Bad to the ABC’s – we’re on Q!

There were two other Q’s to choose from, but I chose Quilt!

Which quilt? There’s only one quilt that I’ve ever written about in detail here on the website. It is a pet project, ever on-going, that is not yet finished.

Back in 2019, I began hand-piecing (English paper piecing) a hexie quilt using 3/4″ hexies (each side of each hexie is 3/4″). I wrote about it off and on, even though it is not technically embroidery-related. I happened to mention the quilt once when I started it. The community liked the topic and wanted updates, so I continued to update progress on it, as I worked on it.

I haven’t worked on it in a long while! But it occasionally calls to me, and I will finish it. But more on that below…

When I first started working on the hexies, it was as a separate “hobby” project. Something that wasn’t exactly embroidery, that I could work on at home or traveling.

Of course, to start a project like this – which involved (if I followed my plan) some 5,200 hexies – it required lots of organizing and set-up. Lots of prep. Cutting. Arranging. Storage. It was fun. I like the organizational aspects of all types of projects!

In fact, I wrote a lot about the organization of the project along the way.

As the project developed, so did my organizational plan.

This was my final organizational approach that worked out really well – I loved these little stackable boxes that fit the hexies perfectly!

To answer questions, I wrote up this brief tutorial about my approach to paper piecing the hexies.

The last update I posted on this project is here, back in 2022.

Now, it’s the size of a larger twin-sized quilt. It’s not quite to full-size, which was my original intention, but at this point, I just want it finished. So my plan, once I finish the last touch-ups, is to get it to someone who can do the finishing for me and the quilting, because, let’s face it… if I don’t hand it off to someone who does that kind of thing, will I ever actually finish it myself?

Probably not!

So that’s Q for you!

R is around the corner!

If you are looking for more of this ABC Archive series, you’ll find the index for it here.

Coming Up!

Don’t Forget! Saturday, April 18th, at noon Central Time, I’m participating in the EGA Virtual Lecture Series: A Talk with Mary Corbet on All Things Needle ‘n Thread.

Not quite a lecture, the format we’re following is a Q&A session with all kinds of topics up for discussion. We’ve gathered questions from participants about Needle ‘n Thread, embroidery in general, organization, projects, techniques, and so forth, and we’ll be having a lively chat about all those topics, and whatever questions you might have. We’ll work in a little live studio tour, too, and hopefully, I’ll be able to show you a few projects up close as well.

You can register at the link above (the lecture will also be recorded, in case you can’t make the time). Because it’s a Zoom meeting, we’ll have the opportunity for some introductory chatting before the discussion takes off, as well as gathering incoming questions as the discussion continues.

Feel free to fill up the lecture hall! It’ll be fun, and I’d love to “meet” you there!

I apologize that we don’t have a Spring Eye-Spy puzzle for you today. We hope to work on one a little later this spring, perhaps incorporating spring-into-summer. If you’re looking for our seasonal puzzle and game, you might enjoy some of them from past Easters. You can find them in this list.

Despite no puzzle, I still wanted to drop in and wish you a joyful Easter!

On Easter in different parts of the world (and even among various communities here in America) there is the tradition of the “Paschal Greeting.” Instead of saying “Happy Easter” when you first encounter someone on Easter, you say (in the requisite language), “Christ is Risen!” The person you are greeting responds, “Indeed He is risen!”

This past December (on this trip that I wrote about here), I was standing in front of this small frieze (photo above) on the wall of the church at Ettal Abbey in the Ammergau Alps. As I looked at it, I said out loud, rather matter-of-factly and without any forethought, “Christ is risen!” There was a person standing next to me – a stranger from a different country – and he answered without skipping a beat, Indeed He is risen!

It really is a small world.

This frieze is one from a series of friezes depicting the life of Christ on the sanctuary wall in the church at Ettal Abbey. While they are relatively small in the scheme of things, they are pretty spectacular! They date from the 1700’s, I believe, when the church was Baroque-ified.

I’ll be spending Easter Sunday with family and friends and visitors off and on. If the weather cooperates, we might get up a good Easter egg hunt for the wee folk in the family. And of course, we’ll have a good meal and probably too much chocolate. If there is such a thing.

