October 7, 2022

Oh Wow! A Passion for Needlework at the Whitehouse Daylesford

Several years ago, Inspirations Studios launched a new series of books called A Passion for Needlework. Each volume is a celebration of exquisite needlework projects, displayed in extraordinary, beautiful settings.

The books are not only project and instructional books, but they are wonderful display books that are perfect for a coffee table or side table in your home. They’re a great way to share your passion for needlework with visitors, family, and friends who can enjoy meandering through the books and reveling in the beauty they present.

At the same time, they are very usable project and instruction books. The projects are, of course, inspirational in themselves. Since the first book was published, I’ve always thought that creating each project in each book would be a roadmap for an incredible embroidery journey.

A Passion for Needlework 4 / The Whitehouse Daylesford is the newest book in the series. It is also the largest – an impressive tome of beautiful needlework and sumptuous photography in 240 pages sewn into a hard cover, linen binding, gold foil, a ribbon bookmark, premium print quality, and a pocket for pattern storage.

A Passion for Needlework 4: Whitehouse Daylesford

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

October 5, 2022

Autumn Fire 3: Leaves & Color

Woooohooo! Today’s the fun color day with Autumn Fire! We get to do two things that I just love doing, when it comes to embroidery:

1. We’re going to work with silk thread; and

2. We’re going to manipulate color.

If you’re just joining in, Autumn Fire is part of the Stitch Snippets series here on Needle ‘n Thread. This is a series of a stitch-along projects that develop here on the website and are available as PDF downloads for members on Patreon.

Although the first round of materials kits sold out, I’ll have more available in the near future. We’re just waiting on a couple key supplies.

Last week, we talked about design transfer and embroidering the trunk and branches of the tree. This week, we’re adding the fiery foliage.

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September 30, 2022

Goldwork Progress: Moving on to the Sparkly Parts!

Oh golly. It’s Friday! Hurray!

Here in my small hometown in Kansas, it’s the last weekend of the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival (Othello this year – spoiler: everyone dies). And that means that it’s going to be another busy weekend!

Next week, with that yearly milestone behind us, we will settle down again to some Big Progress here in the studio. We’ll be focusing on two things this coming week: 1. organizing, reducing, and packing supplies up for the eventually-imminent studio move; and 2. Goldwork. Goldwork. and More Goldwork.

We’ve been making some progress on the goldwork altar cover, I’m happy to say. Anna has been plugging away at the couching – which is finally all finished! – and I’ve started the chip work on the tiny tail of one letter.

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

September 28, 2022

Autumn Fire 2: Transfer & The Trunk

Time to launch into the official work on Autumn Fire!

Last week, we covered some preliminaries. Today, we are going to talk about design transfer and how to stitch the trunk and limbs of the tree.

As usual with stitch-alongs on Needle ‘n Thread, I’ll eventually have an index of these articles available so you can easily find them in one place here on the website, under Tips & Techniques in the main menu.

For members on Patreon, you’ll receive the instructions in PDF format, which makes it easier to save and print.

For those looking for the materials kit for Autumn Fire, we will have those in stock for you again. We’re just working on getting supplies in. Thanks for your patience!

Let the fun begin!

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September 26, 2022

Silk Embroidery Threads: A Recap

Good morning, and Happy Monday!

When we started warming up for the Autumn Fire stitch-along (which launched last week with the design and which we start stitching on Wednesday), many questions about silk embroidery threads started rolling in. In most cases, these questions are from our fellow stitchers out there who haven’t had the opportunity to work with silk threads and who feel a little intimidated by the idea.

That’s why today, I want to offer you – especially if you’re new to Needle ‘n Thread – some previous articles on silk threads. If you’ve not embroidered with silk before and it seems like a mysterious and inaccessible thread to you, hopefully this will put your mind at ease and perhaps it may even open up a whole new world of fiber for you!

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

September 23, 2022

Autumn Fire 1: Preliminaries & Design

At long last! Today, we start Autumn Fire, the project I wanted to begin with you at the end of August, and here we are, approaching the end of September.

On the bright side, we’re just getting a taste of autumn here in Kansas. Perhaps my Autumn Mood (which is usually pretty chipper!) will kick in and the project will progress even better because of it. Two days ago, it was still 100 degrees here, after all. It’s hard to be cheerful about autumn when summer won’t release its hot little hands…

So, let’s talk about what to expect, cover some preliminaries, and then I’ll hand off the tree design to you. We’ll also chat a bit about the transfer of the design to your fabric.

Hand Embroidery Books

September 21, 2022

Fine Whitework: Techniques, Projects & Pure Inspiration

I know what you’re thinking! And I don’t blame you!

After my article on Monday about my book dilemma, here I am, writing another book review.

Oh, ye hypocrite! you may well cry. But this is The Thing: This book is so beautifully thorough that I could pretty much eliminate every other book I own on this type of whitework embroidery, thereby saving quite a bit of shelf space!

Of course, I won’t do that. I have several books on whitework that I very much appreciate and use.

But wow! Jenny Adin-Christie’s new book, Fine Whitework, is a barn burner from cover to cover. I think we are super fortunate to have this book available, written by a master embroiderer who has such a profound artistic sense and such notable teaching skills. It seems to me that only Jenny Adin-Christie could have written this book and pulled off such a masterpiece that makes traditional fine whitework accessible to today’s embroiderer.

That’s just my opinion. But let’s look at the book up close. It’s hard to review, because there’s so much valuable content in it. How do I choose what to highlight?!

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Oh Wow! A Passion for Needlework at the Whitehouse Daylesford

Autumn Fire 3: Leaves & Color

Goldwork Progress: Moving on to the Sparkly Parts!

Autumn Fire 2: Transfer & The Trunk

Silk Embroidery Threads: A Recap

Autumn Fire 1: Preliminaries & Design

Fine Whitework: Techniques, Projects & Pure Inspiration

Connect with Mary

How-To Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos