These delectable morsels of 100% pure soft, supple, enticingly aromatic beeswax are ideal for strengthening thread in various embroidery and sewing applications. We use all cap wax (no brood comb or the like) that’s been quadruple filtered.

It is not a brittle beeswax – it doesn’t flake and break off like the pale yellow or white cakes you buy on the notion aisle at a sewing or craft store. You know it’s good stuff because it smells divine, it feels wonderful, and it’s dense but softens beautifully for applying to thread.

In hand embroidery, beeswax is used to coat the thread used to apply goldwork wires, spangles, bullions, and the like. Beeswax strengthens the thread against the abrasive metal. It’s also great for strengthening thread for sewing down beads.

And – wonder of wonders! – if you’ve ever lost a button because of broken thread, you will understand the sheer magnificence of beeswax-coated threads for sewing on buttons. Coat buttons especially benefit from beeswax as a strengthener.

We make the Beeswax Petites at my house, in my garage-gone-workspace. You might remember this space. It used to be “the studio” once upon a time. It was the first expansion space of Needle ‘n Thread, when I moved my “studio” from my bedroom to the remodeled workspace in the garage.

I grew out of the garage space eventually. From there, I rented this duplex apartment, just catty-corner from my house on the same street.

After about four-ish years in that space – during which time, I took on Anna, my full-time accomplice – we outgrew it and moved into our commercial space in the little historic downtown of St. Marys, Kansas, which I showed you here. (The space has developed a bit since then, but the essentials are the same!)

That’s where we are now and likely will be for a while.

The Beeswax Petites bring us almost full-circle in our studio growth and expansion. Why? Because we make them, as mentioned, in my former studio, and they have become an important part of our work in the present studio.

We use Beeswax Petites all the time! We use them in kits (like Plique á Jour) and we use them for our own embroidery work.

On this altar cover that we finished back in 2023, we used them right and left!

We use them on every goldwork project, and we often use them for bead embroidery as well.

The Blue Shelf

One of my Favorite focal points in the Studio is a very strange and spontaneous purchase I made off Facebook Marketplace last year: this Blue Shelf.

It’s strange because everything in the studio is white or a light, natural wood. Any color in the room is supplied by fabric, embroideries, the gallery wall, and the like. But definitely not by the furniture … until The Blue Shelf arrived, that is.

The Blue Shelf is controversial. Just ask Anna.

Still, I like it.

When we are in Beeswax Production Mode, with the warmer set up and filled with wax and all the beeswax stuff out, I take the opportunity to make a variety of candles, too. These, I use for gifts throughout the year. We also use them in the Studio (especially in winter). And I use them at home, too. I enjoy burning a good beeswax candle! Not only is the smell sumptuous, but the candle itself lasts much longer than most standard candles today, because beeswax has a higher melting point and is significantly denser than other currently popular waxes.

After a bout of Beeswax-Petite-Making, there’s nothing I like better than populating The Blue Shelf with whatever candles happen to materialize at the same time. This year, there have been many candles, primarily because I’m working from home, anyway. I can do quick candle pours between computer work and dad care. It works out well!

That was a long, meandering journey to get to the point – but here’s the latest batch on The Blue Shelf.

If nothing else, The Blue Shelf serves my candle-making efforts well. The colors complement each other deliciously, and it gives the studio a very cheerful, warm, and eye-catching splash of color.

I just finished this small batch of candles at home, and they are patiently awaiting their deliverance to The Blue Shelf. I can’t wait to add them to the collection! There’s a certain feeling of satisfaction when the Shelf is abundantly full.

And that, my friends, is another glance behind the Needle ‘n Thread scenes. While we don’t make wax products in the current studio, we still enjoy them in the studio. They’re beautiful to see on the Shelf, and it’s just lovely to have a candle or two burning during our work hours.

I hope you a lovely weekend! And a very Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!

Well, technically, we never did. Not that I have anything at all against embroidered unicorns. But I’ve never embroidered one myself.