My contribution to the meal usually involves dessert. This year, I made Medovník – a Czech honey cake – and mini pavlovas.

In fact, I might just skip the lamb and go straight for the dessert.

So that’s our Easter out here in Kansas! My best wishes to you and yours for a similarly pleasant day!

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!

Around this time of year, I like to highlight beautiful and / or interesting ecclesiastical embroidery that focuses on the Crucifixion.

Starting out with something relatively local and close by, there is a lovely Crucifixion chasuble located in Clyde, MO, at the convent of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. They have a relic chapel there that also houses a vestment museum of sorts. The collections features vestments made at the convent before the mid 1900’s. Some are remarkably beautiful.

What I particularly love on this chasuble is the shading, especially on the robes of the Mother of Christ at the base of the cross. I also like the detailed faces of the various figures on the chasuble. You can see more of this chasuble here, with close-ups on faces so you can really see the details of the stitching.

At the time I visited, the vestments were behind glass (and my camera was “old technology”), so the photos are not the best.

Going further afield, in the collection at the Abegg-Stiftung (in Riggisberg, Switzerland), you’ll find an exquisite example of 15th century English embroidery in gold and silk on the orphrey (or decorative banding) of this chasuble above.

This is a fabulous example of English embroidery, in remarkable shape. The colors are still vivid, the embroidered scene is clear and sharp.

Above the crucified Christ, you can see God the Father and the Holy Spirit (the dove). There are angels on each hand and at the foot of the cross.

What I really love about this orphrey is that, at the base of the crucifixion, you’ll find the centurion of Matthew 27:54, declaring Vere Filius Dei erat iste (Indeed, this was the Son of God).

The centurion is oh-so-15th century! He’s wonderful!

This is a phenomenal piece of ecclesiastical embroidery just by virtue of the fact that it’s English and 15th century and in such magnificent shape. While we do have some ecclesiastical embroidery from England that pre-dates Henry VIII’s dissolution of monasteries (so, before the 1534 Act of Supremacy), given the amount of ecclesiastical embroidery and other ecclesiastical art produced in that country before then, in the scheme of things, we don’t have much. So this is a real treasure. It figures up there as one of my personal favorites reflecting this subject.

Another example of English embroidery – this time, late 13th century Opus Anglicanum – can be found at The Met in NYC.

The image above is an excerpt from a small altar panel featuring the Crucifixion in the center, flanked by various saints on each side.

In the image above, right next to the cross, you’ll find Mary the Mother of God on the left and St. John the Apostle on the right.

The panel also features St. James the Greater (as a pilgrim, with a staff and scrip), St. Peter (holding a key representing his authority given to him by Christ), St. Paul holding a sword (he was beheaded with a sword), and St. Andrew with an x-shaped cross (he was crucified on an x-shaped cross or “saltire”).

You can also see a variety of heraldic emblems on the panel. If you visit the link I supplied above, you can zoom in on the various parts of the panel and see them all very clearly.

Now, this panel is super old. But while the colors are no longer vivid, and some of the embroidery is no longer there, the details that you can see are worth looking at – especially if you have an interest in Opus Anglicanum. It’s a good example.

What strikes me most is the expressiveness or “eloquence” of the figures. In Opus Anglicanum, the faces of figures often tend to impress modern viewers as being “juvenile.” Despite their seemingly “cartoonish” look, the figures are very expressive, and I think this is especially evident on this piece.

For example, you can see the sorrow on Mary’s face and in the position of her hands clutched over her heart – that same heart that Simeon said a sword would pierce (Luke 2:35: And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed).

And yet, there is still calm and willing acceptance in her downcast face. She is sorrowful and in anguish, certainly – but she is not engulfed in an emotional, resistant tirade. It’s a heroic face.

What a beautiful image! You can tell that artists behind the work knew the scene, understood what was being portrayed.

It was not merely a “fill in the blank” coloring book exercise for the artist, but a real understanding of the scene, depicted in needle and thread.

So those are three worthwhile examples of ecclesiastical embroidery that focus on the Crucifixion.

Reminder of Upcoming Break

We will be off today (Thursday, April 2nd) through Tuesday, April 7th.

