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
June 23, 2010
Trees show up a lot in surface embroidery, and Kathy Shaw, author of the blog Shawkl, has a few hand embroidered trees to show us, along with some great tips on how to make them! Enjoy!
Need to stitch a fast and fabulous motif? How about a tree!
June 22, 2010
Kathy Andrews shares her first step on her Spring in Italy Sampler. If you’re just picking up on this series, be sure to check out the first article on Kathy’s design process on designing a hand embroidery project using Italian pottery as inspiration.
Here’s the first stitched design of the “Spring in Italy Sampler.” Why Spring in Italy? I have been to Italy many, many times, at all times of the year. Spring is the best. There aren’t nearly as many tourists as later in the summer, the air is fresher and the colors are clearer. Whenever I use this pottery, that’s what I remember – a cool, spring day in the hills of Italy. (Before those of you living outside Europe think I’m made of money…the distance from where I live in Berlin, Germany to Florence, Italy is the same as traveling from Ames, Iowa to Denver, Colorado. It’s a vacation spot but not the trip of a life time as it would be if I were living in the USA!)
June 21, 2010
A couple days ago, I introduced you to Yuki Sugashima of Barefoot Shepherdess, who uses natural dyes to color various threads and yarns for needlework. Today, Yuki presents a few of her favorite plants that she uses to dye her threads. Enjoy!
June 20, 2010
What inspires your creativity? In this series of guest posts, Kathy Andrews is going to explore several different designs inspired by Italian pottery. She’s going to show us not only her designing process, but also the effects of different threads used on similar designs.
June 19, 2010
Yuki Sugashima lives in Japan and is author of the blog Barefoot Shepherdess. Yuki started out as a knitter and spinner, but has recently moved into embroidery and natural-dyed threads. In the Barefoot Shepherdess’s Etsy shop, you’ll find naturally dyed embroidery threads of amazing color! The natural dyeing process is fascinating and Yuki writes about it beautifully – I hope you enjoy reading a little bit about Yuki’s adventures with naturally dyed threads.
June 18, 2010
A-Z of Stumpwork was originally published by Country Bumpkin Publications, but, as of 2015, it has been recently re-published by Search Press, along with the rest of the A-Z needlework series.
This is good news for embroiderers worldwide, because the A-Z books are some of the best embroidery reference books (and the most beautiful!), and they’re now available to a wider audience, more affordably.
A-Z of Stumpwork focuses on dimensional embroidery techniques, made famous in 17th century embroidery, and enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity today.
June 17, 2010
Over the next few weeks, Needle ‘n Thread is going to be on “auto drive” – but never fear, there’s a whole line-up of interesting articles on needlework-related topics coming up!