I have, however, created a series of small projects that are an appreciative nod to some of my favorite works of textile art from the Middle Ages – the Lady & the Unicorn tapestries of Cluny.

And so, with a little bit of a stretch as we continue the ABC Archives series, I’m going to say that U is for Unicorn.

Way back in 2018, I designed a set of “tapestry smalls” worked on silk gauze – a very fine, light even-weave mesh that mimics needlepoint mono canvas but is much, much finer – and called them “A Thousand Flowers.” The original set of charts – which you can find here as a downloadable PDF – includes a dog, a cat, a bunny, and squirrels.

I love working small things, and these were no exception. They’re stitched with beautiful silk threads, and the resulting little miniatures can be finished in a variety of ways.

The deer (above) – which is a supplemental chart – I mounted in a pocket watch setting, using a Tom Holtz Idea-ology frame that I found at a craft store (I don’t think this particular one is made anymore).

This piece hangs in my cubbies at the studio. It is a huge conversation maker when people step close to see what it is.

I mounted the dog in a bevel tray with a brooch pin on the back – you know, for the medieval-tapestry-dog-loving person in your life!

The double squirrels, I finished into an ornament, and then I realized it would also make a great scissor fob.

There’s also a cat and a bunny version, which were finished in similar ways. They all went forth into the world as gifts.

In addition to the PDF downloads for these projects, we produced kits for them at the time, too. We still put together kits occasionally, so if you are interested and you want advanced notice of them, just drop me a line and let me know! We’ll notify you once we have them in stock again.

And that, my friends, is my roundabout U for the ABC Archives series. If you’d like to explore the rest of the articles in this series, you’ll find the ABC Archives Index here.

Hope you’re having a Wonderful Wednesday!

My hoops haven’t failed me yet!

But there are all kinds of hoops on the needlework market, and there have been all kinds of hoops in the past, too, that we don’t necessarily see today.

When I wrote about Belding’s Revised Needle & Hook last week, I highlighted a passage in the booklet about hoops, where they specifically mention Duchess hoops.

Are you familiar Duchess embroidery hoops? I’ll show you what they are. Or were.

Duchess hoops were “embroidery rings” produced by the Gibbs Manufacturing Company in Canton, OH.

Although the hoops produced by the Gibbs Manufacturing Company belong to the turn of the 20th century, the company was in existence until 2001, when it went bankrupt. For the majority of its years, Gibbs Manufacturing was a toy company, but it first served a stint as a farm implement manufacturer, and also as a manufacturer of sewing notions.

Lewis Gibbs registered this patent in 1897 for an Embroidery Ring (links to a PDF of the patent), for this item as described:

An embroidery-holder comprising two concentric rings, the inner one of which is provided with a flexible fibrous band partially countersunk upon its surface, and the other provided with a smooth face to engage and clamp the goods thereto, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

The Duchess hoop is essentially the object of that patent, although the Gibbs company also produced a “Princess hoop” (which is not as highly favored, I think, by collectors today).

The Duchess hoop differs notably from wooden hoops of today in two aspects, the first of which is pretty obvious: there’s no hardware.

No hardware?! you say!

No. None.

Aha! I think this hoop was an invention before its time! If it existed widely today, it would be highly favored for “hoop art,” don’t you think?

While there are hoops out there that don’t have hardware on them that are used for finishing “hoop art,” they lack the grippiness – the holding power – of the Duchess hoop… which is the second different aspect of this hoop.

The inside ring of the Duchess hoop features a strip of felt or felt-like material (pretty sure it’s felt!) that is embedded in a channel in that inner ring.

This felt strip, coupled with the snug fit of the two rings, provides the tensioning “mechanism” for the fabric in the hoop, without the need for hardware.

It just so happens that this particular little Duchess hoop I have has a really nice, intact felt strip. It’s obvious the hoop was used, but it was well cared for and it hasn’t suffered the deterioration that you sometimes see on these antiques.

Looking at this hoop of antiquity (it is, after all, over 100 years old), two questions probably spring to mind:

1. Does it work?

and

2. If so, how well does it work?

To use a Duchess hoop, you set it up like any hoop. The inner ring goes down on the table, the fabric goes over the inner ring, and then you situate the top ring over the inner ring and fabric, and you push straight down.

You can further adjust the tension by going around the hoop and gently pulling the fabric.

I’m demonstrating this with my Something Fishy towel set, so the fabric in the hoop is cotton toweling (flour sack toweling). It’s a high quality cotton toweling, so it’s somewhat thick and it has a nice firm weave.

It works quite well in this hoop – the fit is snug and it holds the fabric well.

The hoop slips over the previously stitched areas, too, without apparent disruption. I would likely not leave it on the fabric between stitching sessions – but that holds true for any hoop.

So, yes, the hoop works. And it works pretty well!

BUT…

Does it Work as Well as the Hoops I Regularly Use?

Does it work as well as good-quality wooden hoops that we see today, that have solid brass, sturdy hardware, smooth wood, and close-fitting rings?

No.

Using the Duchess hoop, I find that I have to adjust the tension on the fabric more frequently while I’m stitching. For some folks, this is considered the norm when using a hoop – every now and then, they readjust their fabric as if it’s part of the process of stitching. Sometimes, depending on the tools you use, I guess it is.

When I use a hoop, the inner ring is always bound with cotton twill tape. I go through a two-step set-up process: I push the outer ring over the fabric that’s over the inner ring, tightening the hardware just slightly so I get a nice, even pull across the fabric, and then I tighten the fabric all around and tighten the hardware one more time using a screwdriver.

Rarely do I have to adjust my tension during a stitching session with this method. And yes, I have been known to leave a hoop in place between sessions, and I haven’t had to adjust the tension over multiple sessions, either.

With the Duchess hoop, I like the ease of its use. And I like the decent tension it supplies at first, but I don’t like having to adjust tension during a stitching session.

So… while I appreciate having a couple of these antique hoops because I love their history, they wouldn’t be my go-to for my stitching. I prefer today’s hoops (specifically, these) bound with cotton twill (specifically, this).

Besides, a new hoop and cotton twill are a heck of a lot more affordable than buying these antiques, some of which are pretty pricy! Apparently, they are Collected. The more you look for them online, the more the algorithms kick in, and the higher the prices go.

Are they worth those high prices? If you’re looking for a tool, I’d say no.

If you’re history-collecting, it depends on how avid a collector you are!

And that, my friends, is the Duchess hoop and my take on it. It’s a lovely little tool in the history of needlework, kind of cool to have, interesting in concept – and an ideal concept for finishing “hoop art” if you don’t want hardware on your hoop frame – and usable, but perhaps not as job-efficient as new hoops.

I don’t really get into the whole nitty-gritty tabloid-esque following of the royal families of any nation. But I do appreciate the role royal houses across nations have had in the whole history of the world, and … more to the point… I appreciate the exquisite embroidery that has come into being because of royalty.

The history of embroidery would not be what it is – and we would not have what we have today in the embroidery world – were it not for the connection of royalty with needlework.

Putting things in historical context, in fact, the whole historical development of needlework owes much to two institutions: to the Church, and to royal houses around the globe.

One of the most exquisite examples of royal-related needlework in modern times, in my opinion, is the coronation dress of Queen Elizabeth II. It is Stunning – from the dress design, to the materials, to the embellishment, it is truly a crown jewel in the history of needlework and dressmaking.

So, for your weekend diversion, here’s some interesting reading about that gorgeous dress – and an opportunity to learn more about it through an upcoming online presentation.

Over at the Royal Collection Trust website, you will find this fascinating article on the Coronation Dress of Queen Elizabeth II. Take time to look at the samples of the embroideries while you’re there! You can scroll through up-close images of each of the key embroidered elements on the dress.

Make sure while you’re there that you click the “play” button on the opening video. It’s a 15-second video displaying a 360-view of the dress in optimal lighting. Oh, the sparkle!