The online shop remains open, but we won’t ship orders again until Wednesday, April 8th – which happens to be my birthday, so we’ll celebrate with a shipping party rather than a birthday party.

But hey, if you bring cake, you can come join us and we’ll have a birthday party, too!

I’ll do almost anything for cake, after all…

When you get older, whether or not you like the word depends much on how you use it. Sometimes, I like homework. Sometimes, I don’t.

Right now, I like homework.

Right now, my “homework” consists of a couple projects: specifically, Clara’s Garden, which is one of the Avlea folk embroidery kits that I carry here in the shop; and this maniturgium project, which is getting ready to take center stage at home, despite some drawbacks to stitching it there instead of at the studio.

I started Clara’s Garden the same day I finished Arcadian Peonies, because I absolutely have to have something to work on while I’m spending so much time at home. (I don’t want to over-mention personal stuff, but my dad requires 24 hour care now, so I don’t get away too much.)

You can see the end of the Peonies and the beginning of Clara’s Garden here.

These kits have been great for non-complicated handwork that I can do at any hour of the day or night when I need something to do with my hands.

My original plan was to have Clara’s Garden finished by Easter. The bright colors are springy and happy, and I thought it would make a nice little topper for spring decor.

One of my sisters commented that she thought it looked more like Christmas decor because of the border around the design, but in fact, the green is very springy and the red and coral compliment the floral pattern. To me, it’s much more springy than anything else.

It’ll serve for summer, too, I reckon, because spring may pass before I finish it.

At one point, somewhere around turning the corner on the design, I messed up on the direction of the cross stitches (oh, gasp! horror!), and started crossing in the opposite directions.

It is said that, on “cross stitch done well,” the stitches should be consistently stitched so that the top stitches all slant in the same direction across the entire piece.

And yes, I’m sure that’s a very good habit!

But I’m afraid I’m not all that meticulous when it comes to cross stitch. Well… I’m not meticulous enough to go back and find out where I switched direction, and pick it out to re-do it, that’s for sure!

From a distance, it all looks the same. No one will ever notice. I know it’s shocking to hear, but (shhhhhh!) I don’t really care if the top stitches don’t all slant in the same direction across the entire piece!

I can’t even find the area where I flubbed up. I know it’s there, somewhere. With my eyes, I’d have to have a magnifier to find it.

Here’s my current progress. It was time to move the frame, so I snapped a photo.

Incidentally, all of these photos are taken late at night under a rather bright task light, but with little other lighting in the room, so the colors appear a bit brighter than they are in reality. If it’s coming across as a lime green to you, it’s not – it’s more of a grass green.

In any case, I’m enjoying this project. I think it’s pretty. It’ll look nice for home use. I can’t wait to do the drawn thread hem stitching around it when it’s finished. I’m going to do a decorative hem stitch of some sort, a little more elaborate than the last one.

But in the meantime…

Taking Up a Different Home Project

… in the meantime, I have to work on the maniturgium, and that’s what I’ll be doing at home the rest of this week and through next week. I want to get it finished before the end of Easter Week.

We shall see!

To that end, I brought a stand magnifier and light home, and now I have to figure out a work station.

I’ll update you on the maniturgium soon, too, and hopefully, I can show you the finish in the not-too-distant future.

Coming Up!

I received a few advanced copies of some Fabulous Books coming out this year – I can’t wait to show them to you!

I will pop in a little later this week, and then we’ll be taking a very short break for Easter. (I’ll be around again by Wednesday of next week.) \\

After Easter, I hope to sneak peek at least some elements of the next stitch along. Yay! It’s berry… I mean very… fun!

And now, back to our Regularly Scheduled Program:

We’re moving forward in the ABC Archives this morning, and of course P is for Palestrina Stitch – because I love Palestrina stitch!

Are you familiar with Palestrina stitch? It’s a glorious textured knot stitch that works for line stitching, but also makes a beautiful edging stitch.

If you haven’t added Palestrina stitch to your stitching repertoire, please do! It takes a little practice to get the tensioning right if you’re trying to achieve plump, juicy knots, but it is oh-so-worth the effort.

Today, as we continue with the ABC exploration of the archives here on Needle ‘n Thread, I’ll show you some past projects that feature Palestrina stitch, plus some tips and – of course – some tutorials.

What’s so special about the Palestrina stitch? Well, it’s the knots, you know! They’re everything you could want in a textured line of plump, pretty knots.

Palestrina Stitch Tutorials

First, some tutorials! You’ll find a handy video tutorial for Palestrina stitch located here.

You can also find a detailed tutorial for working Palestrina stitch along the edge of a piece of fabric, here.

And oh! Why knot? Here’s a tutorial for the beaded Palestrina stitch – because if you can add beads, why wouldn’t you?

And here’s a step-by-step photo tutorial for Palestrina stitch along the edge of a pincushion, featured in the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion stitch-along series.

Palestrina Stitch on Projects

One of my favorite uses of Palestrina stitch is as a decorative edging.

I used it for the edging on the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion project, which was a stitch-along here on the website. You can find the whole project detailed here.

I also used Palestrina stitch – separated with large beads – on Cotton Quartet, a stitch-along project you can find here.

You’ll find the step-by-step instructions for the beaded edge on this project here.

And I used the same technique on the Christmas mitten!!

In fact, as you can see on this Christmas Wreath ornament, I tend to use Palestrina stitch for ornament edgings a lot.

The plump knots are just ideal for edgings, and touching them up with added beads for sparkle – mmm, mmm, mmm.

But don’t stop there! Try it as a line stitch! Use it to accent stems and vines and whatnot in crewel work! Use it for textured outlines in whitework!

You can do a lot with Palestrina stitch – so go forth and give it a try!

More ABC Archives

You can find previous articles in the A-B-C Archives Series right here in the ABC Archives Index, if you’d like to explore earlier content on Needle ‘n Thread in an alphabetical way.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

You can read more details about what you’ll find in the kits in this past Monday’s article, here. And you’ll also find pertinent details in the product listing.

We’re processing shipping already from the early shopping event that members on Patreon enjoyed this past weekend, and our plan is to have all the kits shipped by the end of this week.

Coming Up

We have more fun embroidery content coming up on Needle ‘n Thread, including a book review from a pretty neat book that’s newly available, and some other bits and bobs.

I’m still working from home in the afternoons while engaged in Dad Care. My sister sits with my dad on weekday mornings so I can go to work for a few hours, and this arrangement is working out well. I’m able to get some studio work done, put out the occasional (figurative) fires, and keep our heads mostly above water. So that’s good!

Thanks for hanging in here with me!

Before the first sample project was even finished, we started ordering silk and gold threads to turn it into a kit. It was not until this past autumn that the goldwork threads arrived.

The kit has been a long time coming, but I’m happy to say, we’re ready to launch it!

Plique-á-Jour is an Art Nouveau style embroidery project worked in silk and goldwork threads on a silk ground fabric.

Plique-á-jour (“letting in daylight”) is an enameling process that was popular in the Art Nouveau period. Unlike most enamel, plique-á-jour has no backing behind it, so that light shines through the enamel, brightening it and causing it to glow and sparkle. The name of the project is meant to reflect this play of light. The silk and gold embroidery shimmers and shines and glows and sparkles as light plays across its surface.

The silk and goldwork threads in this project work beautifully together to bring the design to life.

What’s in the Kit?

With eleven full skeins of the highest quality silk and four types of fine English real metal threads – including 15 meters of gilt smooth passing thread, a yard each of gilt pearl purl and gilt fine rococo, and 18″ of gilt bright check purl – plus spangles and beads, the kit is generously supplied with all the materials for stitching the design. You will have leftovers of all the threads.

The design (approximately 5″ x 7″) is pre-transferred on a 12″ x 12″ pearl-ivory silk ground fabric, and a fine cotton batiste is supplied as a backing fabric.

Other necessities in the kit include a full spool of silk couching thread, beeswax, needles, a plunging lasso, and a full-color 29-page instructional booklet that takes you step-by-step through stitching the project.

Incidentally, the beeswax supplied in the kit is one of our “beeswax petites” that we sell in boxed sets here. This is 100% pure beeswax – specifically, it is cap wax that has been quadruple filtered, is beautifully soft and is perfect for coating threads for goldwork. (I love working with good, fragrant, soft beeswax when I’m doing goldwork – it’s such a delicious pleasure!)

