More Wools for Crewel Embroidery

 

Amazon Books

Intermittently over the last few months, we’ve been looking at a variety of wool threads to use for embroidery.

Over the years, I’ve explored some wool projects here on Needle ‘n Thread. I wrote extensively about my Crewel Rooster project here. And I explored the Mellerstain Firescreen project for a bit here, where I wrote about my love-hate relationship with wool; and here, where I asserted my case for rabbits. (I haven’t finished the firescreen project, but it is on my List.)

I’ve embroidered with wool on wool felted mittens, like these mittens and these mittens. And I’ve explored some small wool projects, like this small crewel pomegranate here, and other similar small projects.

But I’ve never really dug into all kinds of wool threads in great detail, so that’s what I’ve been doing lately here on the blog.

Wool Threads for Hand Embroidery
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Old English Embroidery: Its Technique & Symbolism

 

Time for a little mid-week delve into the history of embroidery by way of a fabulous little book available on Internet Archive for download.

The book is called Old English Embroidery: Its Technique & Symbolism, by Frances and Hugh Marshall. If you’ve not come across this book before, and if you have an interest in the history of embroidery – and especially late medieval through 17th century embroidery – then I think you’ll enjoy exploring this little gem.

Old English Embroidery: Its Technique & Symbolism
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The Art of Bead Embroidery 2 – Review

 

Hurray!! A beautiful new book on Japanese-style bead embroidery by Margaret Lee is finally out – The Art of Bead Embroidery 2. I’ve been looking forward to this book, because there’s a project in it that I want to make!

If you’ve been waiting for the book as well, you can find The Art of Bead Embroidery 2 available here in my shop, in stock and ready to ship.

Let’s look at the book up close, and I’ll tell you what you can expect from it.

The Art of Bead Embroidery 2 - Book Review
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Purple Posy 6: The Beaded Fob

 

Well, well, well, here we are, at the very last step of Purple Posy, our latest Stitch Snippet stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread.

If you’re just coming across this stitch-along project, you can find all the previous lessons for the stitch-along in the Purple Posy project index here. You’ll learn, step-by-step, how to create a beautiful covered tape measure for your needlework toolbox.

If you’re just joining in and you’d like to create your own covered tape measure, you’ll find a complete materials kit available here, with all the components you need to embroidery and build your own covered tape measure – including the retractable tape measure, fine embroidery linen, full skeins of embroidery floss, all the finishing materials, and the specialty beads, charm, and wire.

For members of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received the PDF for this installment of the stitch-along yesterday. You can find it posted over on Patreon, ready to download and print.

Let’s move on to this last step – creating the beaded pull fob for the tape measure!

Purple Posy: creating the beaded pull fob
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Happy Easter! Hurry up, Spring!

 

I’m a little late to the game here, wishing you a belated Happy Easter!

I took a much-needed short break starting mid-week last week, and by this coming Friday, I should be back to regular scheduled work.

If you have placed any orders in the shop this past week, they will ship by this Friday.

In the spirit of utter unoriginality, I’m sharing one of my favorite Easter pictures again. Not the greatest photo in the world, mind you, but oh, what a cutie!

Happy Easter, 2024
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Purple Posy 5: Assembly & Edge

 

I’m afraid today is going to be a big photo and information dump, as we assemble and then work the decorative edge on Purple Posy, our current stitch-along project.

I intended to divide this in two parts, with the first part posting this past Friday. Unfortunately, I’ve been under the weather with whatever virus / cold / flu / etc I’ve picked up again. Third time since January! Anyway, I’m working on recuperating.

And that brings me to this point: I need to recuperate on many levels at this point, so after today’s post, I’m taking some time off. We still have the fob to finish on this project, but I won’t be able to get that out until next week some time. I still have photo editing to do on that, some diagrams to make, some video to edit, and I just can’t put that much screen time in on the computer right now.

Funny how the past month has been one slam right after another. Sometimes, I guess life is like that.

But in the meantime, you can get your tape measure covers sewn up and the decorative edges finished! So let’s do that…

Purple Posy tape measure cover
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Wool Thread Comparisons: Fillings

 

The last time we looked at wool embroidery threads, we were comparing four different brands of crewel wool, stitched in lines using stem stitch.

We were able to see their twist, how heavy a line they made, and we talked a bit about the stitching experience with them: which ones were a little more fuzzy, more bouncy, and so forth.

Today, we’ll look at the same four threads, this time in filling stitches, specifically satin stitch and “soft shading” or long and short stitch.

My samples here are quite small, so I’ve enlarged them so that you can see the details of the thread.

Comparing Wool Embroidery Threads: Fillings
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