To me, the dress exudes elegance. It is so pretty and so graceful!

But I think the most wonderful thing about it is that it features embroidered leeks – and the leeks are actually pretty.

While a fresh green leek at a quality produce stand can be attractive in a sense – there’s a certain appeal to it, especially if the bulb is very white and the fronds are very green – taken as a whole, the leek isn’t the most visually engaging vegetable in the world. It’s stiff, stalky, thick, and stolid.

Ok, sure, it’s not a Brussel sprout. But still! Making a leek actually work as a delicately embroidered addition to a dress like this took some real ingenuity.

(No offense to the leek. I love leeks.)

The Online Lecture

On June 2nd, the Royal Collection Trust is offering an online lecture about the Coronation Dress:

Join Caroline de Guitaut, Surveyor of The King’s Works of Art, for the latest in our series of digital events accompanying the current exhibition, Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

In this digital event, Caroline will share her expert insights into the details of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Dress, one of the most iconic garments of the 20th century. Caroline will explore its exquisite design, symbolism, and craftsmanship and there will also be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions at the end of the event.

There’s no set fee for registering – it’s more of a donation request.

I’ve registered and I’ve got it on my calendar and hope to attend if nothing intervenes. Keep in mind that the lecture is only available live.

Have a beautiful weekend!

As we continue exploring the Needle ‘n Thread Archives, I struggled with T, even though it’s a pretty common letter.

I realize I could have done “tea towels” for “T” – but these really cute Tea Time towels just came out last year. That doesn’t seem too archival to me.

And I could have just done thread, but good grief! Highlighting all the posts on the website having to do with thread would be a gargantuan task.

So instead, I went to stitches (again – we just did “Satin Stitch” for S!), and, after considering a few of them – trellis, twilling (which is just another name for Palestrina stitch), twisted chain, tambour, tulip, Turk’s head knot… I settled on Turkey Work, which is also called Ghiordes Knot Stitch.

Why this particular stitch? Because it’s so very archival – I published a video tutorial for Turkey Work way back in 2009, when Needle ‘n Thread was just a wee three-year-old.

Turkey Work: it’s fluffy!

It’s a technique wherein you build a looped “pile” made from locked stitches onto your fabric, you trim the looped pile, and then, if you want, you comb out the threads to make them even fluffier and puffier.

It’s a wonderful technique to use whenever you’re trying to create soft, fluffy dimension!

A tool that I like to use when using Turkey Work is called a “nap brush” or comb.

This alien-looking thing is ideal for brushing out the trimmed threads of Turkey Work, to separate all the plies and make the stitched area fuller.

And although the brush looks huge in the photos above, it’s really not. It fits on a finger, or you can just hold it between your finger and thumb while you gently comb out the stitches.

It’s a neat tool – even if it does look like the stuff of nightmares.

It’s not a necessary tool, though! You can fluff up your threads with the eye-end of your needle, too!

Once upon a time, I convinced my sister to use Turkey Work to gussy up this cross-stitched squirrel Christmas ornament.

She did! It was adorable!

And once upon a time, I played with a squirrel’s tail, too. This was way back when I was putting together all the little projects for Lavender Honey & Other Little Things.

It wasn’t adorable. It was a mess.

Needless to say, the squirrel didn’t make the cut for Lavender Honey!

Granted, the Turkey Work wasn’t necessarily to blame – the whole design just didn’t do it for me, and neither did the fabric I was stitching it on.

Sometimes, that’s just the way things work out! (They don’t!)

You can read about that tail going haywire here, and see the resulting clean-up of the tail. The squirrel itself never did please me.

Another place I used Turkey Work was the center of an embroidered daisy in this tutorial on how to embroider daisies.

That comes from the tutorial series called “How to Embroider (Blank)” – where we cover embroidering several different things – from daisies, to strawberries, grapes, a dragonfly… You can scroll through this index to see the fun project tutorials!

Looking for More?

And that, my friends, is Turkey Work with a T.

