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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Orvus for Cleaning Vintage Linens, Needlework, Quilts, and Stuff

 

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The other day when I growled about my Big Mistake with the bleeding dye from the silk thread I was using on a hand embroidered pall, I mentioned Orvus, and since then, I’ve gotten lots of questions about it.

I’m not an expert on cleaners and so forth – I’m just going to tell you what I know about Orvus, which isn’t necessarily from the “expert” point of view – but maybe there are others out there who can vouch for it, too.

Orvus Cleaner
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And Thus the Tale Ends…

 

Sorry about stringing you along there yesterday! The fact is, I wasn’t sure how this tale would end. Would Orvus be the hero of the piece, saving the fair embroidery so that we could all live happily ever after? Or would this be one of the stories with the unsatisfactory ending – realism, in a harsh and unforgiving world?

It’s difficult to say. I think we could call it a story of compromise. The Orvus didn’t work completely, but it worked enough to be satisfactory.

Hand Embroidered Pall
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The Mother of All Humility Mistakes

 

There are some stories that shouldn’t be told. Those regrettable moments when we embarrass ourselves so badly that we cause others to feel embarrassed for us – these are the moments that should be kept hushed, within familial circles and among close friends, protected by that little bubble of “We-love-you-too-much-to-let-other-people-know-just-how-stupid-you-are.”

In my family, it never really works that way. We’re pretty up front about things, and we don’t mind laughing at ourselves. In this particular case, though, there’s a bit of an obligation to share a little stitching-related experience I had yesterday, so that you can learn from my mistake and hopefully never do what I did!

Hand Embroidered Pall
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Embroidered Pall: Finished and Half-Way Finished

 

Have you ever experienced the elation of finishing your embroidery on a project, then suddenly realized that you’re really only half-way finished? That’s the case with the hand embroidered pall I’m working on. When last we visited the project, I was filling in the letters with stem stitch, and I still had quite a way to go on the other little elements in the embroidery. Now, I’ve finished with the embroidery, but I’ve still got the assembly process to face, as well as adding lace to the edge.

Overall, I like the way the embroidered design came out – I hope you do, too!

Ecclesiastical Embroidery: Hand Embroidered Pall
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Needle Arts Class Preparation

 

Over the next two weeks, as the summer comes to a rapid close, I’ll be frantically preparing for the next school year to start.

If you’re a teacher, you already know that the summer is not really completely free. During the summer, we prepare for the next year in various ways: by professional development, by study, by organizing paperwork, by planning classes, and on and on. I’d also say that the relaxing that teachers can do during the summer also helps prepare them for the next year! So summer is a time of preparation for the teacher, and though I am not always as diligent as I should be in this regard, I do at least attempt a modicum of preparation for the next year.

This summer, I have something different to prepare for – something I find kind of exciting!

School Sampler
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