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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Field Trip: The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures

 

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A few weeks ago, while visiting friends in Kansas City, I had the opportunity to spend some time at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures.

Did you know that there’s a national museum of toys and miniatures? And did you know it’s in Kansas City? Even though many people consider Kansas a fly-over state, I just want you to know that we have some Real Happenin’ Things out here!

This museum is one of them. It’s a gem. I could spend hours and hours on the first floor, which houses the Most Spectacular collection of miniatures. These tiny little works of art are enchanting and mesmerizing.

Needlework figures into these miniature worlds in numerous ways, so I thought I’d share some quick snaps with you, to whet your appetite for more and encourage you to visit the museum if you’re ever out this way.

National Museum of Toys and Miniatures
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Cotton Quartet 9: Assembly & the Inside

 

Today, we get one step closer to the end of Cotton Quartet, a stitch-along project here on Needle ‘n Thread that we’ve been working on for a while.

After this installment, we only have one more step to go, and you’ll have a beautiful tool wallet for your favorite scissors and needles!

Before we launch into today’s lesson, a little tip: read through the whole article before you begin this part of the project. This is a long article today, with a lot of photos.

For members on Patreon, you already have this lesson (and all the lessons to finish Cotton Quartet) – they are part of the 4th PDF posted a week ago.

Cotton Quartet tool wallet: Assembly & inside
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Letters on a Large Embroidery Frame

 

Good morning, and welcome back! I hope you had a lovely weekend. We had a grand ole time out here in Kansas with the family. The weekend extended a little longer than originally planned, but all for a good cause! Nothing like a little family togetherness to highlight the summer!

But it’s good to get back into the swing of things here at the studio, where Anna and I are moving forward in small steps on the large goldwork project that we talked about a couple weeks ago.

Goldwork lettering for altar covers
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Cotton Quartet 8: Preparing for Assembly

 

Today, we’re going to tackle the most challenging part of finishing Cotton Quartet: we’re going to measure, cut, trim, and prepare the two parts of the project (the outside sampler cover and the inside gingham lining) for assembly.

Whenever you’re doing finish work on something you’ve put hours and hours of embroidery into, it’s a good idea to operate with this old adage in mind: measure twice, cut once.

My version goes more like measure ten times, cut once. Better to overdo it on the measuring than to make a mistake that you can’t undo.

The other tip to keep in mind: you can always trim more off, but you can’t add more on. So when you cut, it’s ok to give yourself excess fabric. It’s not ok to short yourself.

Final tips before we launch in: read through all the instructions before you start this part, gather all the supplies you will need before you start, and give yourself a good bit of quiet, uninterrupted time to work in.

Cotton Quartet 8: Preparing for Assembly
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Embroidery Tools – Thinking, Thinking, Thinking…

 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of some embroidery tools must be in want of more embroidery tools.

I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere.

I’m not wholly convinced it’s true, but I can confirm from personal experience that it’s not unusual to end up with a wide variety of embroidery tools if you’re an avid stitcher.

Scissor Fob
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Revisiting Gingham Embroidery or Chicken Scratch

 

Last week, after posting the most recent tutorial for Cotton Quartet, I received an influx of communication with questions and commentary on the style of embroidery that I worked on the gingham.

It’s a type of embroidery that, here in the States, is usually referred to as “chicken scratch.” It’s also known by various other names – gingham lace, gingham embroidery, hen scratch, broderie Suisse, depression lace…

Many of you recognized it, asked questions about where to find more information, patterns, and so forth, so I thought I’d just touch on the type of embroidery and re-share my resources on it, since we haven’t talked about it on Needle ‘n Thread in about five years!

gingham embroidery / chicken scratch
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My Colorful World

 

Right now, my world is very colorful, and all this color has me really excited!

At long last, I have in my hands (not quite literally) on an array of lovely linen in beautiful colors – high quality linen that performs marvelously for both surface embroidery and counted embroidery. And did I mention, it’s in color?!

As icing on the cake, I’ve just gotten in some silks in Massive hanks. They’re the kind of hanks that plop when you set them down. They’re so heavy and luscious and lovely…

embroidery linens: colored
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