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
September 29, 2011
Following up on the last couple days’ of posts on the dyeing of wool with woad, it’s time for a little give-away! Thanks to Andie of Renaissance Dyeing, we’re giving away TWO sets of woad-dyed wool (the woad range, pictured below). That is, two people will win the range! Pretty nice, eh? In order to have a chance at winning, read on and follow the directions!
September 28, 2011
You might wonder what pins (as in, sewing pins) and woad have in common. And I wonder the same thing! According to Tony Robinson, making pins and dyeing with woad are two of the worst jobs in history. Following up on yesterday’s post on dyeing wool threads with woad, I started squizzing around the internet and found some interesting information. But by far the most interesting – and entertaining – are a couple clips from Tony Robinson’s series, The Worst Jobs in History. So I thought I’d point these out to you, in case you haven’t seen them, to give a little more insight into the dyeing of wool with woad.
September 27, 2011
Andie of Renaissance Dyeing offered to tell us a little bit about dyeing wool threads with woad, which is a plant that produces a blue dye. At Renaissance Dyeing, Andie uses natural plants and mordants available in the 16th century and earlier to achieve a gorgeous range of colors in her hand-dyed wool. I hope you’ll find her commentary on dyeing with woad as interesting as I do! All the pictures in the article can be clicked for larger versions.
September 26, 2011
Goldwork Techniques, Projects and Pure Inspirations by Hazel Everett – there’s a lot I could say about this book.
And I probably will say a lot about it. (Well, you know me… when the opportunity strikes, I do go on, don’t I?)
But, if I could sum it all up in a short sentence, it would be this:
You Need This Book.
September 23, 2011
If you’re a fan of historical needlework – especially needlework from the 17th century – there’s something coming that looks pretty exciting!
September 22, 2011
Here’s the next letter in the Fan Flower Monogram Alphabet: the letter O.
September 21, 2011
The Spanish Knotted Feather Stitch is such a pretty stitch! And it’s really easy! As far as movement of the stitch goes, it’s a combination of the twisted chain stitch and the feather stitch. It creates a pretty zig-zag line that takes gentle curves well.