Tools You’ll Need

This embroidery must be worked on a frame or in a hoop large enough to accommodate the whole design.

The fabric supplied in the kit is approximately 12″ x 12″ square. The design is pre-transferred in the center of the fabric, and it is approximately 5″ x 7″.

I used an 8″ x 10″ stretcher bar frame (I like Evertite Stretcher Bars) and a 9″ x 11″ stretcher bar frame when sample stitching. You can also use a slate frame, a scroll frame (with the sides laced), or whatever preferred frame you use for your fine embroidery projects. You can use a hoop, but it would have to be large enough to accommodate a 5″ x 7″ image, while holding a 12″ x 12″ square of fabric securely. (Personally, I’d use a frame over a hoop.)

You will also need two pairs of scissors: one pair that’s used for embroidery floss / threads, and another pair that is used exclusively for goldwork threads. This latter pair must be small and sharp, but should not be expensive. Goldwork threads are hard on scissor blades. I use these Rainbow Thread Cutters for goldwork.

Stitching Skill Level

Plique-á-Jour is suitable for intermediate stitchers and beyond. You should know how to use an embroidery frame, how to follow stitching instructions, start and end threads, and other basics of embroidery.

Determined beginners could also be capable of completing the project, if they are acquainted with embroidery basics, if they know how to set up their embroidery work on their preferred type of frame, and if they are comfortable and confident in following instructions.

The silk embroidery consists entirely of a relaxed approach (thoroughly explained) to long and short stitch worked with one strand of floss, and the goldwork is almost entirely couching.

Launch Date & Time

These kits will launch on Wednesday, March 25th, at 10:00 AM Central Daylight Time. (We’re in Kansas!)

They will be available here in the shop at that time.

There are a very limited number of kits. Because of the price point and the slow availability especially of the goldwork threads, I don’t know if we will run this kit again. This remains to be seen.

The kits are $175, which represents the retail cost of the kit supplies plus $20, which covers the instructional materials and know-how.

I believe that the quality of the materials and instruction, the skills that you will learn, the pleasure you will have in stitching the project, and the beauty of the finished piece are worth the investment in this kit!

Keep an Eye Out!

If you would like to add Plique-á-Jour to your stitching repertoire and gallery, keep an eye out on Wednesday, March 25th, at 10:00 AM Central Daylight Time, here in the shop. The listing will go “live” at that time!

See you Wednesday!

I thought I’d share with you some photos of the finished runner that I’ve been working on from home lately. It’s always nice to finish the week with a project finish, after all!

Also, there’s a little reminder below about next week’s kit launch for Plique-á-Jour, and the beginnings of my latest “at home, night time, something-to-do” project.

So there it is! Voilà, the finish! And yes, like you, I’m looking at that picture and thinking, “A touch of an iron would not have gone amiss.”

My iron, alas, is at the studio – which tells you something about the state of my clothes these days.

There are no secrets in the blog-o-sphere, are there?

The runner was fun to work! It was just the right project for what I needed to keep my hands occupied at night, at home. It is the Arcadian Peony kit that you will find available in this listing in the shop. It works up fast, doesn’t really require a hoop or frame (it’s easy to work in hand), it’s very easy to see, since it’s a low-count fabric and the stitches are over two threads (all of which is explained in the instructions that come with the kit).

I like the hemstitched edge. There are no miters on the corners – I simply hemmed the two long sides and then folded the short sides and hemmed them. There’s no way to work neat miters with this type of fabric, on this smaller scale of a hem. It turned out just fine!

Next one in the works right now is Clara’s Garden, also available here in the shop.

Clara’s Garden is on 30 count white linen, which is crisper and finer than the previous project’s ground fabric, but still quite easy to see and to manage in hand.

I worked the first border stitches in hand, to establish the outline around the whole project. For me, this makes counting anything inside the border (as in, the rest of the project) simple. Then, I switched to a q-snap frame to accommodate my trigger thumb, which I noticed gets a bit sticky when I stitch in hand for too long.

I really love the colors in this project! They’re bright and happy, perfect for this time of year. I had a notion I could finish this by Easter, but, realistically, I seriously doubt it. But that’s ok – it’s great for all of spring and summer, too!

