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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Stitch Fun: Making Long Woven Picots without a Pin

 

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I like woven picots! You can do a lot with them!

A woven picot is a dimensional stitch that looks like the petals on this sunflower and this daisy. They can be flower petals. They can be leaves. They can be seaweed. They can be grass. They could be teeth on your favorite monster. They could be shark fins. Duck feet. Bird wings. They can be thick and long and luscious. They can be narrow, fine, and spindly. They can be attached or not attached.

They can be a lot of things.

We have two tutorials (more like stitch explorations) coming up that involve woven picots, but before we delve into those, I thought I’d show you a simple little trick for making woven picots – especially long woven picots – especially Really Long woven picots – when you don’t have a Really Long pin or needle to help you out.

It’s simple, really!

Let me show you what I mean.

Really Long Woven Picots
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Dovo Scissors & Substitutes

 

Over the years, I’ve written frequently about my second-favorite embroidery tool: scissors!

My first favorite is the most essential embroidery tool – the needle – but they’re such small things and they don’t require huge investments, so we don’t speak about them in the same reverential tones that we often use when speaking of scissors.

Once you really get into needlework, you’ll probably find that one of the first things you’ll want to acquire is a really good pair of embroidery scissors. The qualifications for a good pair of embroidery scissors are pretty simple: they’re small, they’re sharp, they’re well-made, and you fit your fingers.

Dove embroidery scissors & Substitutes
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Embroidered Grapes 2: Three Basic Fillings

 

Here in the States, we enjoyed a three-day holiday for Independence Day this past weekend, and I took advantage of the break to finish my organizational and cleaning projects. Whew! Done for now! It was a crazy, dirty, sweaty, labor-intensive week last week – I’m glad to be back to some sedate embroidery this week!

Last week, we looked at the first installment on the embroidered grapes project. Today, we’ll move forward, looking at three basic fillings for embroidering solidly-filled grapes. We’ll also talk about the order of work and why it’s important.

You’ll need to think of this version of the project more as The Grape Sampler. I’ll be presenting all kinds of ideas for embroidering grapes, all in one design. It will look a little bizarre, because it’s not what we’d expect to see in a coherent piece of embroidery. The idea is that we can then pick techniques that we like best, and work a coherent bunch of grapes using one or two effective techniques.

embroidered grapes - basic fillings
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How to Embroider Grapes, 1: Design & Initial Color List

 

The fourth project in our How to Embroider (Blank) series is a bunch of grapes. I shared a brief preview of the project with you a couple weeks ago, when we talked about making preliminary decisions and planning on an embroidery project like this.

Today, for those who want to follow along – or maybe you just want to stash this away for a future project – I’ll give you the design and talk about materials, including an initial color list.

We’ll also chat about what you can expect from the project, and how it is going to progress.

How to Embroidery Grapes - Design & Colors
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Hoops and Linens and Towels – Oh My!

 

Happy Monday, my friends!

It’s hard to believe that June has slipped away once more and we’re facing High Summer here on the Plains. Why is it always a surprise when July arrives?

Especially for those wise embroiderers who like to stitch ahead for the seasons, I have some exciting news for you! I’ve been really busy stocking those new utility shelves that went up a couple weeks ago, so I thought I’d send out a quick announcement to let you know what’s available and to tell you what’s coming!

Embroidery Supplies in stock, June 2021
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Transfer & Stitch – Another Transfer Book!

 

This morning, I want to give a quick heads-up for another transfer book that’s on the market, for those looking for an easy solution for transferring embroidery designs onto your fabric.

You might remember my review earlier this month of the Embroiderers’ Guild Transfer Collection.

Today’s book – Transfer & Stitch – is another problem-solving transfer collection that covers a range of embroidery design types.

Many of you wrote in with enthusiastic thanks for pointing out the Embroiderers’ Guild collection, so I thought you might want to know about this one while it’s brand spanking new!

Transfer & Stitch - embroidery design transfers
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