You can find other articles in the ABC Archive Series here, if you’d like an ABC guide to some archival highlights from the blog!

Hope you enjoy the journey!

I love needlework history.

I love old needlework threads.

I love old needlework designs and instructions and tips and other delectable tidbits.

And I love it when all of these come together in one tidy package in one way or another!

Often, these topics did come together in the needlework pamphlets, catalogs, and promotional materials published in the late 19th – early 20th centuries by thread manufacturers.

Whether Corticelli (I wrote about them here – they merged with Belding in the early 1900’s), M. Heminway & Sons (I wrote about them here and here – they were the first silk manufacturer to put up silk threads on spools! – and they also merged with Belding), or Belding Brothers (founded in 1860, and eventually becoming Belding-Heminway-Corticelli in the 1900’s), all of these companies – which eventually became one consolidation supplying over 90% of the silk in the US – put out some great instructional and marketing booklets in their respective heydays.

(It always amazes me to think that we once had a thriving silk manufacturing industry in the US!)

Recently, a kind reader sent me a copy of Belding’s Revised Needle & Hook from the early 1900’s. There are many editions of this book – this one is the seventh edition. They are all prized antique books. I’m so happy to add this treasure to my collection!

These books – like the M. Heminway & Sons book I wrote about here – contain color plates of silk embroidery worked with their threads.

The books, after all, were marketing tools. Books like these are chockfull of instructional tidbits, examples of stitchery, and examples of designs and products produced by the manufacturer and available to the retail market at the time.

The books normally focus primarily on embroidery, but you’ll also find crochet, knitting, lace work, and even macrame in some of them.

Any needle art or craft that can utilize the variety of thread types and weights that the manufacturer produced was fair game for content.

When I meander through these old books, I enjoy pausing to read the numerous tips and techniques offered to the potential client.

Some of these tips (and much of the language!) may be a bit outdated, but many of them still hold true!

And while some of the content is most assuredly a sales pitch (“What Constitutes an Ideal Line of Embroidery Silk” focuses, of course, on Belding silk), that content is still applicable to many points we look for in a good thread today – like a variety of colors, finely graded shades of color, colors designed for conventional embroidery, different sizes and twists to cover multiple needs, permanency of color, lack of variation between dye lots, and a quality and luster that remains despite working or washing.

Sounds like a great line of threads to me!

While Duchess hoops are not made anymore (I’ve never talked about them here on the website, but I have a couple, so I’ll show you one up close one of these days), some of the information about hoops and frames still applies. I find the wording for the description of how to use the hoop a bit odd. It makes it sound like the fabric is cling wrap or something!

Nearly all women who embroider prefer to have the work held in a hoop or a frame. The Duchess embroidery hoop can be recommended because the inner hoop has a lining of felt which prevents the material from slipping or pulling. When the hoop is to be used, stretch the material over the top of the smaller hoop and press it down, pulling the material down between the two hoops until it is tight and smooth, do not stretch the cloth on the bias. A frame should be used for silk, velvet or plush. A small square frame, modeled on the lines of the quilting frame, will answer admirably.

Today, instead of an embedded felt strip on the inner ring – which was a popular feature of the Duchess hoop – you can wrap the inner ring of good quality wooden hoops with cotton twill tape, which provides the same holding power and helps protect the fabric and the stitching. You can read about the process of wrapping or binding a hoop here.

Oh, look! Another color plate!

The silk embroidery showcased in the colored plates is typical of Society Silk from around this era. This is all “needle painting” – the floral designs are realistic, and the embroidery is shaded in a realistic manner using long and short stitch or variations.

The tips in the photo above on ironing the embroidery are interesting. They might produce a bit of anxiety on first reading them (“make this piece of cloth smoking hot”!!!!), but the tips actually do make sense – especially the point about steaming, which can produce color run, even with “colorfast” threads.

The long and short stitch instructions are intriguing, too! Remember this discussion about methods of long and short stitch that we began here? Well, here are some instructions that play into our discussion.

