May 6, 2011

Mother’s Day Give-Away: Talliaferro Royal Persian Blossom Design Kit

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:

Talliaferro Crewel Embroidery Design: Royal Persian Blossom Design Kit

Hand Embroidery Patterns

May 5, 2011

Embroidery Design Inspiration: Playing with Pugin

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.

Hand Embroidery Patterns

May 4, 2011

Hand Embroidery Pattern: Hungarian Flowerpot

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.

Uncategorized

May 3, 2011

Shopping for Silk in Japan

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.

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

May 2, 2011

Prick & Pounce Embroidery Design Transfer

“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.

Prick and Pounce Embroidery Design Transfer

Uncategorized

April 30, 2011

Royally Gorgeous Cope

While most folks in the textile-related blogosphere were watching the Royal Wedding yesterday to catch a glimpse of The Dress, I admit, I was looking for something else: the clerical garb. I figured there’d be a good chance to see some beautiful examples of ecclesiastical embroidery.

The dress was stunning – really beautiful. But did you catch the cope?

Uncategorized

April 29, 2011

Royal Persian Crewel Design – Review

Way back in January, I mentioned the website Talliaferro Classic Needleart, and pointed out some of the gorgeous crewel designs that Anna has been developing. Well, Anna’s first crewel embroidery design – the Royal Persian Blossom – is finally published and available, so I thought I’d show you what the design packet looks like. This is crewel embroidery on a grand and glorious scale!

Talliaferro Crewel Embroidery Design: Royal Persian Blossom

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Embroidery Tips & Techniques

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Mother’s Day Give-Away: Talliaferro Royal Persian Blossom Design Kit

Embroidery Design Inspiration: Playing with Pugin

Hand Embroidery Pattern: Hungarian Flowerpot

Shopping for Silk in Japan

Prick & Pounce Embroidery Design Transfer

Royally Gorgeous Cope

Royal Persian Crewel Design – Review

Connect with Mary

How-To Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos