April 28, 2021

Home Sweet Home & White Linen Sampler

I’m so excited that Inspirations Studios decided to print a 10th Anniversary Edition of Home Sweet Home by Carolyn Pearce!

This is a fantastic book – it was when it was first published ten years ago and it is even more so today. The new edition features a few changes. I’ll tell you about those below.

I’ve also been putting together the next offering of embroidery linen samples, the White Linen Fabric Sampler Pack. I’ll tell you all about it below, too. It is… oh golly! It contains a little bit of everything I love about beautiful, crisp, lovely white linen! If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to stitch on the type of linen used to make those time-tested antique linens used for fine whitework, monogramming, ecclesiastical use, and more, read on!

Home Sweet Home: 10th Anniversary Edition

Hand Embroidery Tutorials

April 26, 2021

How to Embroider Daisies, Part 2: Simple Petals & Stem

Last week, we began our exploration into embroidered daisies, using the design & materials list that you’ll find in the first article in this series, here.

Today, we’ll start stitching!

We’re going to dispatch the first two daisies – they are very simple – and a little bit of the stem.

As we progress with this project, you’ll find all the articles for this series of tutorials on daisies listed in this index, so if you’re just joining at some point and you want to see what we’ve already done, check in there. Links to each tutorial in the series will be added as the project develops. You’ll also find other tutorials in this collection of How to Embroider (Blank) available in the same index.

As usual, members over on Patreon will find today’s tutorial (along with all the previous tutorials) available later today, as a downloadable PDF.

Ready?

How to Embroider Daisies Part 2: Simple Petals & Stem

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April 23, 2021

Stitch Fun 2021 Sampler – Slow Stitching!

When I started this 2021 year-long sampler project on January 1st, I had no idea where it was going.

And you’ll be happy to know that, in honor of All Things Random, I still have no idea where it’s going.

Even though it’s been a while since I shared an update, you’ll see that the sampler hasn’t moved along too far!

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April 21, 2021

Project Organization: Documenting Threads with Thread Cards

Over the years, I’ve solidified how I keep track of my embroidery journey – whether it’s ideas I’m trying to develop, designs I’m working on, projects and their materials, mistakes and adjustments, and so forth.

While my website Needle ‘n Thread is probably the most thorough record of my journey, I keep lists and notes while I work through projects, and all of these lists, notes, designs, ideas, adjustments, and what-have-you end up in a project notebook.

Still, with each project or each idea, I still find small adjustments that I make in the information that I record and my methods of recording it.

Keeping these notes and tidbits of information all in one place helps me in numerous ways, not just in developing ideas for projects, but also in answering your questions, ordering supplies, or simply remembering!

Lately, I’ve started adding real-thread color cards to my project notes. Let’s look at The What, The How, and The Why!

Thread cards for embroidery project organization

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April 19, 2021

How to Embroider Daisies: Design & Materials

Good morning, and happy Monday!

It’s spring here in Kansas (no comment about the expected 2-4″ of snow tonight and tomorrow!), and what better time to start thinking about embroidering summer flowers – specifically, daisies! Or, if you want, any of the daisy’s many varieties and relatives – from ox-eyes to marguerites to gerberas to asters, black-eyed susans, common sunflowers, and on and on and on.

What I love most about daisies is their distinct petal pattern and overall shape and structure. And while I like the simple common daisy, I’m drawn mostly to colored versions, like asters or gerbera daisies, or Kansas’s ubiquitous common sunflowers that grow wild by the roadside or more tamely in garden beds.

No matter what variety, daisies are happy flowers. There’s just something ever-so-cheery about them!

And that’s why the daisy is the focus of this third collection of lessons on How to Embroider (Blank).

In today’s first installment, you’ll find the design and the materials used for the stitched sample.

How to Embroidery Daisies: Design and Materials

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April 16, 2021

Briggs & Co Patent Transferring Papers: 1846-1901

I was reading an old needlework book the other day, published in 1907, when I came across a section on design transfer for embroidery. It began thus:

The transferring of designs on to the material is at no time a very easy occupation, and is certainly one which most people prefer to have done for them.

Some things haven’t changed much since 1907, methinks! Most of us who embroider for relaxation, for enjoyment, as a creative outlet, and even for a living are faced at one point or another with having to get a design onto fabric. For some, it can be a monumental deal-breaker. “If I have to transfer that, forget it.”

And while there are folks today who (hilariously – it always makes me chuckle!) will spurn iron-on transferring as if it is some kind of innovative, unworthy, inaccurate, or even harmful method of transfer (despite the massive leaps and bounds of ink science in recent decades), iron-on transfers have been the friend of the embroiderer for a long, long time.

Way back decades and decades – we can almost say centuries ago, and certainly longer than a century ago – methods of transferring embroidery designs were revolutionized by the iron-on transfer. And we continue to enjoy the benefits of the iron-on transfer today, thanks to those early pioneers in the process.

One of those pioneers was Briggs & Co.

In 1880 – that’s 141 years ago! – Briggs & Co published their catalog for patented iron-on embroidery transfers here in the US.

Briggs & Co transfer papers for embroidery

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April 14, 2021

Embroidered Strawberries Part 7: Last Touches & Finished!

Time to finish up the Strawberries!

We’ve followed this embroidery project featuring five strawberries from concept to completion, step by step, through a series of seven tutorials to finish the design.

If you’re just joining in on the tutorials, you’ll find the complete list of all the articles in this series on this Index Page. You’ll also find other How to Embroider (Blank) tutorials listed there as well.

Today, we’re going work the large leaf at the top of this design and all the stems, to finally arrive at this finish:

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

Home Sweet Home & White Linen Sampler

How to Embroider Daisies, Part 2: Simple Petals & Stem

Stitch Fun 2021 Sampler – Slow Stitching!

Project Organization: Documenting Threads with Thread Cards

How to Embroider Daisies: Design & Materials

Briggs & Co Patent Transferring Papers: 1846-1901

Embroidered Strawberries Part 7: Last Touches & Finished!

Connect with Mary

How-To Videos

Embroidery Tips & Techniques

Connect with Mary

How-To
Videos