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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Rhodes Embroidery – A Follow Up

 

Amazon Books

Quite a while ago, when I was exploring Lefkara Lace, I heard from a reader who was looking for a resource for Rhodes Embroidery. If you search online for Rhodes Embroidery, most likely you’ll come up with lots of references to Rhodes stitch, but this isn’t what the reader was asking about. She was looking for information on a form of whitework that mimics embroidery originating in Rhodes, and which is basically a pulled thread technique. While I was exploring online the other day, coming across oh-so-many needlework books to meander through, one of the books I came across which I should have mentioned long before this is The Cult of the Needle by Flora Klickmann. Like Elementary Embroidery, the book I pointed out yesterday, this is another gem that is worth downloading and keeping.

I’ve had the PDF version of this book for a long time, nestled in the deep recesses of my folders-within-folders-within-folders on my computer (covered in cobwebs, along with hundreds of other PDFs), but it wasn’t until I was using the handy-dandy “flip through the pages” set-up on the Internet Archive that I made it through every page in the book. And what did I come across?

Rhodes Embroidery
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Elementary Embroidery: Online Book – Free!

 

Elementary Embroidery by Mary Symonds is a little gem of a book – it’s old, it’s thorough on the basics, it’s still applicable today, and – perhaps best of all – it’s free!

I like to go squizzing around online to see what out-of-print needlework books are available. I really think that you can find just about any “how to” information on needlework online, in the old books, catalogs, and pamphlets printed before 1950 and made available on various websites for free. Sure, the instructions rely more on words than photos, and sure, the books are mostly black and white with line drawings (at best) for instruction, and sure, needlework products have changed a lot in the last 75 years. But the technique is there, and the technique is generally very good! If nothing else, many of the books are fun to read just to see how things used to be done!

This particular book – Elementary Embroidery – has some elements in it that I really like. If you have time, you might want to take a look at it.

Elementary Embroidery by Mary Symonds
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A-Z of Embroidery Stitches 2 Winner!

 

Wow! There was a good response to this week’s give-away of the book, A-Z of Embroidery Stitches 2. It’s one of those give-aways where I wish I could send out a copy to everyone! It’s such a great little book! Alas, there is only one. (Well, actually, I do have two, but one is mine … and you’d probably have to pry it out of my fingers with a crowbar in order for me to give it up! I’m just that stingy when it comes to my books!)

A-Z of Embroidery Stitches 2
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Deliberating over Linen Choices

 

Oooooooh. I’m in a bind. A pickle. A dilemma. A quandary, even. In short, I am bemuddled, addled, flustered, and even… confused. I’m feeling just a bit like Winnie the Pooh, when he realized he had fluff in his head. And it’s all because of LINEN!

I’ve begun work on the pall I was talking about yesterday twice now, and I can’t decide on the linen to use. Both linens I’ve started out with have shortcomings for this project. May I tell you about them? Maybe someone out there will have a better solution for me that will put my mind at rest!

Hand Embroidered Pall
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Transfer Embroidery Designs with a Flair?

 

I’ve been wanting to do this for a looooong time. Almost a year ago, I wrote about using watercolor pencils to transfer embroidery designs. After writing the post, in which I wished for the Ultimate Embroidery Transfer Implement, a reader (Jean, thank you!) sent me an e-mail suggesting that I try the Paper Mate Flair ultra fine felt tip marker in green. Now, the Papermate Flair is not an “embroidery transfer pen.” It is simply a fine tipped marker with a quick-drying water based ink. But I was curious about it – Jean said that she uses the green ultra-fine Flair for all her embroidery transfers and it washes out every time. So…. I purchased a set of the pens in a variety of colors and over the weekend, I finally began The Experiment.

Embroidery Transfer with Paper Mate Flair
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