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Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Turkey!

2009-11-09T05:21:00.000-06:00

Here's a free hand embroidery pattern for you, in case you feel like embroidering a turkey...

In America, the turkey is the Great American Thanksgiving Icon. I like Thanksgiving weekend - don't get me wrong! - but my liking the weekend has far less to do with the turkey than it does with the fact that it is a four day weekend of family gatherings that usually incite a festive holiday mood. (And it signals only three more weeks until school holidays for Christmas!)

To tell you the truth, when it comes to Thanksgiving weekend, I could take or leave the turkey.

Still.... I do like turkeys in general, despite the connotations often associated with the name of the bird. "You turkey!" is not really a compliment, you know. "Don't let the turkeys get you down" implies that the turkey is negative, maybe even hostile or oppressive. I wonder why that is? When I see wild turkeys here in Kansas (and they abound!), they make me happy. I like to see the birds here and there, clustered on the edges of newly harvested fields. I love to have my windows open in the autumn and hear the turkeys out in the woods behind my house.

They don't go "gobble, gobble," by the way.

I think, in general, the turkey has gotten a bad rap.

And really, I'm not sure my drawing helps. If I were a turkey with these feet, I'd be pretty embarrassed.

Still, it makes an adequate little turkey embroidery pattern, which you can enlarge or reduce, depending on what you want to do with it. Reduced a bit (the PDF version, especially), I think it would look pretty stately and turkey-like, stitched in the corner of cloth napkins or a bread cloth for your Thanksgiving table.

Here's the pattern - click on it for a larger version, then save it to your computer. You can then enlarge or reduce it as you wish.

And here's the PDF version:

Hand Embroidery Pattern - Turkey (PDF)

Enjoy!

Highlights from the Needle Show Retail

2009-11-06T06:29:00.004-06:00

The Online Needle Show for retail buyers is now open - and you'll find quite a large collection of shops and designers listed, waiting for you to come browsing through. Sometimes, though, it's hard to make it through a whole long list like this, especially if we hit a few links at random and don't find anything we like. I thought I'd point out a few things that caught my eye, in case you're interested in direct links.

First off, there's the Mad Samplar Book Company and Needlework Shop. The owner, Paige, has recently expanded her site, which has focused on specialty needlework books, into a shop that now carries kits and charts, and hopefully will expand further to carry some specialty supplies (well, this is my hope, anyway!). What I want to specifically point out is that she is now carrying Luzine Happel's books, Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework and Fancy Hems! They're the first two books listed on her show page, so if you're interested in them, go look!

Another favorite at the Needle Show is Chickadee Hollow Designs. For the surface embroiderer, Chickadee Hollow offers some primitive designs, as well as some fun crazy-quilt-looking items, such as her Christmas stockings. These aren't precisely "crazy quilting" - rather, they are printed designs that give you the fun of seam embellishments and surface embroidery, without the piecework.

Another favorite of mine featured at the show is the French Needle. Featuring mostly cross stitch designs, you'll find some really pretty European ones there. You'll also find some nice French books on alphabets, and, if you visit her shop directly, you'll also find some surface embroidery kits from Europe, including reproduction kits of the Bayeux tapestry. (I've got one of these - some day, I'll find time to stitch it!)

Thistle Needleworks features Gumnut Yarns from Australia. I like these threads - they're expensive, but they're really beautiful. If you're looking for some specialty threads for a fine project, you might want to check them out.

Mani di Donna carries some neat biscornu patterns. Threads of Gold carries some beautiful reproduction samplers. And Shakespeare's Peddler (where I get my Dovo scissors) has some interesting thread packs and a very pretty Ackworth Box available.

Those are the vendors that caught my eye at the show. Granted, I haven't had a chance to browse through Every Single Link! How about you? Have you browsed through the shops yet and found anything in particular that struck your fancy?? Do tell!

Hand Embroidered Lettering and Text 5: Whipped Backstitch

2009-11-05T04:40:00.013-06:00

To hand embroider relatively small letters, I like to use whipped backstitch. The letters I'm embroidering in this tutorial are approximately half an inch high. Whipped backstitch works really well with them because it provides a fairly smooth, very precise line without much extra bulk.

If you don't know how to backstitch, feel free to check out my video tutorial for backstitch. Then you can check out the whipped backstitch video tutorial.

I'm working the word "Brown" on my lettering sampler in one strand of DMC floss. "Brown" is smaller than the other words so far on the lettering sampler - with the exception of the "B," the letters are just less than half an inch tall.

I should be using a #10 embroidery (or crewel) needle, and I think, in most of these photos, I am. But towards the end of stitching the word, after one of those unavoidable interruptions, I couldn't find my #10 needle, so I switched to a #9. I suggest a #10 - or, if you have one, a #11.

I began by backstitching up the spine of the B. When I finished covering the pencil line with the backstitch, I brought my needle up in the fabric right at the top of the line of stitches.

Working back down the line towards me, I whipped the backstitches by sliding my needle from right to left under each backstitch, all the way down the line.

Now, since I started whipping my stitches from right to left and down the line towards me, I made sure that, as I stitched each letter, I kept the same direction. Yesterday's article demonstrates the importance of consistent stitch direction. If you haven't read it yet, you might want to check it out so that you can see the distinct differences between stitching in different directions.

After whipping down the line, I jumped over to the base of the B and backstitched the lower bump. For some reason unbeknownst to me at this moment, I did not finish backstitching up the top bump. You can, of course - it will save you time and having to travel your thread on the back of the fabric to get to your next starting point.

I turned my work so that I was whipping the backstitches (again, from right to left) down the stitches towards me. To keep everything going correctly in the same direction and avoid confusion, just turn your hoop as you stitch.

So there's the first bump of the B, done.

To get to the next bump without carrying a loose thread across the back of my stitching, I turned my work over so I could run my thread under the backs of the stitches and move up to the next bump.

The backstitching on the second bump of the B is whipped in the same was as it was on the first bump of the B.

And there you have the B...

The R is stitched in the same manner. I began with the spine first and backstitched up it, then whipped the backstitches, moving from right to left, coming down the spine.

Then, turning my work over and running my working thread under the back of the stitches, I moved back up to the top of the R and backstitched the bump and the tail. See where the arrow points? I left a tiny space at the top of the tail, just below the bump, because this is where I will sink my thread after whipping the tail of the R.

Then I brought my needle up where the bump comes in contact with the spine in the middle of the letter.

My backstitching brought me to the base of the tail. In order to keep the stitching direction correct, I turned my hoop so that the letters were upside-down, and I whipped the backstitches on the tail, sinking the thread in the tiny space next to the bump.

Then I moved over next to the spine, brought my needle up, and whip stitched the bump of the R, turning the hoop as necessary to keep the stitching in the right direction.

And there you have the B and the R complete.

Now, it's time to work on the O. Remember that, because these letters are not connected, each time a new letter is started, you have to start the thread again. In the first two stitching tutorials of this series, I discussed how to start your threads with each letter.

Once the O was backstitched, I brought my needle up inside the O, ready to whip the stitches.

Again, to keep the stitch direction correct, I turned my hoop so that the letters were upside-down.

While stitching around the O, just keep turning the hoop to keep the direction.

The black arrow in the photo above indicates where I started whipping the backstitches. As I finished the circle, I sunk my needle on the outside of the O (indicated by the red arrow), opposite to where I started.

I'm sure you're getting the hang of this by now! So let's move quickly through the rest of the letters. Backstitch the complete W, then whip the backstitches down the last leg, towards you, working your needle from right to left.

For the next leg, turn your hoop around so the letters are upside-down again, and whip the next leg, then turn the hoop again, whip the next leg, then turn the hoop one more time to whip the last backstitched line of the W. As you finish whipping the backstitches in each line, you sink your thread to make a sharp finish, then bring your needle up at the top of the next line.

The finished W...

Work the N just as you did the W, backstitching the whole thing first, then whipping the backstitches and turning your hoop as you need to. As you finish whipping each line of the backstitching, remember to sink your thread and start the next line new, to keep the angles sharp.

And here is the finished word, and the lettering sampler so far!

We've now covered plain backstitch lettering, which also focused on how to travel your threads on the back of the fabric to make sure you don't leave loose threads; we've covered stem stitch on lettering, making sure that the stitch direction is kept consistent; we've seen how to dot an I in hand embroidery; and now we've seen whipped backstitch, which is a nice stitch for small lettering.

The next tutorial will cover combining two stitches - buttonhole and stem stitch - on letters that are thick in some parts and thin in others.

All these tutorials are easily accessible under Tips and Tricks for Hand Embroidery in the Editor's Floss located at the top of the right column of the website, and also directly at the Index of Tutorials for Hand Embroidered Lettering.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, don't hesitate to leave them in the comment section below!

Enjoy!

Stitch Direction Makes a Difference

2009-11-04T09:45:00.002-06:00

Before venturing a bit further on the hand embroidered lettering tutorials, I wanted to show you how the direction in which you stitch can make a difference in the look of your stitches. Here, I'm focusing on whipped backstitch, but the concept applies to any whipped stitch.

I'm starting with a small backstitched line, which I've stitched from the top of my fabric down towards the base.

The arrow in the above photo indicates the direction I stitched the line. This part really doesn't make that much of a difference, but you can see that, from the base of the line, I'm beginning to whip the back stitches from right to left, going back UP the line.

I'm going to whip each stitch, going in the same direction - up the line - and working my needle in the same direction, from right to left, as the curved arrows indicatel

After whipping the first line of backstitch, I stitched another line right next to it, and as you can see in the photo above, I began whipping the backstitch at the top of the line, working DOWN towards me, and still whipping the stitches from right to left. The difference here is the direction in which I am traveling, which is down the line instead of up it, as I did with the first line.

Though the whipping of the stitch is done in the same direction (from right to left under the backstitches), the direction in which I stitched (from the base to the top on the left line, and from the top to the base on the right line) makes a difference in the way the two lines look when they are whipped. The left line is smoother looking, and the right line is a little chunkier looking. This is because, when I worked the left line, the working thread was untwisting while I whipped the stitches, and when I worked the right line, the working thread was twisting itself as I whipped the stitches.

My point here is not to say that one way of whipping the stitches is better than the other. Rather, the idea is that, when you are working a whipped stitch, if you want all your stitching to look the same, you have to be consistent in two ways: 1. in the direction your stitching is traveling (here, up the line or down the line); and 2. in the direction in which you whip the stitch (from right to left or left to right).

It helps to work two parallel practice lines before you start whipping your stitches, to see what look you like better, so that you can be consistent in whipping your stitches in the same direction.

SO - when we move on to the next hand embroidered lettering tutorial (tomorrow's post), you'll see that I made an effort to be consistent with the direction of my stitching and the direction in which I moved my needle to whip the stitches.

Needlework Temptations and the Musings of a Retail Customer

2009-11-03T04:46:00.000-06:00

In the mood for a little needlework temptation? Well, I almost didn't share this one, but then I reconsidered! You see, there's a little side of me that's whispering, "Don't do this to your readers .... " and another little side of me that's practically shouting, "Are you kidding?! They won't want to miss this!" And then there's the other little side of me (oh, it's true - I have so many sides!) that is calmly saying, "There's nothing wrong with looking. Just be prudent..."

Each year, twice a year, there's an online wholesale needlework event - a trade show, as a matter of fact - called The Needlework Show. The concept behind it is fairly simple - shop owners can browse through the inventory of different wholesalers in the trade and order stuff for their shops, without having to travel to a trade show. Regular retail customers (you and me) can browse through and see the things that are available, and ask our local needlework shops to order this or that thing that we might see. It's a nice concept, but for the average retail shopper, unless you're in pretty close cahoots with your local needlework shop, it just doesn't mean all that much, except that we do get to see some new stuff coming out on the market.

Mostly, I keep up with the event to see what's going on in the world of needlework threads (several thread companies usually display their wares during the show) and to see if there's anything new and enticing in the way of needlework accessories.

Well, guess what? There's a new show in town, created by the same folks, only it's called Needle Show Retail... and it's our opportunity to experience the "trade show" approach to needlework supplies.

This is the way it works: between November 5th - 8th, you register as a customer, and then you browse the booths. Some of the booths are simply for advertising, while others will be taking orders. You get to see what's coming out new on the market, or what specialty items are available, and then, you get to shop through the various retailers. Basically, what you're getting is the convenience of shopping or browsing through many retailers all in one spot. They'll only be displaying a small number of items, though - my guess is, they'll be displaying what's new or particularly popular in their shops.

Even though this approach is mega-convenient (if the shops feature any needlework goods that you are interested in), I would gently suggest that you might take a look at what's available on the retail market, then see if your own LOCAL needlework shop can order what you want. If they can't or won't, then order online. Supporting your local needlework shop first will help ensure that your local needlework shop stays in business!

Now, speaking of interest in Local Needlework Shops and so forth, I have been musing a bit about a recent surge of interest in an interesting project called The 3/50 Project. Have you heard about it? It is a movement to encourage people to shop locally at privately owned businesses that have brick-and-mortar stores. (Ironically enough, the 3/50 Project has an online shop for their promotional merchandise, and no ... ahem ... brick and mortar store...)

I'd love to know what you all think of this project. I agree wholeheartedly with the concept - I live in a small town, and I know the value of small privately owned businesses.

But as a serious needleworker who regularly shops for needlework supplies through retail businesses (and mostly online, because my LNS does not cater to my interests), I find there's another side of the issue that bears consideration and has me thinking:

When I shop for needlework supplies that I often need in my projects, or when I shop for kits that are suited to my tastes, the only place I can find them is through online retail businesses, most of which don't have brick-and-mortar stores. Some of these businesses are in the States (the Japanese Embroidery Center, Hedgehog Handworks, Yodamo, The French Needle, Thistle Threads, etc.) and some are not (Berlin Embroidery, Benton & Johnson, Alison Cole, for example).

The way I see it, for the needleworker in the US who is interested in a variety of needlework techniques, if we were to restrict ourselves solely to brick and mortar stores, it surely would mean the death of most needlework techniques in America, with the exception of cross stitch and needlepoint. I would sorely love to find a brick-and-mortar store in the States that supplies the range of metal threads for goldwork; that supplies floche and coton a broder for surface embroidery, whitework and cutwork; that carries a range of fine linen; that sells beautiful surface embroidery kits from a variety of talented designers...

Does such a store exist anywhere except through the combination of retailers available online? I'm afraid it doesn't. And if we turn our backs equally on these specialty retailers who sell online only, we would be eliminating our ability to embroider with the specialty supplies that we need. Many of these small online specialty needlework shops are home-grown businesses begun by a needleworker with a real passion for needlework and a real fortitude to undertake running a business for a rather slim market. I can't begrudge them their lack of brick and mortar.

So that's what I've been musing about. At the same time, I do have a fear for the survival of small local needlework shops in the present economy, so I do my bit when I can and shop locally.

Any thoughts on the subject? And hey - if you've found the Ultimate Needlework Shop - feel free to recommend it in the comments section below!

Comparison of Flat Silks - Stitched Experiment

2009-11-02T05:08:00.001-06:00

Ilke, a reader from the UK, worked the following piece in order to compare different types of flat silk. She has written a comprehensive comparison between five flat (or "semi-flat" - if that's an acceptible term!) silks available on today's market: Eterna, Au Ver a Soie's Soie Ovale, Piper's (which is also the same as Helen Stevens's True Embroideries Sleave Silk), JEC flat silk from the Japanese Embroidery Center, and House of Embroidery's Fine Flat Silk. She also includes Pearsall's Filofloss, which has been discontinued. For her impressions of these different silks, and a close-up look at them stitched, read on...

First, we'll begin with the stitched piece that Ilke uses to demonstrate the various silks she is comparing in this "experiment." I've left the photo rather large so that you can click on it and look at the stitches fairly close.

Now, I'm going to let Ilke tell you all about her experiment. You'll find some very useful and thorough information here - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

This is a comparison experiment between the flat silks I've got. There are quite a few, but for the moment I will ignore the ones which either come in very few shades (like Erawan Thai silk), or which come in variegated shades only (like Stef Francis), because they aren't suitable if you want to build up a collection with a good range of shades for ordinary charts (as opposed to monochrome designs, blackwork, Assisi designs or charts which are specifically designed for variegated threads).

Five flat silks remain: Eterna Stranded (ES), Au Ver á Soie Soie Ovale (SO), Pipers 90 Floss Silk (P), JEC Flat Silk (JEC), and House of Embroidery Fine Flat Silk (HE) (which is strictly speaking variegated, but has quite a few shades which are only very softly shaded). I've added a sixth silk, Pearsall's Filofloss (PF) – it's a flat silk which came in many different colours, but it has unfortunately been discontinued and replaced with Filoselle, which is a twisted silk.

All six silks are filament (reeled) silk (with the possible exception of HE); this means that the very fine filaments that make up the thread were reeled in one continuous strand from the silk moth's cocoon, and not spun from short pieces and leftover odds and ends. Because filament silks are built up out of continuous filaments, they are stronger and less prone to fuzziness than spun silks. On the other hand, they do tend to snag quite easily, on anything that isn't smooth – the edge of your fabric, rough skin, anything. Fortunately, it is also easily smoothed back into shape again, and can then be used again without looking any the worse for it.

ES and PF are stranded silks, 12 and 6 strands respectively, but because ES strands are so fine, the threads come to roughly the same thickness. ES strands are about 1/2a strand of DMC, PF strands are a little heavier than a strand of DMC.
SO, P, JEC and HE are single-stranded silks. SO is about 2 strands of DMC, JEC a little less than 2 strands, HE about 1 strand, P is about 1/2 a strand. SO and JEC, being thicker than the others, are a little less versatile in playing with different amounts of coverage, although they can be divided by very carefully separating the filaments (up to 16) which make up the threads – this is rather a fiddly job, though.
Each of these flat silks actually seem to give better coverage than their thickness would make you expect, because the silk lies flat and has a higher lustre than stranded cotton.

ES comes in 545 shades, in 5m skeins at $1.05
SO comes in about 50 shades, in 15m reels at $2.20
P comes in 224 shades, in 80m or 150m reels at $1 or £1.65
JEC comes in about 250 shades, in 60m reels at $7 or £4.70
HE comes in about 100 shades, in 30m card bobbins at £2.25 (100m reels are available direct from H of E, but I don't know the price)
PF is no longer available; I don't know how many shades it came in.

The amount of "coverage" you get per skein or reel compared to DMC stranded cotton is approximately as follows:
ES equals about 5m of DMC ($0.21/m)
SO equals about 5m of DMC ($0.44/m)
P equals about 6 1/2 or 12m of DMC (£0.15/m or £0.14/m)
JEC equals about 18m of DMC ($0.39/m or £0.26/m)
HE equals about 5m of DMC (£0.45/m)

Of these, I have read that only JEC is a truly flat silk. In practice there is little difference with P and OS, but ES, HE and PF are indeed a little less flat. In the case of ES and PF this may be because they are stranded, and have a slight twist to combine the strands, even though the strands themselves are flat. P and HE will usually have to be combined to get the required thickness, and so need occasional smoothing with the needle to get it to lie fully flat when stitched.

The project is stitched on burgundy 28ct Lugana over two.

I started with Eterna Stranded (the darker part of the rose). For good coverage, 5 strands are required. The strands lie quite flat without much help, although occasionally it needs a little smoothing with the needle. The silk snags fairly easily, but is as easily smoothed back into shape again. On the whole it is quite easy to work with, and it has a strong lustre. Drawbacks to this silk are that occasionally a skein may have some unevenness in some of the strands which cannot be smoothed out, and sometimes even broken strands; there are also occasional irregularities in the dyeing, leaving white spots. Even when this happens, however, only a very small part of the skein is rendered unusable, and as it is one of the cheapest flat silks around it is no great burden to buy a little more than you need, just in case.

The second part was stitched with JEC Flat Silk (the lighter part of the rose). In order to experiment with coverage, I stitched the left-hand petals using one thread, and the right-hand ones using a double thread. For good coverage, the double thread is needed; a single thread gives a more lacy effect. The thread lies perfectly flat without any assistance, but it does snag on absolutely everything, so it is essential to make sure that the edges of your fabric are smooth. As with the Eterna silk, however, this snagging has no lasting effect on its smoothness or its lustre, which is very strong with a slight haziness to the shine. In spite of the snagging, I found this a lovely silk to work with simply because it feels so smooth and looks lovely the moment you've laid a stitch; the sheen is very visible even when only one thread is used, but even stronger with a double thread (as there is more surface).

I then used House of Embroidery Fine Flat Silk for the top left-hand leaf. This silk surprised me, as it looks as though it has a very slight twist which might affect its sheen, but it stitches up beautifully with a lovely strong lustre. A double thread gives good coverage, and it is easy to work with, hardly snagging at all. It feels a little more springy than the other silks, and needs good tension and railroading to lie nice and flat.

The next leaf down is done in Pearsall's FiloFloss. Two strands give very good coverage, and apart from some slight snagging it is easy to work with, although it does need "dangling" occasionally to make sure it doesn't tangle, something none of the other silks seems to need a lot. This has a moderate lustre, and when stitched does show a slight twist, although only when compared to other flat silks.

The top right-hand leaf and the stem are stitched in Pipers 90 denier Silk Floss. This is the thinnest of the silks, and needs four threads to get satisfactory coverage; in some cases five or six threads may be needed. Although it is a bit fiddly to cut all the threads to the same length and smooth them together into one thread, once you're stitching with it, it behaves beautifully. It needs a bit of smoothing and/or railroading to lie flat, but it doesn't snag, and it has a good lustre.

Finally the lower right-hand leaf was done in Soie Ovale - the left-hand "leaflet" using a double thread, the other two using a single. On the reel, SO and JEC look very much the same thickness, but when stitched there is a clear difference, with SO giving much better coverage; so much so that the double thread was really a bit too chunky for my taste on this 28ct. This silk is the worst for snagging after the JEC, but it is also one of the flattest, and lies flat without needing much encouragement beyond an occasional smoothing stroke of the needle. It has a strong but subtle lustre with the same slight haziness that JEC has - both are reminiscent of vintage silk in their look.

So which is the best silk? It's very difficult to say because so much of it is a matter of taste, and it will also vary with the project you are choosing your silk for. Personally, I like the strong but soft lustre of the absolutely flat silks Soie Ovale and JEC. The difficulty with both is the snagging, which can get a little frustrating if you've been too impatient to bind your fabric and haven't been looking after your hands so they're all rough :oops:... Simple care for the fabric and the hands should reduce the snagging greatly, though, so no real reason to steer clear of them. Another slight disadvantage is that for finer work, or for more control over the thickness of your thread, you have to separate the actual filaments, which can be done but is a bit fiddly. JEC beats SO here because it is a little thinner and so separating threads should only be necessary for things like miniature embroidery. JEC also wins hands down when you compare the two in range of colour and price.

So what of the next flattest silk, Pipers 90 Silk Floss? I liked this more than I though I would - it is so thin I feared it wouldn't "gel" into a nice plump thread with a smooth surface, but it did; it also snagged very little. Other advantages are that it comes in a wide range of colours, is relatively cheap, and because of its thinness it is easy to combine into whatever thickness of thread you need. The combining is a little fiddly, even when you use a loop start and so have to cut only half the number of required threads, but I think you would quickly get used to it. One disadvantage is that the delivery times can be quite long, and emails don't always seem to get through, although when you actually call them and speak to them they are very helpful indeed.

Then the two "odd ones out" - FiloFloss because it is no longer available, and House of Embroidery because it comes in shaded rather than solid colours. Both are easy to work with, and HE actually had a much flatter look than I expected from the reel. HE is a good choice if you like the effect of subtle colour variation without going for full-blown variegated (although they do those as well). Most of the other silks which come in shaded colours (like some of the Dinky Dyes, Gloriana, Waterlilies, Belle Soie and so on) are not flat silks, and Stef Francis' flat silk tends to be bolder in its colour variations.

And finally the first flat silk I ever tried, Eterna Stranded. This has an awful lot going for it: it is inexpensive (even with a weak pound only Pipers comes close), comes in a staggering range of colours, and divides into thin strands so can easily be combined to any thickness. For snagging, it is average - better-behaved than SO and JEC, worse than P, HE and PF. For flatness and lustre, again average - it does not lie so naturally flat as SO and JEC, but needs less encouragement than P, HE and PF. The irregularities in the silk and the dyeing are a definite disadvantage, but this is compensated for by the price.

Final verdict:
For special projects I would go for SO (if the colours were available) or JEC, but they are too pricey and labour-intensive for "everyday" use. P is a very good alternative, although being so thin they are a pain to wind on bobbins (voice of experience there ...). I will certainly be expanding my collection of them over time. But if you want to use a flat silk almost in the way you would use your ordinary cottons, ES is probably the best choice because it has the widest colour range, is the least fiddly, and comes at an affordable price. HE are lovely for flat silk projects that need a little colour variation.

Thank you SO MUCH, Ilke, for this informative article! I'm eager to try House of Embroidery's thread - I haven't tried their silk! And I'm really grateful for your insight to the rest of these threads!

Boo! My Only Embroidered Pumpkins

2009-10-31T10:02:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween, everyone. I've never really embroidered for Halloween before, but I do have two pumpkins I'll (re)share with you - resurrecting an old project that I had a lot of fun stitching!

These are embroidered pillowcases, and the theme for them is "opposites" - so I embroidered one black and one white pillowcase with faces. On the white pillow case, they're all awake and having a blast, and on the black pillowcase, they're snoozing away comfortably.

The pumpkin was easy enough to embroider while he was awake...

... but sleeping pumpkins pose a slight problem, when it comes to closing their eyes. When I worked this project, I think I embroidered those eyes two or three times, trying to get a "sleepy" look.

Yep, I can safely say this was one of my Just for Fun projects that was really fun!

I hope you have a fun day, that you get out and enjoy the autumn weather (if you're in the same hemisphere - spring, for the rest of you!), and that you have a terrific weekend!

Hand Embroidery on Gingham - Christmas Trees!

2009-10-30T13:15:00.000-05:00

Laurie Latour of Future Christian Homemakers is quite an enthusiast when it comes to hand embroidery on gingham. If you have not seen her Gingham Museum on her website, it is worth taking a look at, especially if you are interested in elaborate "chicken scratch" embroidery that is unique and really beautiful. She has quite a collection of embroidered aprons, and they're all detailed with close-up photos and commentary.

Laurie's been experimenting with gingham lately, coming up with several Christmas designs that are really attractive. I especially like this series of Christmas trees she's been working on, so I was very happy when she said I could share them with you.

Traditionally, embroidery on gingham is worked in white or in the color of the darkest square on the fabric. Laurie played a little with this, but found that contrasting colors worked best on this series of trees.

The trees are embroidered on 1/8" homespun fabric (available online through Jubilee Fabric), and their finished size is approximately 3.25" tall by 2.75" wide - the perfect size for an ornament or a Christmas card.

This first tree is worked with a combination of dark green and sparkly white thread - although I like it, I have to admit I like the trees worked in colors that contrast with the fabric better. Laurie used two strands of DMC 890 (green) for the tree, and two strands of Treasure Braid Petit High Gloss (P410) for the circles and x's.

I like this tree a better, with the green stitched on the red homespun. She used the same color green as on the tree above, but instead of the white braid, she used Treasure Braid Petite (PB68), a multi-colored sparkly thread. It's hard to capture the sparkle in the picture, but you can imagine how nice it looks if you're familiar at all with Rainbow Gallery's Treasure Braids (pictured down below).

This tree, I really like. I like the kelly green floss on the red, with the gold braid! It's very pretty, and oh-so-Christmassy.

This tree, however, is my absolute fave. I love the contrast of the bold red stitches, and I like the dark geen with the gold braid.

Which is your favorite, of the four trees above?

Although this isn't a full tutorial, if you are interested in working up some similar trees, in the photo above, you can see the "skeleton" pattern for the design. For further directions on gingham embroidery, you can check out some tips for embroidering on gingham at the Future Christian Homemakers website.

This, by the way, is Treasure Braid. You can find it at most local needlework shops that carry cross stitch or needlepointing supplies.

While wandering through Laurie's website, I came across this little book that Laurie publishes, Classic Prayers for Children. It is a sweet book of prayers and poems for children, beautifully illustrated. It struck me as a perfect stocking stuffer or First Communion treasure for little kids.

I love the work of preservation that Laurie is doing with gingham embroidery. She is building quite a collection of vintage gingham embroidery and documenting them so that we can see the unique designs and stitch combinations used in the technique. If yuou get a chance, make sure you check out her website!

Have a terrific weekend!

Goldwork and Tudor Designs: Possibilities!

2009-10-29T04:49:00.001-05:00

I've really been itching to do some goldwork lately, but I've got so many projects already going and several projects that I need to get started on, that all I can do when it comes to goldwork right now is dream. You know how that is, don't you? This one particular design has be besotted...

BibliOdyssey is one of those places I go to get inspired, and last week when I visited, I wasn't disappointed - there was no lack of inspirational stuff floating about the website. This post on The Tudor Pattern Book really caught my eye, and this one pattern in particular struck me as particularly suitable for goldwork.

When considering an picture or design that is not made specifically for embroidery, I usually try to isolate the elements within the design that would work as an embroidered image. So I took this picture from BibliOdyssey, opened it in Photoshop and got rid of the background. I didn't spand a lot of time cleaning the thing up - just a few button clicks - but I did at least isolate the part I like.

At this point, I figured I could trace the image in Inkscape or a similar program, to end up with a crisp line drawing, but instead, I started playing with a couple very basic filters in Photoshop and reduced the image to this:

For some reason, a black and white image is my preferred format for any kind of potential embroidery design. I seem to see more possibilities when I can reduce the image to outlines with a bit of shading but no color.

With this piece, I'm thinking in terms of a combination of silk shading and goldwork.

So what do you think? Should I just chuck everything else and launch into a completely senseless goldwork project?

Oh well! Since "chucking" everything else right now probably isn't prudent, I suppose I'll just stay the present course. However, if I do drift off...

... you'll know what I'm doing!

Fancy Hems Winner!

2009-10-28T06:26:00.003-05:00

Good morning, folks! This post is short and sweet - announcing the winnder of Fancy Hems and a little rundown on what's coming up on Needle 'n Thread later in the week!

First of all, the winner of Luzine Happel's book Fancy Hems is ....

Mommablogger.... who apparently happened to be visiting Kansas a while ago and doesn't like the dirt. Yep. We have a lot of that stuff in Kansas.... Please drop me an e-mail with your mailing address, and I'll get that off to you as soon as possible! Congratulations!

Coming up this week on Needle 'n Thread: some musings on an embroidery design for goldwork, another lettering tutorial, and some great information from a reader on gingham embroidery Christmas trees! So stay tuned....

Have a terrific Wednesday!

Reader's Embroidery: Quaker Motif as a Christmas Ornament

2009-10-27T05:45:00.003-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I posted a hand embroidery pattern for a Quaker sampler design, converted for surface embroidery. I haven't had time to stitch it myself, but Jan Miller has. Using the bird in a tree design, Jan made a beautiful Christmas ornament - and she sent pictures. Thanks, Jan!

My first thought when I finished converting this design into a surface embroidery pattern was that it would make a pretty Christmas tree ornament. So I was delighted to see Jan's rendition.

Using simple stitches that suit the pattern very well, Jan stitched the ornament on white velvet, I think. She finished it with a matching hand-made tassel.

I love the dark green and the deep red - they suit the design. One reader suggested that simple color tones were best, rather than a variety of shades, since plain color choices would work best in keeping with the simplicity of the Quaker design.

I still want to stitch this pattern up, and hope to one of these days! Has anyone else tried this design? I'd love to see what other people do with it!

Thanks again, Janice, for sending along the pictures!

What are you working on? If you want to share photos of your recent needlework adventures, drop me a line!

Schwalm Embroidery Photos & a Give-Away!

2009-10-26T05:30:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, photos of needlework can be the best source of inspiration for me. When I see a beautiful piece of needlework in a photo, it makes me..... well. It makes me want to DO something - to make something beautiful! But the fact o' the matter is, there just aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the year to do all the needlework things I'd like to do! Do you ever feel that way? So, often, I content myself with looking at pictures. And along those lines, here are some photos of magnificent examples of Schwalm whitework embroidery.

These first two pieces belong to a friend, Joey, who helped Luzine Happel with the translation of two of her Schwalm embroidery books, Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework and Fancy Hems.

This first piece is a teacloth embroidered by Luzine. Isn't it gorgeous? You can click on the photo for a closer view of it. The stitching is so stunning! Check out the variety of filling stitches!

This second piece is a decorative pillow, with the Schwalm work covering a red pillow - which makes the whitework stand out beautifully. I had not considered finishing a whitework pillow this way, with a contrasting fabric behind the whitework, but it makes all the sense in the world if you really want to show off the whitework. Again, you can click on the photo for a larger version.

The books above are published by the Museum der Schwalm in Germany. The books are a kind of photographic journal of the pieces that have been featured in the museum's displays. Talk about inspiration!

Here's one piece featured in one of the books. Pretty, isn't it? I don't know if it's exactly "traditional" Schwalm embroidery as far as design goes - the design seems a bit more contemporary. I like it a lot!

A lampshade! I think I would love to have this in my house... but I can't help wondering if it would stay this pristine? I'd feel obliged to put it under glass to keep the Kansas dust off it!

Yep, I do love to browse through these types of books!! They goad me into doing something with my needle and thread.

A Give-Away!

Now, speaking of Schwalm work (again), I'd like to give away another book. Joey sent me a copy of Fancy Hems, but since I already have one, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put this excellent book into some other keen stitcher's hands.

You can read my thorough review of Fancy Hems here on Needle 'n Thread, to see what the book is about. Note that it's not just for stitchers interested in Schwalm whitework. Anyone interested in drawn thread or pulled thread embroidery will find this book useful and instructive.

If you'd like to win this copy of Fancy Hems, here's how the give-away works:

Leave a comment below (on this article, on the website - not via e-mail or on other posts), answering the following question:

If you could launch into a Schwalm project right now, assuming you have the materials and instructions at hand, what would you make?

Make sure you leave a name, even if you use the "anonymous" feature when posting your comment. I'll draw for a winner on Wednesday, October 28th, by 5:30 am.

Best of luck!

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 4: Stem Stitch

2009-10-23T12:40:00.000-05:00

Stem stitch is a beautiful rope-like hand embroidery stitch that works great for writing with a needle and thread. There are two real difficulties with stem stitch: stitch direction and curves. I'll try to eliminate both of those difficulties in this tutorial.

Before venturing into the tutorial, you might want to take a look at my stem stitch video to get the hang of the motion of the stitch, and you might find it useful to read this article on stem stitch vs. outline stitch.

The best way to keep your stem stitch always looking right as you embroider words is to first establish your stitch direction. Now, with stem stitch, whether you are right handed or left handed is an important consideration, so let's first clarify some stitching directions for both types of stitchers.

Right Handed Stitchers

Stitching Direction: For righties, stem stitch always travels left-to-right. It is true that you can move your hoop around and work the stitches vertically, but for right handers, whenever you consider the line you are stitching as horizontal to the floor, you will notice that, if you're working stem stitch, the direction of your line is going to be from left to right.

Needle / Thread placement: For right handers, when looking at your horizontal line that is moving from left to right, the working thread always hangs below the line, below the needle.

Left Handed Stitchers

Stitching Direction: For lefties, when you stitch a line horizontal to the floor, it will always travel from the right to the left. Even if you are stitching vertically, if you "turn the hoop" in your mind's eye, the line should always be moving from right to left.

Needle / Thread placement: For left handed stitchers, the working thread should always be above the needle, above the stitching line.

Now, these principles of stitching direction and thread placement hold true, even when traveling around curves. To change the placement of the thread as you round a curve in order for the stitches to hold themselves in the curve will mar the look of your stem stitch.

[I have to throw this note in, because it does put a wrench in the works, but please consider these directions to be written for s-twisted threads only. If stitching with z-twisted threads, the directions must be reversed. But let's forget that consideration for now, and assume that we will mostly be working with s-twisted threads - your typical DMC stranded cotton, pearl cotton, floche, most stranded silks, etc. If you want to see a close-up picture of what I mean about Z-twist and S-twist on threads, check out this post on The Silk Mill threads. There is a close-up picture of threads half-way through the post that show the difference in twist direction. Additionally, if you really want some in-depth reading on thread twists, this PDF on knowledge of sewing threads is somewhat interesting.]

To begin, I'm going to anchor my thread just as I did in the first backstitch lettering lesson. I will be traveling from the base of the circle on the "q" around to the top of the circle, down the long tail, and then up and around the curl on the tail.

To keep the stitch direction from left to right (I am right handed), I turned the work over. As I progress around the curve, I'll simply turn my hoop, so that I can keep the same direction with ease.

As I round the curve and come to the top of the head on the "q," I am back to working right-side-up again.

Now, I could make a sharp "corner" here where the loop runs into the back of the "q", but instead of doing that, I'm going to make a smooth, tight curve here. To do this, I am taking my stitches very small in the corner, but I'm still keeping the correct placement of the working thread.

Now, I've turned my work again, keeping the left-to-right direction of stitching, and heading down the back and the tail of the "q". Coming right out of the curve, I resumed a stitch length that is slightly longer than the stitches I used in the curve, but not so long as to look thinner or out of proportion with the other stitches on the "q" so far.

Approaching the point where the tail curls back over on itself at the base of the letter, I'm going to keep right on going with my stem stitch, crossing the intersection of the lines, and moving into the tight curve of that little curl.

As I start into the curve, I'm going to start decreasing the length of my stitches.

After I worked around the curve in shorter stitches, keeping the working thread below the needle and turning the hoop to keep the left-to-right direction, I started to lengthen the stitches again slightly coming out of the curve.

Now, keep in mind that this shortening and lengthening of stitches does not have to be mathematically accurate or anything! You just want your stitches to "take the curve" while keeping the closed-rope-look of the stem stitch, so just adjust your stitches slightly if you need to, in order to get them comfortably and neatly around the curve.

Now it's time to cross the curl over the back of the "q" and this is quite easy. As you approach the already-stitched line, simply jump your next stitch over the line. Work the stem stitch as you normally would - only cross over the stitches already there.

Return back to the end of the previous stitch, just like you would with any stem stitch, and cross over one more time, to complete the stem stitch.

And there's the finished letter.

The techniques for rounding curves and crossing over already stitched lines will remain the same throughout the rest of the tutorial here, so I won't go in as much detail with each letter.

The next step is to travel your thread on the back of your work up to where the next letter starts.

Whip your thread around the stitches on the back of the letter, taking the most direct path to the spot where the next letter begins.

Here, I'm stitching the connection between the q and the u, stopping at the point where the connection meets the downstroke of the u. If I were handwriting this, I would not lift my pen off the paper at this point, but when embroidering letters, I don't double these lines.

Now, I've turned my work so that I can continue working left-to-right. I've ended the last stitch where the connection meets the downstroke of the u, and then I've brought my needle up at the top of the downstroke. I did not need to "travel" my thread at all here, because this spot is pretty much directly above where my last stitch ended, and only a very short distance away. I'll be stitching through that carried thread on the back - it will line up with my next stitches and not show through to the front of the work.

I continued down the downstroke, then around the curve, then up the other side of the u.

Then I moved back down and stitched the connection between the u and the i.

Again, as a reminder, as you stitch your letters, always look ahead and work out a sensible path to follow for stitching. On this u, two paths presented itself, and both would have been fine: the first path is the one I took - down the downstroke and up the other side of the u. Alternately, I could have gone down the downstroke, around the curve, and stopped where the curve met the second downstroke on the u, then worked the downstroke and the connection. Either way would've been fine, and perhaps the second way would have been more consistent, as it would have matched the first half of the letter better. But it really doesn't matter in this case - the letter is clear, and the stitching is tidy. And that's really what you want to achieve.

Here, I've stitched the downstroke of the i, and the connection with the c.

Now you can see I'm in a situation where I can't carry my thread across to the next beginning point, nor can I "travel" the thread on the back through any stitches already there. Yet I have a long enough thread to keep stitching... so, what to do?

I could end my thread and start again, but why bother, when I can "start" without ending??

Just as I start a thread by taking tiny anchoring stitches, here, I'm taking tiny stitches along to the next starting point. I will cover these stitches up with the stem stitch, and I've avoided having to end my thread and start a new one and having a thread carrying visibly across the back of the fabric.

To keep the left-to-right direction of stitching, and to keep my working thread in the correct place in relation to the needle (below the needle), I started the c upside-down and turned the hoop as I progressed through the curve.

Continuing from the c, I worked my way up the top loop of the k.

I turned the work to accommodate the direction of the line, taking smaller stitches around the top of the loop of the k.

Then, coming down the back of the k, I stopped here for one main reason: I was out of thread. This was a good place to stop. If I had had more thread, I probably would have continued down the whole back of the k, but I will pick that part up with the new thread, and move up the k here, instead of down.

When you get to a point where two lines converge to make a sharp corner, as happens here in the middle of the k, it is necessary to end one line of stitching and start a new one. End the line of stitching around the loop right in the corner, as you see in the photo above. To start the next line of stitching (the downstroke of the k here), bring your needle up in the fabric a stitch length away.

Then take the needle down into the fabric right in the corner, to make the first stitch. Basically, I'm beginning this stem stitch line with a backstitch, if you want to think of it this way.

Now, bring your working thread up halfway the length of that backstitch, on the line, but above the stitch, to continue on with the stem stitch.

And the last stroke of the k is finished!

So, there you have the stem stitch worked on cursive lettering, using two strands of DMC stranded cotton.

If you're interested, feel free to check out my other tutorials on hand embroidering text. The next tutorial will focus on smaller text using a finer line.

Some Embroidery Related Links and AWOL

2009-10-22T13:20:00.001-05:00

I've been absent without leave the last few days. My apologies - I've been really sick with whatever is going around! I plan to put more tutorials together for later in the week once I get to feeling better, but for today, I'd like to share with you a few embroidery-related links I've come across lately that I hope you find interesting.

First up - I'm a sucker for free hand embroidery patterns. Given the current and upcoming seasons (fall and winter), I thought these free patterns were worth taking a look at:

-- Jacobian leaves: I've mentioned these before. Now that it's autumn, methinks these leaf patterns are even more significant. While you're checking out Kelly's Jacobean leaves, take a few minutes to check out two new patterns she's put up lately - Bloomin' Marvellous 1 and Bloomin' Marvellous 2. They're a perfect way to practice a variety of stitches on small motifs. Bloomin' Marvellous 2 is my favorite - it looks like lots of fun!

-- Cute pumpkin tea towel design - from Bird Brain Designs.

-- Christmas ornaments: Twelve Days of Christmas - these designs from Tricia-Rennea would make darling hand embroidered ornmaments, and could also be used to decorate all kinds of Christmas items - tree skirt, table runner, bread basket liner, etc.

-- Heart Christmas Tree Ornament - from Matryoshka Biscornue, a counted cross stitch ornament that's very pretty.

I wonder if you've had a chance to check out these old Sajou patterns from Pattern Maker Charts that are free for the downloading. They are mostly Very Nice cross stitch alphabets, along with some pretty border designs and so forth. I like keeping up with this blog!

Moving out of the realm of free patterns, here's some good needlework news:

You know I'm a Trish Burr fan. I don't know if you know I'm a bird fan. I am, I am! Trish Burr's kingfisher stole my bird-loving heart..... and then she made another bird kit, and ... it ... is ... gorgeous. If you haven't seen her Lilac Breasted Roller that she has added to her embroidery kits page, do check it out. If you like beautiful birds and you're a lover of needlepainting (long and short stitch shading), then you'll probably be taken by this beautiful creature.

And finally, Yvette Stanton of White Threads (and Vetty Creations) has finished her Left-Handed stitch dictionary - The Left-Handed Embroiderer's Companion - and has sent it off to press! Yvette's stitch samples - worked on beautiful colors of felt - look absolutely lucious. There's inspiration to be had in this book, I tell you! And I can't wait to get my hands on it! It's not due out until January, but it's available for pre-order now.

I think that about does it from this end. I'm going back to "recovery" mode. In the meantime, I've fallen behind a bit on website e-mail, so if you haven't heard from me, this is why. If you have an urgent-urgent question, feel free to e-mail me again, and your question will move to the top of the list.

To LISA (in San Francisco?) I did try to reply to your e-mail, but it bounced back (AOL addresses always bounce back on me). If you want to try again with an alternate e-mail address, please do!

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 3: Dot the I

2009-10-19T04:45:00.000-05:00

Remember when you learned penmanship and your teacher had to remind you to dot your i's and cross your t's? The same thing holds true when writing with your needle and thread - dotting the i's and crossing the t's are important, but dotting the i's is the part that's tricky. The dot floats above the lettering, presenting the problem of traveling up to it to stitch the dot. You don't want your thread to show through the front, so how do you get up there to the dot, without traveling a thread on the back of your work? Here's one way.

When hand embroidering your lettering or text, by the way, it doesn't really matter when you dot your i, not like it does in penmanship. With embroidery, you already have your lettering mapped out for you. You know exactly where that dot on that i is going to be. So while it may seem to be out of sequence to talk about dotting an i before we've even written the word, the fact is, it doesn't really matter! Besides, since you might be writing a completely different text on your sampler, I thought it a good idea to address this question, in case you already have some i's to dot!

Start by bringing an unknotted thread to the front of the fabric, right where you want your dot. The thread does not connect to any other lettering - you're just starting out with a new thread, and bringing it to the front of your fabric. In this particular tutorial, I'm using two strands of DMC cotton, but the technique applies equally as well to stitching with any kind of embroidery thread, really.

On the back of your fabric, leave about an inch-long tail, so that you can easily get ahold of it to snip it, later.

Now we're going to work a couple anchoring stitches. Going back to the front of your fabric, take one tiny straight stitch over only one or two threads of fabric. If you're working with a larger text on muslin or a high thread count cotton, you can certainly take the stitch over two or three fabric threads. It depends a bit, too, on what size you want your dot. If you want your dot to be relatively small, then take this anchoring stitch over as few threads as possible in your fabric, making the anchoring stitches as small as possible. After you take your first tiny stitch, bring the needle back up right next to that stitch.

Now, take your second anchoring stitch straight into that first tiny stitch.

Now your thread is anchored sufficiently to stitch the dot. Turn the fabric over, pull your working thread out of the way, and snip off the one-inch tail that you left on the back. Snip as close as possible to the fabric, but don't pull up on the tail with any force. Just try to snip right next to the fabric.

On the front of your fabric, this is what you'll have - two tiny stitches, worked perpendicular to each other, the second stitch stitched into the first.

Now, stitch over those anchoring stitches with two straight stitches, side-by-side, that cover the anchoring stitches. Bring the needle up right above the anchoring stitches and go down right below them, then bring the needle up again in the same exact hole above the ancoring stitches, and go down in the same hole below them, arranging the two straight stitches to lie right next to each other over the anchoring stitches.

If you are working with a single strand of thread, you might have to take several straight stitches to cover your anchoring stitches. The trick is always going up and down in the same hole above and below your anchoring stitches, and making sure your straight stitches are lying side-by-side. This is what will make the dot look round.

Now, turn the work over, and take the needle through the stitches on the back, running through them twice, once in one direction, and once perpendicular to that. If you can't manage a perpendicular stitch, then run the needle under the stitches twice, going in the same direction each time.

Cut your thread close to the fabric, but don't pull up on it before cutting. Just get as close as you can, without risking cutting your stitches or your fabric.

And there's your perfect little dot, floating by itself above the text.

Next up, we'll cover the lettering on that word, using stem stitch and focusing on connecting cursive text and keeping the direction of the stem stitch right.

For more tutorials on hand embroidered lettering and text, visit the Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text Index of tutorials.

Any questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments below, and I'll do my best to answer them!

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text Index

2009-10-17T08:49:00.006-05:00

To keep this series of embroidery tutorials a bit organized, I'm going to stash all my tutorials for hand embroidered lettering and text on this page, and then I'm going to list this page in the top right column under "Editor's Floss" while the tutorial series is on-going. I'll also have a link on the Tips and Tricks for Hand Embroidery page (which you can also find listed under "Editor's Floss" in the top right corner.

Hand embroidery is an excellent way to personalize gifts, household objects, momentos and so forth. Text and lettering is an excellent way to personalize, but sometimes, writing with a needle and thread can be kind of difficult.

I've put together a series of tutorials to help stitchers improve their embroidered lettering. As the tutorials progress, I'll index each one here so that you can have easy access to it.

I hope you find these tutorials useful and fun!

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 1 - This tutorial covers setting up the lettering sampler. In this particular article, you won't learn much about stitching your letters, but there are a few tips and tricks for design transfer discussed, if you want to take a look! You can also get a good look at the text sample that I'll be using in this series.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 2 - This tutorial features lettering in backstitch, but it focuses mostly on how to "travel" your threads in order to achieve a clean, finished look from the front. I discuss the path of the embroidery, noting that the path you would follow for hand writing is not necessarily the same path you would follow for hand embroidery.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 3: Dot Your I's. In this tutorial, I focus on one method of dotting I's. You know how the dot floats so far away from the text? Well, how can you dot, without carrying your threads? I'll show you how, and then the technique can apply for a variety of different dotting stitches.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 4: In this tutorial, the focus is on stem stitch, especially how to travel in the right direction to keep the stem stitch looking like stem stitch, and to keep the working thread in the right place in relation to the needle. This sample is in cursive, so we will also look at how to travel the threads to achieve a nice cursive text, without bulky double lines. Finally, this tutorial also addresses the question of crossing over previously stitched lines.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 5: This tutorial will focus on a suitable stitch for very small text - whipped backstitch - and how to keep the whipped backstitch smooth and consistent in its twist. We'll look at the difference between whipping the stitch while traveling in different directions, and discuss how to avoid changing the direction of the stitching. Also, check out this article on stitch direction for whipped backstitch - it'll show you the difference in the look of your stitching depending on the direction.

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 6: Did you know that you can combine your stitches on the same lettering for very nice results? Well, you can, and this tutorial is going to look at using a combination of stitches on the same lettering, specifically buttonhole stitch and stem stitch.

I'll be adding links to the individual tutorials as the tutorials are posted. The series will cover more than five tutorials, but so far, I only have samples embroidered for these!

DMC Alsatian Twist and Coats Ritorto Fiorentino

2009-10-16T04:30:00.000-05:00

DMC and Coats are both well-known needlework thread producers, world-wide. I marvel at the variety of threads they produce for the various markets around the world. Jeanine up in Canada recently sent me a gift from Italy - two types of thread that are available on the Italian market, but not available here in the US. Check them out...

The threads are DMC Alsatian Twist (or Retors d'Alsace) and Coats Cucirini (Anchor's Italian branch) Ritorto Fiorentino. Both threads are similar to pearl cotton, but they are not the same as pearl cotton.

There are three hanks here - the two green hanks on the left are DMC Alsatian Twist and the white on the right is Coats Ritorto Fiorentino. I put the typical 6-stranded DMC floss next to the hanks, so that you could get a proper sense of the size of the Italian bundles.

Both threads come in two sizes: 8 and 12. They are similar, as I said, to pearl cotton, though there is a difference in look and feel. The Alsatian Twist, for example, feels heavier and limper than pearl cotton, and it has more of a sheen.

Jeanine mentioned that the Alsatian Twist by DMC is a return to an old style of thread DMC stopped making at the turn of the century. They re-released the thread this past May in Italy, and they may release it to other markets as well, though there are no present plans to release it in North America. You can find references to Alsatian Twist in the old advertisements in needlework and pattern magazines from the turn of the last century, and especially in the Therese Dillmont books like this one, Motivi per Ricami (Embroidery Motifs) - a PDF hosted on the Digital Archives. Check out the advertisements in the back of that book (which is full of beautiful embroidery motifs, by the way), and you'll see this thread listed.

The Alsatian Twist is listed on DMC Italy's website, if you want to take a look at it. You can drop the URL in Google for a translation if you want. The thread comes in 77 colors in size 8 and 56 colors in size 12 - all in 20 gram hanks like these above. (They're... HUGE!)

The Coats Ritorto Fiorentino is produced exclusively for the Italian market. It comes in many colors as well, in 40 gram hanks (even HUGER!). You can read more about it on the Coats Italian website.

Now that you're in a very Italian mood, I want to direct you to another resource - a nice Italian website (with a good English translation!) - called TuttoRicamo. You'll be able to click on a flag in the left column, to choose the Italian or the English version. This is an amazing site to browse - full of great resources and inspiration. While you're there, check out the Techniques section, to read about different embroidery techniques, and the How It's Done section for many excellent photo tutorials on different techniques. What a great resource!

Thank you, Jeanine, for the thread - I'm happy to know a little bit about it and the Italian thread market, and I can't wait to try the thread out!

(I think tonight is a spaghetti night...)

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 2

2009-10-15T04:40:00.003-05:00

Here's the first stitching instruction installment for hand embroidered lettering. Yesterday, I showed you the lettering sample I'll be using for these tutorials, and how I set it up to start stitching. Today, the stitching begins...

The first sample of hand embroidered lettering is on the word "The" at the beginning of my sample sentence ("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog"). I'm using two strands of DMC cotton and a #8 crewel needle, and the stitch I'm using is backstitch. Fabric and hoop were discussed in yesterday's post.

To begin stitching, I started at the base of the T. With knot in the thread, take your needle down into the fabric about a half an inch away from the base of the letter. Take two small straight stitchs in the fabric, towards your starting point and away from the knot, ending at the back of the fabric. Then, bring your needle up at the very base of the letter, so that you're ready to travel up the line of the T, covering up the small stitches en route.

I've already posted a picture tutorial on beginning your embroidery threads in this manner, if you want to take a look at this technique in detail.

Using small stitches evenly spaced, I'm embroidering the base of the T with backstitch. I stitched all the way to the top of the line.

Now, at this point, if you were hand writing, you would probably pick up your pen and take it to the far left of the top line on the T, put the pen down, and draw a straight line to cross the T.

However, we're not going to do that here. Our last backstitch ended a whole stitch length below the cross line. If we were to take our thread to the left side of the cross line on the T, we'd end up trailing a thread across the back of the embroidery, where it could be seen.

