finished, cavernous interior.

Its outside is paneled, made to display embroidery. Not just on top, mind you, but All Around the Sides, too.

But my box is without embroidery. It’s still beautiful, but it isn’t complete.

I keep my box on an old sideboard in the entrance of my house. And when people see my box, they say, “What is this?” And I say, “It is a box.” They open it, they look inside, and they say, “Hm. A box.” Though the workmanship is exquisite, though the box itself is attractive, they wonder what it is. Why do they wonder? Because they recognize that it is incomplete.

Wooden Box to Display Embroidery
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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Grapes, Acanthus, Passion Flower Border

 

This is an elaborate hand embroidery pattern, but I think it’s pretty. It’s meant for ecclesiastical embroidery, but you can always adjust the passion flower (taking out the cross-shaped stamen that’s often seen in church patterns) and use the design for whatever you wish.

This is what I’ve been doing lately: cleaning up Lots and Lots of embroidery patterns. You can consider this a little preview of what’s coming in a church pattern e-book (available by the end of the month!) – though the patterns aren’t all quite this elaborate!

Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Grape Border
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Woad Winners!

 

A big Thank You goes to Renaissance Dyeing for offering the two woad-dyed crewel embroidery thread packs for this give-away!

Without Andie’s offer, I would not have been so thoroughly entertained for the last few days! For some reason, the woad give-away inspired lots of witty responses. I decided the reason for this is that “woad” is just a funny word. Say it ten times slowly. You’ll see what I mean.

Woad-dyed Crewel Wool
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Satin Stitch Recaps

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about satin stitch lately. It’s probably the most question-provoking stitch out there. In concept, it isn’t a difficult stitch: really, when we satin stitch, all we’re doing is lining up straight stitches parallel to each other, to cover an area. Still, it’s not as easy as it sounds, is it?

The other day, I started browsing through articles on satin stitch here on Needle ‘n Thread, just to see if I’ve ever covered anything really meaningful and instructive about this glorious stitch – anything that people could really get their teeth into (or their fingers) and conquer once and for all the satin stitch. I came up with a lot of articles and a lot of thoughts on the stitch. It would take too long to recap too many points about satin stitch all in one place, so today, through pictures, I’m going to talk about materials that can be used to achieve a nice satin stitch. You can click on the photo to be taken to the blog post related to each photo.

Satin Stitch on a Monogram
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