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 9, 2011
Good morning, everyone! Have you ever noticed that Monday tends to show up – fast and sudden – every week?! Fridays never sneak up on me like Mondays do. Why is that?
Well, whatever the case, it is Monday, and it’s time to announce the winner of the Talliaferro Crewel Design kit!
May 7, 2011
Lately, I’ve been working behind the scenes to accomplish a few minor updates here on Needle ‘n Thread – things that have been hanging over my head for a looooong time! Though minor updates, for some reason, it took me forever to get to them.
May 6, 2011
Today’s one of those give-away days – for a lot of reasons! Not only is it my favorite time of year – with green grass and bright flowers and cheery sunshine flooding the landscape – but it’s Friday. And not only is it Friday, but I’ve only got (officially) one more Friday left to the school year after today! (Exams follow… but let’s not talk about that right now!) And on top of those pleasant thoughts, everything is coming up roses on the new website developments that will be showing up here on Needle ‘n Thread in the very near future… and so… life being so good, things going so well, I feel it’s a good time to pass along some cheer!
This is what I’m giving away:
May 5, 2011
Where do you find inspiration for your embroidery projects? I suppose inspiration can really be found anywhere, but I like to look at other textile designs, wallpaper designs, tile designs, wrought iron designs, and on and on and on.
One of my favorite artists (actually, an architect) from the past – Augustus Pugin – happened to leave behind a massive legacy of textile, wallpaper, tile, and all kinds of “decorator” items that are suitable for adaptation to embroidery. I especially like looking at Pugin’s tile designs, but his wallpaper patterns, stained glass, furniture, textiles, and metal work all give plenty of play room for the imagination, when thinking in terms of embroidery design.
May 4, 2011
This little Hungarian Flowerpot design comes from one of Lilly’s drawings that features six bookmark-sized pieces. Instead of presenting all six in one pattern, I’ve decided to present them individually so that you can enlarge or reduce them easily, for whatever type of project you’d like to undertake with the designs.
You’ll find the background story on these Hungarian embroidery designs with the first design posted, the Golden Circle design.
All of these designs can be adapted to a variety of artistic uses besides embroidery. Many readers have said they plan to work the designs as quilt appliqués, while others have suggested paper crafts or wood carving and the like as possible applications for the designs.
May 3, 2011
A few weeks ago, a very good friend of mine who of late lives in the Philippines was visiting Osaka, Japan. He called to ask if there was anything I wanted while he was there. Heh heh. What a question! Good Japanese silk fabric is exquisite, so I happened to mention that if he happened to be visiting shops that happen to sell silk fabric, I wouldn’t be opposed to a little snippet.
The likelihood that he would visit fabric stores while traveling in Japan (work-related travel, mind you) was pretty slim, and in fact, I didn’t want to impose at all, so I begged that he wouldn’t go out of his way for such a thing.
Well. He did. He actually went hunting for some snippets, and sent some photos to prove it. Four days after our phone conversation, a package arrived… with some gorgeous silk in it. So, vicariously, let’s enjoy his shopping experience for silk fabric in Japan.
May 2, 2011
“Prick and Pounce” is a method of transferring an embroidery design by using a pattern that is pricked with tiny holes, placed on the fabric, and then pounced all over with a powder that filters into the tiny holes, leaving tiny dots on the fabric. Nowadays, the prick-and-pounce method of embroidery design transfer gets very little attention in the everyday embroidery world. Perhaps it’s because we have so many other design transfer methods available – from iron-ons to water-soluble transfer materials to “disappearing” pens – that we tend to think prick-and-pounce transferring is a bit passé. If not that, it may simply seem too labor-intensive or too messy to bother with. And so, we don’t.
But this seldom-used method of transferring an embroidery design has been around for a long time, and it’s still used, for good reason: it’s reliable.