Instead, I started my next stitch on the cross line right in the middle of the line and worked the backstitch all the way to the left end of the cross line.

To return to the center and finish the right side of the cross line, turn your work over. Wrap your working thread around the back of the stitches by "whip stitching" around the back of the stitches. You'll only need to whip the back of the stitches about twice to return you to the center of the cross line.

Finish backstitching the cross line all the way to the right. The next step is to return to where the H crosses the cross line of the T.

To do this, turn your work over and whip stitch around the back of the stitches, to the point where the H crosses the cross line on the T.

You'll only need to whip around the backs of the stitches once or twice - and make sure you don't pick up any fabric! Just take your needle underneath the threads, wrapping them.

I'm working the top of the H that extends above the cross line on the T. This way, I don't have to travel back up here later to finish the H. It's important to look ahead when you're embroidering text, to see the easiest (and "cleanest") path to follow for your stitches. In this case, stitching this little stem here will get it out of the way. Then, I can move back down and do the rest of the H.

Once you get to the top of the H, turn your work over and "travel" your threads back down the back of the stitches by whipping them as you did above.

Continue backstitching down the downstroke on the H. If you were hand writing, once you reached the end of the downstroke, it is likely that you would not lift your pencil or pen to bring it back up to the bump on the H. However, when embroidering text, you don't want to double different parts of your lines - they'd end up looking bulky.

So, just as you traveled your threads on the back before, now you'll turn over your work and wrap the back of the stitches up the point where the bump on the H begins.

The "traveling" on the back (by wrapping your thread around the backs of your stitches) is indicated by the dotted line here. When you travel to the right place, come to the front of your fabric and backstitch the bump of the H.

When you finish the H, turn your work over, and wrap the working thread around the stitches on the back. Cut the working thread.

This is what the back of your embroidery will look like about now. The E in "The" is separate from the other two letters, so I'm not going to travel my thread from the H to the E. The most obvious reason for this is that the thread will be seen from the front, through the white linen. Even using white thread with white fabric, your thread would be seen. And even if you were using DARK fabric with a light thread, carrying your thread across an empty space could still be visible, because the thread can form a small ridge in the fabric, especially once the fabric softens with time. Even though it is (admittedly) a pain in the neck to constantly be changing threads, it is best to get into the habit of changing them rather than carrying them across open spaces. If it's a habit, it won't seem like such a big deal when you have to start and stop often.

If it really bothers you to start and stop your threads often, when working up your text, consider arranging it so that each letter in every word touches. Then you can travel your threads on the back by wrapping them through the back of your stitches, and you won't have to start and stop for individual letters.

Begin the next thread the same way the first thread was begun, by a series of tiny stitches that will be covered up with the backstitch.

Considering the E, I decided to start from the base and work up around the loop, rather than starting at the inside of the loop and working down to the base. My reason for this was that I wanted a neat join, where the loop and the back of the E met, and I figured I could achieve that better by stitching the back of the E first, and then meeting the back after traveling into the loop.

You see, then, that it's a good idea to think ahead along the path that you want to stitch. Notice where the various parts of the letter meet.

When the E is finished, turn the work over and run your working thread under the backs of the stitches, then snip the thread.

And there is the end of the first word, stitched in a simple backstitch, which works well for this style of lettering. Though there are some curves in the lettering, there are not many tight curves, so the backstitch looks smooth and not too blocky with the simple printed lettering.

Next up, we'll work cursive in stem stitch.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and that there was a little tip or two that was helpful for you!

Other Posts on Hand Embroidered Lettering

Hand Embroidery: Lettering and Text 1 - setting up the sampler

Hand Embroidery: Lettering & Text 1

2009-10-14T04:33:00.007-05:00

Using lettering and text in hand embroidery can be a great way to make personalized needlework items. But sometimes it's difficult to know what types of stitches, threads, and stitching techniques to use when writing with your needle and thread. In this series of tutorials, we'll look at stitches and threads suitable for embroidered lettering, along with little tips and tricks for producing neat embroidered writing.

If you want to follow along with this series of hand embroidery tutorials, you're welcome to join me!

You can choose whatever text you wish. The idea here is to learn techniques and to get the feel of stitching lettering, so really, any text will work. If you are the type of person who likes to create "samplers" that can be used for decorative purposes, I suggest picking a quote, short poem, saying, Bible verse or something of that nature that you like, and setting it up in an attractive way using a variety of writing styles, so that you can practice using different stitching techniques and threads on the sampler.

For this series, I sat down with a piece of graph paper and pencil and wrote out a sentence using a variety of handwriting styles. Then, to expand the canvas a bit so that I have plenty of samples, I repeated words and filled out the space with lots of lettering.

Because the sentence covers all the letters used in the alphabet, I chose "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." Before I started writing out the letters, I determined the space I wanted to fill, using my hoop as a gauge. I'm working with a 10" hoop to give plenty of room for the text, with extra room to work out some small tutorials on the side. You might want to work within a smaller space, and that's just fine.

After writing out the text in pencil, I traced over it with a micron pen so that the lines were clear and dark. Fine tipped Sharpies or micron pens are essential tools in my tool box - perfect for this step in any embroidery project.

I'm using a piece of white linen for this project. It is a plain weave (not even-weave) medium weight linen with a relatively close weave. You'll want to use a close-weave fabric - for practice, pretty much anything will do (though you'll find a natural fabric like cotton or linen easiest to work on).

Because the linen is light enough and the lettering on the paper is dark enough, I didn't need a window or light box to trace. I ironed the fabric smooth, laid it on top of the lettering, and traced the lettering onto the fabric with a regular pencil.

With the fabric hooped up, I picked out a few colors of DMC stranded cotton to start with. I'll also be using pearl cotton and floche, and any other threads that come to mind during the series here.

If you plan to join along with the stitching, you'll also want a variety of sizes of embroidery needles (crewel needles) in sizes 3 - 9 or 10. I'll be using size 10 (for tiny text with one thread), size 8, size 5 and probably a size 3 for pearl cotton #5.

So, now I'm ready to stitch! I'll begin with the word "The" (why not?) using a very basic stitch, with a focus on starting and ending threads and "traveling" with your threads so that they are invisible from the front.

Hand Embroidered Name Cards on Lacy Paper

2009-10-13T05:48:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, I finished up a little project - some hand embroidered name cards for my nieces' birthday gifts. After a little trial and error, and a wee bit of "I'm-in-a-hurry-and-am-going-to-pull-my-hair-out" frustration, they finished up fine and I was happy with the results.

About a month ago, I reviewed a book on embroidery on perforated cardstock. The book focuses more on the decorative, lacy look you can achieve by cutting the perforated cardstock a number of ways, but it also shows a variety of hand embroidery motifs (mostly in tent stitch or cross stitch) that can be worked on the perforated paper.

Working at night, I found out that this kind of paper-cutting can be addictive. I don't suggest picking up your Xacto knife when you're supposed to be heading to bed! Though I enjoyed the late (late) quiet evenings cutting away the cardstock and watching the patterns emerge, I paid for it the next morning...

The first small pieces came out pretty well, so I decided to embroider my nieces' names on these cards and use them for gift cards.

Before embroidering the names, I had to decide on how I wanted them to look. I charted the names in cross stitch and also in backstitch. At first, I thought it would be fun to try different stitches on the cardstock. Chain stitch would work, I figured, so, using the backstitch design, I set out to work chain stitch on the first card.

I got through the first letter (a capital C) and immediately began taking it out, without even photographing it. Half-way through the take-out, I realized I needed a picture. The chain stitch simply looked too heavy for the paper. I was working with two strands of floss, and didn't like the look of the chain stitch At All. Switching to one strand of floss didn't help - it didn't show up well enough.

One major point of frustration while stitching these was the ability of the thread to snag up on the lacy points of the paper. I knew I had to be careful - I knew this would happen! But my gosh. It happened All The Time. And I swear I was being careful!

Part of my problem, too, was that I was racing the clock. It's never good to work on a delicate project when you're in a hurry!

I ended up cross stitching the names, and was pleased enough with the results. Clare Elizabeth got a middle initial on hers for two reasons: 1. Her first name is short, and it didn't cover much of the center card; 2. (and much more to the point!) I didn't center her first name correctly, and there was no way on God's good earth that I was going to take the whole thing out!

The cards are very light and lacy and pretty. They could be mounted on colored cardstock for a good effect, but I think the gals will appreciate the look of them like this. And since we're talking a 20 and 21 year old, I'm not really worried about the cards being torn to shreds!

I like cutting the paper, but I've learned that it's easier to stitch first and cut later, even though this requires very careful planning and counting.

These would make nice tags for Christmas gifts, for the Very Special people in your life. It's a time-consuming way to go about making a gift tag, but again, for special people or special occasions, I think it would be a really nice touch!

If you're interested in this technique, you can read my review of the book, Broderie et Dentelle sur Carton Perforé, where you'll find purchasing information. This particular cardstock is 22 squares per inch, while most other perforated paper available for stitching is 14 squares per inch. Personally, I like the higher count. The book, by the way, is also available on Amazon France.

Schwalm Embroidery Book Winner!

