March 13, 2024

Fabulous Embroidery History in a Great Mini Class!

Do you get really nerdy-interested in the history of embroidery? I do. I can’t help it! I like to read about, hear about, learn about those interesting characters in history who have brought something to our world of needlework.

One most interesting character in needlework history is Martha Edlin. As a child, Martha produced beautiful, well designed, planned, and executed embroidery projects. Her embroidery skills as a youth reflect her intelligence and her talents that, as research shows, continued to develop and display themselves throughout her life.

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March 8, 2024

Purple Posy 3: Side Band & Beads

Last week, we embroidered the top and the base of the covered tape measure in our Purple Posy Stitch Snippet stitch-along.

If you are just coming into the project and you want to catch up, you can find all the previous articles for Purple Posy listed here in the Project Index.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received these instructions in a downloadable and printable PDF format.

If you haven’t acquired a materials kit yet for this project, you can find the full materials kit for Purple Posy available here.

Today, we’re going to stitch the side band of the tape measure cover and then we’re going to add the beads. We’ll also see how to manage the beads when working with a hoop.

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March 6, 2024

Purple Posy Project Index

Today, just a quick note to set up this project index for the Purple Posy stitch-along, so that you can easily find all the articles relating to the project here on the website.

As we continue with the stitch-along, I’ll add each new installment to the list of articles.

You’ll find this Index under “Tips & Techniques” in the main menu here on Needle ‘n Thread.

For members in the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon, I posted the latest PDF that covers embroidering the sides and adding the beads, so that information is already available over there.

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March 1, 2024

Crewel Threads: a Close Look at Wool Embroidery Threads

Friday strikes me as a great day for some Thread Talk, don’t you think?

Today, we’re going to wiggle our toes about in the waters of Wool Threads to get familiar with them, and then we’ll take the plunge into thread comparisons and explorations.

First, I’ll introduce you to my plan for discussing wool threads and talk about them in general. We will look at four popular brands of crewel wool up close and see what’s different about each of them.

Down the road, we’ll go further with stitched samples and comparisons, and then we’ll bring in some lesser-known brands and work with them a bit, too.

Wool Embroidery Threads: Comparisons and Explorations

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

February 28, 2024

Purple Posy, Part 2: Embroidering the Top & Base

Today, we’re going to get going on the embroidery for Purple Posy. We’ll be embroidering the decorative top and base of the tape measure cover.

If you are just joining in, we started this project last week and you can find the first installment here.

If you would like a materials kit, we still have a small number of kits available here.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received all of this information in a handy-dandy PDF format for downloading and printing, so you’re good to go! Still, it won’t hurt to read through today’s article below, just in case I mention something or link to something that you might find helpful.

Let us begin to stitch…

Embroidering a tape measure cover: purple posy

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February 26, 2024

Embroidery Tip: The Order of Work

Whenever I start working on the preparation stages of a new embroidery project, it tends to occupy my thoughts quite a bit.

That’s what happened this weekend. We recently started preparing a new goldwork project here in the studio, and it was on my mind a lot this weekend. Mostly, I was thinking about the order of work in embroidery.

The order of work is the logical sequence you follow when working on a project. Sometimes, order of work doesn’t matter at all. But sometimes, it matters quite a bit. In the goldwork project that’s coming up, the order of work is quite important. And that’s why it was occupying my thoughts.

But even on little projects, order of work can be important simply because it might save us a little frustration. I’ll illustrate this with the recent wool embroidery project I’ve been piddling about with.

Wool Embroidery Bouquet and the Order of Work in Embroidery

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February 23, 2024

Purple Posy, Part 1: Design, Materials, and Preliminaries

Here we go! Time to get started with Purple Posy: a Tape Measure Cozy!

In this first installment of the stitch-along, we are going to talk about materials, the design, and other preliminary information, including transferring the project. We aren’t going to cover stitching just yet, as I can’t fit everything in one blog post! Today’s information will get you started and set-up, ready to stitch.

If you have the Purple Posy kit, which is available here, you’re in great shape – you have everything you need to create the tape measure cover, except typical embroidery tools like a hoop or frame, scissors, and a few incidentals for the finishing work (like glue, pins, and sewing thread).

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

Fabulous Embroidery History in a Great Mini Class!

Purple Posy 3: Side Band & Beads

Purple Posy Project Index

Crewel Threads: a Close Look at Wool Embroidery Threads

Purple Posy, Part 2: Embroidering the Top & Base

Embroidery Tip: The Order of Work

Purple Posy, Part 1: Design, Materials, and Preliminaries

Connect with Mary

How-To Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos