Yesterday, I showed you the Lizardine real metal thread as it’s being used on the Floral Glove project from Thistle Threads.

Today, I thought I’d show you Lizardine up close! Continue reading “Lizardine vs. Pearl Purl: Goldwork Embroidery Threads”

A name like Lizardine can’t help but provoke a question mark! Lizardine? Scaly? Lizardy? Reptile-ish? Lizardine is actually a beautiful real metal thread used in goldwork. I’d like to give you a little preview of what it is, and then go into further detail later by comparing to another more familiar real metal thread, pearl purl.

Today, I’m going to show you a fun and convenient way to organize your threads for your embroidery projects – Thread Drops! Have you seen these? Well, now’s your chance to see them! I’ll show you how they work, and I’ll tell you what I like about them.

There are some things in the World of Stitched Stuff that deserve to sparkle. The snowflake. The dragonfly’s wing. The treasure under the sea. And to get these things to sparkle, we can resort to all kinds of threads on the market – specialty threads abound today! Blending filament is one way to achieve sparkles in your embroidery, but … alas … most blending filaments are simply a pain to work with. They snap, they stretch, they shred. Well, the answer is simple – if you want sparklies, you should Accentuate!

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to devote a “chunk” of time to stitching. Yesterday, I actually made some progress on the Floral Glove project! I’m not finished yet by a long shot, but I did at least finish the top half of the piece, which is a relief. I’m hoping desperately to get the Blackwork Fish and the Floral Glove finished by the end of this week, so that I can move on to arranging a few other projects before we take off on our little road trip. And, hanging over my head like a low, dark cloud, there’s also the riffemrackemfrickemfrackem studio that needs cleaning and organizing this week! (More on that, later!)

In the meantime, here’s an ever-so-brief update of the project:

Elizabethan twist is a real metal thread used in goldwork embroidery. It’s very fine, and it’s made out of two even finer gold threads lightly twisted together. This is the stuff that is outlining most of the embroidered elements on the floral glove project. I love Elizabethan twist – it’s delicate, pretty, and adds just the right amount of gold sparkle around the edges of the silk embroidery. I finally managed to finish outlining the central flower on the project, so I thought I’d show you some progress!

Would you like to be featured on Needle ‘n Thread this summer? If you stitch, if you write about needlework or textiles on a blog, if you have a hand-made enterprise for needlework-related goods (like an Etsy or Artfire shop), if you own a needlework shop, if you are a needlework book author or publisher, if you dye your own threads or fabrics, if you’re a designer or a manufacturer – if you’re involved in the needlework industry in any way at all and would like to contribute content to Needle ‘n Thread, I’m ready and waiting!