The other day when I wrote about favorite stitch dictionaries, a friend commented about a fantastic book called Samplers and Stitches by Mrs. Archibald Christie. Ironically, the book was on my list for blog posts this week! It’s a book I’m using for my needle arts class, and since it’s free online, I wanted to point it out to readers.

True to form, Mrs. Christie’s book is excellent! I love her books! And this one happens to be perfect for my current situation!

The challenge of preparing for a needlework class that meets every day for only 45 minutes at a time can be rather daunting. But I have to admit, teaching Needle Arts at the high school level is FUN! Despite the prep work, despite the glorious mess taking over my studio, I find that I’m enjoying the heck out of teaching the class. It almost seems… well… mercenary that I actually get paid for it!

When I bring up the Needle Arts class here on Needle ‘n Thread (which I promise won’t be every day!), I hope to make whatever I write about useful for you, too. Rather than just a journal of what I’m up to with the class, I’d like to share with you what I’m learning along the way. That’s the funny thing about teaching: it’s a learning experience for all parties concerned, not just the students.

Linen is my all-time favorite fabric for embroidery of every kind. I love linen! And I like all types of linen – even weave, plain weave, twill, damask – you name it! If it’s linen, I’m bound to like it. What I especially like about linen is that it is not “fake” looking. It’s a real fabric with a long and noble history, and, if it’s good linen, it always looks great.

One characteristic of linen is that, in the weave, there are often “imperfections.” Unlike Aida cloth (usually cotton), Lugana (cotton & viscose blend), and other mechanically perfect fabrics, linen will often have variations in the fabric that come from the spinning or weaving process. The better the linen, the fewer these variations, but even in the best linen, you will sometimes run across irregularities.

One such irregularity in linen is The Slub.

For my high school needlework class this year, I went through my bookshelf and selected my favorite stitch dictionaries to have on hand in the classroom. I thought I’d share the list with you. I’ve also linked to my reviews of them, in case you want to read a little more about the books.

Michael Cook of Wormspit sent along a link the other day to the website belonging to artist Cayce Zavaglia. Cayce is an artist who uses fibers (wool and acrylic) on canvas to create painted portraits, or at least what looks like painted portraits. This is needle painting taken truly to the artist’s level! It is amazing how Cayce Zavaglia uses strategically stitched threads to create these gorgeous portraits – and it is definitely worth taking a good look at the website!

Here’s a simple hand embroidery pattern that I cleaned up from an old French magazine from the turn of last … Continue reading Hand Embroidery Pattern: Little Fish