I’m enjoying having something to do with my hands while I’m spending more time at home these days. I will also be working on the maniturgium project from home, too. I had to bring equipment home last week (magnifier, lights) to accommodate that project. I’m not quite ready to start on it there, though. I haven’t quite figured out the logistics of where to set up a work station that I don’t have to take down every time a stitching session ends. I’ll figure that out this weekend…

Kit Launch Coming Up!

The kits for Plique-á-Jour – this Art Nouveau style embroidery project – will be available next week!

On Monday, I will give you all the details, including the launch date and time.

Just a little pre-information for now:

The kit contains all you need to embroider this beautiful project: a beautiful pearl-ivory silk ground fabric with the design pre-printed, cotton batiste backing, all the silk threads (Soie d’Alger from Au Ver a Soie), all the goldwork threads (four different types in generous quantities), spangles, beads, beeswax, silk couching thread, needles, plunging lasso, and a 29-page full color instructional manual with step-by-step instructions.

You’ll need to provide some tools: a frame for working on (I used 8″ x 10″ stretcher bars – you can use any size stretcher bars, scroll frame, or slate frame or similar – or a large hoop – that will accommodate a 12″ x 12″ cut of fabric with a design size of approximately 5″ x 7″), and two pairs of scissors, one for floss (those are your good scissors) and one for real metal threads (those are inexpensive but small and sharp scissors, like these Rainbow Thread Cutters); plus lighting and / or magnification, to fit your particular needs.

The project is suitable for intermediate stitchers and beyond. You should know how to use an embroidery frame, how to follow stitching instructions, start and end threads, and other basics of embroidery.

Determined beginners could also be capable of completing the project, if they are acquainted with embroidery basics, know how to set up a frame, and are comfortable following instructions.

The actual stitching of the project is not very complicated, but it does require some experience with following instructions, as well as confidence or determination if you are new to working with silk and gold.

Keep an eye out for further details on Monday, including the announcement of the launch date and time (which will happen next week, too).

Have a lovely weekend!

Orts, if you’re not familiar with the term, are leftover scraps of thread. Way back in the history of philology, orts were leftover scraps of food, but somehow, at some point, the word was adopted for thread.

And I know not when, nor why, nor where.

Nor do I care.

I like the word orts. And I like the fact that my laptop tries to auto correct the spelling of it. Oh, you ignorant piece of technology!

Here at the studio, I keep my orts. And I know this is the habit of many a stitcher. I’ve had all kinds of recommendations on how they can be used, these orts.

But strangely enough, I just keep them in jars and clear containers and such on our cubby shelves, because I think they’re pretty. The layers of colors remind me of the layers of colored sand in sand art jars (remember those?).

They call to mind projects we’ve developed and worked through. Each collective color layer represents a lot of work and a lot of fun!

We use the orts, too. Mostly, they show up in our holiday Eye Spy puzzles. They make colorful little heaps along the edges, where they serve as nests for small things, to enhance the hunt.

Occasionally, I use them for other photo styling and whatnot, too.

So they come in handy, and not just for decor.

Over the years, folks have recommended using orts as pincushion stuffing, as filler for clear glass or plastic ornaments (that can be stuffed with them and added to your holiday tree), as filler in the base of clear lamps. Some folks have strewn orts onto soluble interfacing and machine stitched over them and rinsed the interfacing away, to leave colorful “fabric” made of bits of thread. There are many creative ideas out there for the use of orts!

Probably my greatest tribute to humble orts is my Ode to Orts from way back in 2013. Though it will never reach the august heights of Poetic Acclaim, I figured the little scraps deserved a bit of a nod to their colorful existence.

Looking for More ABC Archives?

If you’d like to explore the archives of Needle ‘n Thread through this ABC Archives series, you’ll find the ABC Archives Series Index here. There’s a lot of useful information in the archives, and the series points out some good content that you may have otherwise not seen yet. It’s not all just fun and games, after all!

Coming Up!

We’re pretty far behind this year at Needle ‘n Thread. I explained here what’s going on in my life (with “Dad Care”), and that situation has not changed. It’s, in fact, becoming more demanding as time progresses. Yes, I have family help, which is great – and it will all work out. It’s definitely a lesson in patience all around!

Still, I’ve been working on some things in the background. Plique-á-Jour will launch very soon. Next week, I will give you the launch date and time for the kit, with details of what’s in the kit, and what you can expect with the project. It comes with full-color, full-size, 29 pages of instructions, too – along with full skeins of silk, all the goldwork threads, the pre-printed silk ground fabric, linen backing fabric, beeswax, silk couching threads, needles – everything you need to complete the embroidery project. It’s quite a kit – the most extensive one we’ve produced! So I’m excited to launch it.

Unfortunately, I can’t take pre-orders for that kit, and we will not be sending out individual emails to notify about its availability. Instead, early next week (Monday morning, specifically), I will announce the launch date and time that the kit will be available on the website, along with all the details about the kit and project. If you are keen to work this gorgeous project, keep an eye out on Monday for that information!

And besides that, there are other bits and bobs coming up on the blog. I’ll eventually sneak peek the next stitch-along for you as well! We’re doing some preliminary stitching on it and working out the kinks. (There are always kinks.)

I hope you’re doing well and that the sun is shining on you in your neck of the woods! I think spring weather returns to Kansas today! Woohoo!

I haven’t taken as many photos as I normally would since I’m working on this at home. But we’ve done this type of work before here on Needle ‘n Thread, so I can refer you to previous tutorials, if you want to do the same thing on any of your own projects!

The project I’m working on is Arcadian Peony, a kit from Avlea Folk Embroidery that you can find available here in the shop.

Like I said, I’m hoping that by the time you read this, I will have completed this small runner, hem and all. If all goes as planned, I’ll be working another one of these kits at home – specifically, Clara’s Garden, which I’d like to have finished by Easter. Well… we shall see!

To finish the runner, I’m hem stitching it, but I’ve decided to do a double turned hem (I don’t want any raw edges visible on either side of this piece), and I’m withdrawing 2 threads from the fabric to make a more distinctive, visible line of hem stitching.

Hem Stitching Tutorial

In this stitch-along on Needle ‘n Thread from 2023, called Sweet Marguerite, we worked a decorative hem stitch that’s not too different from what I’m doing here.

On that project, though, the hem stitch has an additional decorative touch, with a thread running through the center of the “bars” left behind after withdrawing the thread.

I’m not doing that on this piece. I’m just using the hem stitch on both sides of the withdrawn line, to bunch together small bundles of three threads, which results in larger holes.

The first thing I did was mark where I was going to withdraw the threads, counting ten threads out on each side of the finished embroidery on Arcadian Peony. I used pins to mark the boundary where I wanted to withdraw the threads.

Then, I snipped the threads I was planning to withdraw, and I used my tapestry needle to ease out the the threads on all four sides of the runner.

Later, I realized that I didn’t want the threads completely withdrawn to the edges, so I went back and re-wove threads at the very edges of the design. When I post photos of the finished project, I’ll show you what I mean – if I remembered to take those particular photos!

Then, I worked the purely decorative side of the hemstitch, working along the line of the withdrawn thread line closest to the embroidery. I say purely decorative, because this part of the stitching only serves to “decorate” the hemstitch line (by bundling one side of the threads). It doesn’t actually serve any hemming purpose.

We talked about this concept in the Sweet Marguerite stitch-along, if you want to check out the tutorials for that project, which I linked to above.

The nice part about this portion of the work is that it trucks along quite quickly, it’s easy to get into a rhythm of stitching, and it doesn’t require any close detail vision – at least, not with this fabric.

This part of the hemstitch worked up really fast!

I’ll show you the finished piece (and close-ups of the hemstitching) a little later. At that time that I’m waiting this article, I’m not quite finished with the piece. But I’ve got high hopes that it’ll be done quickly.

Oh, and I’ve got to fudge the mitered corners, because this fabric is not easy to make a clean miter on the corners. It’s too open of a weave for really clean mitered corners. (If you’re not familiar with mitered corners, we covered those in Sweet Marguerite, too – you can find that particular tutorial here.

Ok! That’s where I am when I’m writing this (mid-week last week), but hopefully when you’re reading this, I’m much farther ahead. As in, done!

I’ll keep you posted!