About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

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Garden Swirl Stitch Snippet Overview

 

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Because it’s Friday (which has nothing to do with anything), but really because I’m leaving this weekend for a week, I’d like to introduce you officially to Garden Swirl, the Stitch Snippet stitch-along that will be developing here on Needle ‘n Thread over the next couple months.

If you are new to Needle ‘n Thread and the Stitch Snippet stitch-alongs, I’ll explain below what they’re all about and how they work.

I’ll also share information on timing, kit availability, and what you’ll learn and experience with this little embroidery project that we will work through together, from start to finish.

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along
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Ready-to-Stitch: A Different Approach

 

For many years, we’ve been carrying a variety of ready-to-stitch cotton flour sack towel sets here on Needle ‘n Thread.

These sets of three high-quality cotton towels feature pre-transferred images in themed designs. Many of them are seasonal – we have Christmas towel sets, autumn towel sets, spring and summer sets – and some are general designs that work in any season.

The sets have been very popular over the years! And we understand why – we like stitching them, too!

The ready-to-stitch towels make great “relaxing” stitching projects, they leave plenty of room for personal adaption in color choice and stitches, they can be embroidered as simply or as extravagantly as you like, they make great gifts, they’re perfect teaching tools for yourself or for friends and family who want to learn to stitch…. the list goes on and on!

This year, we’ve decided to do something different with them, so I thought I better tell you about it now, before we get much deeper into the summer.

Ready to Stitch Towel Sets
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The Big Fat Hairy No – Wrong Stitch!

 

It’s inevitable.

At some point in your embroidery journey – maybe at many points, if you’re anything like me – you’re going to make less-than-ideal choices now and then when it comes to embroidery stitches.

Sometimes, stitches you’d think would work in certain circumstances end up being Just Plain Wrong.

You see, I’ve discovered that I’m not the most accurate visualizer. Some people have a real gift for accurately visualizing outcomes, but I’m pretty sure that I don’t really fit that category. Once I’ve latched on to an idea, I have to try the thing to see how it’s going to look.

So I tend to grasp at the first idea of a thing and think Oh! Hey! Yeah! That would be a great idea! … only to find, an hour or so down the road, after trial-and-error-and-error-and-error, that no, it really wasn’t a great idea.

Case in point:

Garden Swirl design - flower center filling
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Appliquéd Letters on Altar Cover – Finished

 

Welcome to Tuesday! And to a Very Quiet Week at Needle ‘n Thread.

Anna, you see, is gone for the week.

And while neither of us may be the Most Talkative People in the World while we are working, it’s strange to be working alone again, in silence. It’s funny, though – I’m making it through my daily to-do lists in record time, for some reason. I feel so accomplished!

Today, I thought I’d share the results of the appliquéd lettering project that I told you about a couple months back, and that I updated you on here. My deadline for that was the end of May, and I was able to deliver it on May 30th.

Appliqué letters on an altar cover
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Upcoming Stitch-Along: Garden Swirl for Summer

 

Happy Friday! Here’s a little project update for you!

We’re *almost* ready to launch our next Stitch Snippet stitch-along for Garden Swirl – a small embroidery project that we’re going to finish by mounting as a box lid.

Today, I’ll be finishing this final stitched sample that you can see below. I’ve had to stitch it – or parts of it – several times, to get the design just right and to work out the colors, which were eluding me for a while.

Before we go further, apologies for the photos. I have to rely on phone photos, because I’m working from home with dear old dad, and yes, I left the camera card at work. *Sigh* So much for thinking ahead…

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along Project
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Making the List: What Tutorial Would YOU Like?

 

Several times a year, I sit down with my trusty sidekick Anna, and we work on Lists.

I’m a firm believer in making lists, as long as they’re usable. I don’t like spending time making lists, only to find that they are pointless, out of date, or out of (realistic) touch with what we realistically need to be doing.

But I do like making lists that can help influence our next activities and that can shape where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

To this end… I have a question for you.

What Tutorial would YOU like?
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Highlighting Satin Stitch

 

Following the arrival and distribution of Elisabetta Sforza’s new book on padded satin stitched monograms earlier this year, I’ve received lots of little questions here and there lately about satin stitch techniques.

Today seems like as good a day as any – especially because I’m pushing a deadline on another project! – to highlight a few previous articles that are jam-packed with tips on satin stitching.

Satin Stitch refresh - ABC of Padded Stitch by Elisabetta Sforza
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