December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas!
Dear Friends,
I wish you and yours a peaceful Christmas, full of joy and many blessings!

December 24, 2010
Dear Friends,
I wish you and yours a peaceful Christmas, full of joy and many blessings!
December 23, 2010
The question of transferring hand embroidery designs to fabric is a mighty one. I’ve discussed it quite a bit here on Needle ‘n Thread, because it is the Most Frequently Asked Embroidery Question from beginners.
And gosh, let’s face it. We’re all looking for the dream method of design transfer – that perfect way to get the design precisely and as painlessly as possible onto the fabric, in such a way that it is invisible on the finished product, but easy to see – in all its detail – while the project is being stitched. This dream method, by the way, doesn’t exist absolutely – there are a variety of methods for transferring patterns, and which one you choose often depends upon the type of embroidery project you’re working.
That being said, my curiosity was piqued by this stuff called Transfer-eze. Lately, there’s been some buzz about this new product, which is supposed to make all the anguish over transferring designs to fabric magically disappear. It is, in effect, an adhesive water-soluble, printable stabilizer. I thought it essential to procure some of the stuff with the eventual intention of trying it out, so when Wooly Thread announced that they carry it, I bought some so that I could try it out and tell you about it.
December 22, 2010
Deck the halls – and anything else that you want to embroider – with these boughs of holly. This time of year, I always try to embroider at least one Little Something that’s Christmassy. If nothing else, a new bread cloth for the Christmas table is always welcome. But this year, I’ve been a bum, and I haven’t managed it.
This is the holly corner I wanted to stitch up. And there’s still a little nagging voice in my head saying that I could do it in time for Christmas – if I started right now. A few evenings of stitching is all it would take, after all. C’mon, Mary, what’s the big deal? You can do it!
Silly voice. I have a feeling it’s going to win.
December 21, 2010
Time for another how-to video for hand embroidery! Today’s video is for the raised cup stitch, which is a dimensional embroidery stitch composed of a triangular foundation, upon which two layers of knots are worked. The result is a round cup that stands up off the fabric.
December 20, 2010
Wow! Thanks for all your response on the Christmas Cheer Needlework Book Give-Away from this past weekend! Normally, my give-aways aren’t over such a short span of time, but despite being up only a couple days, there were over 500 responses, which is pretty good! I was afraid everyone would be busy this weekend – you know, baking, shopping, stitching madly to finish up Christmas gifts….! – and that the response would be minimal. I’m so glad it wasn’t the case!
I’ll give you a hint about the winner:
December 19, 2010
Let’s pause a bit and think about doing needlework for a cause. I mean, what could be better? Doing what you love, and helping a good cause at the same time? Well, Tricia’s new project introduced over on Thistle Threads is just that sort of project!
Not only do you get the opportunity to do a little stitching, but you get to help out with a worthy cause. Oh, and did I mention, the object of your stitching would be a darling blue snail? So… stitching… stitching a blue snail…. and helping a cause! Yep, this is right up my alley!
December 18, 2010
Since I can’t give you ALL a Christmas present this year, I figured I could at least offer the chance at winning a needlework book and maybe even receiving it on time to put it under your tree!
So today, I want to offer you a book for Christmas, and to make it a more specifically “for you” sort of gift, I’m going to let you pick the book! Are you ready?!