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
April 23, 2021
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!
April 21, 2021
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!
April 19, 2021
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.
April 16, 2021
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.
April 14, 2021
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:
April 12, 2021
Happy Monday!
Today, a quick bit of Thread Talk – the perfect Tonic for a Monday Morning.
Last week, for Easter, I posted this Spring Eye-Spy image and jigsaw puzzle, and it generated some thread questions.
Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm… Embroidery thread! Oh yeah. Favorite subject. Let’s talk about it!
April 9, 2021
Time to take a break from Strawberries!
I thought I’d show you how I embroider the wee ladybugs on the Garden Party ready-to-stitch towel sets I released a couple weeks ago.
I love little garden critters, and the ladybug (or “ladybird” depending on where you’re from) is always a favorite to add to whimsical floral designs like Garden Party.
At the end of the tutorial, we’ll talk about when and why you might make a slight alteration in technique on these little buggy dots.
