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
Contact Mary
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
Contact Mary
August 27, 2010
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.
August 26, 2010
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!
August 25, 2010
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
August 24, 2010
It sounds like the beginning of a dumb joke, doesn’t it: “What do you get when you combine wool felt, embroidery, stumpwork, sculpture, painting, nature, and embellishments all in one project?” Well, I’ll tell you what you get. You get Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects, by Sally Mavor.
August 23, 2010
Today, in celebration of the First Day of School, this is short post! I thought I’d point out a couple … Continue reading Good Online Needlework Deals…
August 22, 2010
As the summer draws to a close (officially, it ends today for me), I’ve been frantically preparing to teach the Needle Arts class I mentioned a while back. I really appreciate everyone’s feedback on the subject – your comments were very encouraging and really helped get me fired up about the class!
“Needle Arts” is probably a misnomer, and I may discuss this with the school a bit later. My brief exposure to other needle arts besides embroidery is minimal – I can crochet, but I don’t do it much; I can knit only the simplest stitches; and aside from occasional needle tatting (in conjunction with needle lace), I don’t tat. In fact, mostly, I just embroider. (You’ve probably noticed that!) My focus, then, for the class, is only embroidery of various types. The first quarter is devoted to counted techniques, including cross stitch, blackwork, Assisi work, and petit point. The remainder of the year is devoted to learning stitches and applying the knowledge in various surface embroidery techniques. I won’t go into all the gory details right now, but said techniques will include, especially, crewel work and silk work.
August 21, 2010
This past summer while I was away, one of my guest post writers was Anna Catagnetti, who has recently authored and published a book on “Openwork Embroidery” (Ricami a Fili Tesi).
Now that the book is on the market, I’ve had a chance to look at it, and I thought I’d show it to you, too. If you like needle lace, this is a good instructional book to have on hand!