2009-10-12T05:45:00.001-05:00

Here's a quick post to announce the winner of Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework. Thanks for the excellent response to the give-away!

The winner is Karen, who wrote:

I'd love to have the book! I learned about whitework from you, so it seems only fitting :) Wrinkled or not, your stitching looks great and I hope I can do that some day. The first time I read a post on your site about whitework, I made myself NOT buy the book :) but I did go and buy 10 skeins of white Floche a Broder from Hedgehog Handwoks! You know, just in case. :) Thanks again for sharing!

Congratulations, Karen! And just think - you've already got threads! Drop me a line with your mailing address, and I'll send the book along as soon as possible!

Thanks again, all, for participating - and stay tuned for similar book give-aways in the future!

Hand Embroidered Lettering and Text

2009-10-09T15:47:00.003-05:00

Frequently, e-mails show up in my inbox requesting pointers on how to hand embroider text or lettering. Here are a few of the questions on this subject that have shown up in the last couple years:

What stitches should I use to embroider a name?

I'm hand embroidering a poem on a quilt. What type of lettering should I use and how do I stitch it?

How many strands of thread should I use to embroider text on a baby blanket?

I want to hand embroider a baseball cap but I don't know what stitches to use. Can you help me?

I'm using stem stitch to embroider a poem, but my stem stitch looks bad especially when I go around corners. Any ideas how I can fix it?

To answer all these questions and more, I've developed a plan...

... and I plan to work on the plan over this weekend. In the upcoming weeks here on Needle 'n Thread, I'll be presenting some short tutorials on embroidering lettering or text by hand.

Not to be confused with stitching monograms, embroidering text or lettering - especially multiple words - so that it looks good and is clear to read can be daunting. I want to address the subject so that beginners especially can get the hang of hand embroidered lettering without suffering too much grief along the way.

Do you have any questions about the subject that you would like to see particularly addressed? If so, now's your opportunity to bring them up, so I can address them in the tutorials!

If you've embroidered lettering before, I'd love to know what your favorite stitch is for lettering!

What do you think? Will this be a worth-while series of short tutorials? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Schwalm Embroidery: Update and a Give-Away!

2009-10-08T04:40:00.000-05:00

Just to convince you that I do still pick up a needle and thread now and then and do some stitching, I thought I'd give you an update on the Schwalm embroidery project I'm working on. The project comes from Basic Principles of Schwalm Embroidery by Luzine Happel, and although it seems as if I began the project a hundred years ago, I haven't gotten very far on it! So, to make up for the lack of noteworthy progress in stitching, I think I'll throw in a give-away!

First, the Schwalm whitework project! I've managed to get through the first two steps on one side of the square in the middle of the teacloth.

Woe is me! I know that looks just awful - a wrinkled mess! I don't want to iron it until I've finished the stitching and washed it because the transfer marks might set.

So far, I've outlined in coral stitch and I've done all the buttonhole scallops and wheels.

Not very impressive. *sigh*

I worked this mostly in hand (without a hoop). I think this lends to the general wrinkled appearance of the linen!

When working the buttonhole scallops, at first I progressed without a hoop, and it went ok, but I found it wasn't so easy to manipulate that much fabric while trying to work the scallops. I ended up wadding the linen up in one hand while stitching with the other.

Eventually, though, I decided to hoop the project up for the rest of the scallops and wheels. Stitching the scallops with a hoop seemed much easier!

I enjoyed stitching this part of the project. If I had all four sides of the square done, it would've been nice to keep going and going on buttonhole scallops and circles. It's a fun stitch! But my design has faded too much on the other three sides of the square, so I can't really do anything on those parts until I re-transfer the design.

So that's my progress right now on this project.

Now, for a give-away!

Thanks to Joey, who sent me an extra copy of Basic Principles of Schwalm Whitework, I am offering this book to an interested reader who wants to try (or improve upon) techniques of Schwalm embroidery. Schwalm is a beautiful form of whitework, and the stitches learned in the technique can be widely applied to other embroidery styles.

If you're interested in owning your own copy of this superb book, leave a comment below (on this post, on the website) letting me know you're interested in the book. Please make sure you sign your name to the comment, even if you use the "Anonymous" feature.

The give-away deadline is Monday, October 12, 2009, at 5:30 am CST.

If all goes as planned tomorrow, I'm going to spend Friday evening making some serious progress on this piece! I want to get to the point of drawing out the threads for the center fillings - wish me luck!

Hand Embroidery Pattern: Quaker Motif 2 for Surface Embroidery

2009-10-07T04:37:00.001-05:00

I'm still playing with the idea of translating Quaker motifs (that are normally worked in cross stitch) into designs suitable for surface embroidery. Here's a free hand embroidery pattern of a bird-in-tree Quaker motif suitable for surface stitches.

Now, this is a pattern I really want to stitch. The first Quaker pattern I posted for surface embroidery stitches looked fun, but since I had already stitched it on paper in cross stitch, I find I'm a bit more eager to try a different design. I played again with some of the Mary Wigham designs offered on Needleprint, and this is one that I like a lot. I think it could be fun.

I "updated" the bird a bit after finding it a bit difficult to translate the gridded bird into something smoother for surface work. If you don't particular like this bird, you can always sketch your own into the design, I suppose! (Don't worry - I won't be insulted!) In considering the bird, I wanted something suited to more than just an outline stitch. The wings, tail, and crest give some room for playing with fillings.

Here's the pattern:

The double lines around the outside of the pattern would be a good place to practice composite stitches, like the raised chain band, or double herringbone stitch. Ladder stitch would work well there, too.

I'm thinking about filling the trunk of the tree with stem stitch in several shades of brown, working the branches in stem stitch in brown, and working the leaves in a couple of colors of green using daisy stitch. The small berries would be worked in red French knots, and I think the bird would be worked in a variety of stitches in red, though I'm still contemplating that one.

I was thinking this might a good design for a Christmas ornament, too. What do you think?

Here's a PDF of the pattern:

Quaker Motif #2 for Surface Embroidery Stitches

Enjoy!

Hand Embroidered Wedding Dress, circa 1914

2009-10-06T05:14:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was busy with a magnificent wedding, and to top the weekend off, a friend stopped by to show me her great-grandmother's hand embroidered wedding dress. I thought I'd share some photos of it with you - it's a magnificent dress from a by-gone era!

Made from a gorgeous silk Crepe de Chine, the dress and "court train" are completely hand embroidered in silk perle with a pattern of chrysanthemums, ribbons, and shamrocks. The shoulders and sleeves of the dress are made of embroidered tulle, and the waste is accented with a rhinestone and bead bow.

The dress, unfortunately, was not carefully packaged or preserved over the last century, so it shows some serious marks of deterioration. The tulle on the shoulders and sleeves has turned a dark brown, and although feeling somewhat brittle in some places, it can still be gently handled. The lining of the dress is decaying in shreds, but the silk crepe of the dress itself is still in lovely shape (despite discoloration and some spotting that looks like rust). The embroidery is immaculate, with the exception of an occasionally broken thread here and there.

The bodice of the dress is covered with an abundance of embroidered chrysanthemums and shamrocks. The lustre of the silk threads is amazing - only silk thread could withstand the test and ravages of time and still look practically brand new!

Here, you can see the waste sash and the edge of the train running down the length of the skirt. The train, which is relatively small by today's standards of fancy trains, is made from the same fabric as the dress. It is relatively narrow and falls not too much longer than the length of the gown. The sides of the train wrap just barely to the front of the dress, so that the beautiful embroidery that adorns the edges of the train can be seen from the front and then down across the lower edge where it trails on the ground.

The large chrysanthemums are made of sweeping petals, embroidered in satin stitch, and their centers are embroidered with French knots.

In the close-up above, you can see that the clusters of French knots and the satin stitching are still in perfect shape - absolutely lovely!

The tulle that forms the caps of the sleeves is browned with age, but the embroidery on the tulle is still in excellent shape, and though the tulle seems somewhat brittle, it is actually quite soft. I love the leaf designs on the edge of this sleeve cap.

This particular tulle forms a kind of cap at the top of the sleeves - it is a larger-holed tulle in the typical hexagon shape. The sleeve itself is made from a very fine tulle which is slightly more brittle and had tiny holes, making it a bit more opaque. At the edge of the long tulle sleeves is a ruffle made of a diamond-shape netting, delicately embroidered:

I am not certain if this particular lace that forms the ruffle at the edge of the sleeves is hand embroidered or not. The little flower designs are made of what looks like bullion knots, but they may actually be satin stitch (or overcast stitching). The very edge is lined with scallops topped with a little picot.

This is a closer shot of one of the smaller embroidered chrysanthemums, ribbons, and shamrock. It's beautiful from the front, but what's amazing is that it is equally beautiful from the back:

Do you see the row of "dots" at the top of the embroidery? That is a strip of tiny weights sewn to the edge of the train.

The dress is stunning - and so light and airy, despite what looks like a heavy embroidery design. The whole dress is petit in size - I would say it's equivalent to about a size 4 - and holding it up to me, height-wise, the length would fall about to my mid-calf - and I'm only 5' 3". The bride was certainly a petit little thing. The article accompanying the dress indicated that her veil was adorned with an orange-blossom crown and she carried a bouquet of roses.