In this booklet, it illustrates what they called the “Kensington method,” which involves taking the needle down and between the stitches of the previous rows.

Beneath this explanation, there is an explanation of the “Japanese method.” They are more or less the same instructions in this booklet, with the exception that the Japanese method is more rigid and evenly filled.

There are, of course, many diagrams for many different types of stitches, too!

Ok, fine! Let’s admit it – we really just want to flip through and see all the colored plates!

I love, love, love these red poppies!

I love these wild roses!

This is “ok” – I’m not really so keen on this arrangement. The elements don’t look very comfortable together.

But who doesn’t like daffodils and irises?

Again, maybe not in this particular arrangement…

There are other lovely colored plates in the book, but we are, alas, out of time and out of words. I’ve hit 1,000, and you’re probably sound asleep by now!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at a little thread from the past. Lovely, lovely book! And I’m sure it will pop up again on Needle ‘n Thread in the future!

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a grand start!

The encroaching happens by coming up (or going down – depending on the instructions) between the satin stitches of the previous row.

You can also split those stitches in the previous row, even though technically, that wouldn’t be encroaching satin stitch. It would be more of a split encroaching satin stitch.

My point in explaining all this is to further illustrate the up-and-down question from Monday’s article about long and short stitch. Today, I just want to offer a further illustration on the difference you can achieve by choosing to split stitches going up or going down.

To demonstration the difference in the direction of the split, I’ve worked two small bars of satin stitch on my fabric.

At this point, the two small bars are exactly the same – they’re just satin stitch.

(If you’re not familiar with satin stitch – or you want to learn more about it – this past Wednesday’s article will open up a whole discussion of satin stitch, tips, techniques, projects, and more that you can find in the archives here on Needle ‘n Thread.)

To demonstrate the effect of splitting up vs splitting down in previous rows of stitches, instead of working the “proper” or “typical” encroaching satin stitch, where I’d come up between the threads at the ends of the stitches in the previous row, I’m bringing my needle up right in the middle of the thread, at the end of each stitch in the previous row.

This is kind of a modified encroaching satin stitch, or split encroaching satin stitch – or heck! We could just call it split stitch, worked in rows. The idea is, we’re splitting the stitches, not coming up between them.

In the second sample, I’m splitting downwards at the end of each satin stitch in the previous row.

For the sample on the left, I split UP; for the sample on the right, I split DOWN.

Looking head on (and remember that we’re working with wool!), the difference is not insanely noticeable, but there is a difference. The sample on the right shows the ridge a bit more distinctly.

Viewing from the side, you can see the slight difference, too.

The difference is not remarkably great, necessarily, but remember two things: this is a small sample – over a larger area, with more rows, the difference would be more obvious; and I’m working with wool. Wool is a more “forgiving” thread in a lot of ways, because it has poof and a little more bulk than most embroidery threads. It spreads better.

Later, I’m going to show you samples of the same concepts worked with other threads, so that you can see how the thread choice affects your stitch choice.

When you see the differences between the way stitches look depending on the threads you’re using and the variations you’re making in the stitches, you can make informed decisions about the stitches you choose for the threads you’re using, to achieve the look you want for your finish project.

Most of the time, this type of information is really just a matter of experience. You can play with your stitches and test different stitch variations, different techniques and so forth, to discover what outcomes you prefer. As you experiment, you’ll increase your experience with threads and stitches, and this adds to your whole repertoire of knowledge and skill as you progress along your needlework journey.

We’ll get into it a little more with other threads, later! It’ll be interesting to see the differences in outcomes based on thread choices, don’t you think?

Have a lovely weekend!

I’ve said it before. I’m sure I’ll say it again. Satin stitch – done well – is, in my heart of hearts, the Queen of Embroidery Stitches. It can be such a beautiful stitch, and it can be used for So Much.

But there are also things it can’t be used for!

Today, we’re going to plunge into the Needle ‘n Thread Archives again and resurrect previous published posts on satin stitch – with various suggestions for when and how to use satin stitch, with lots of tips and techniques to help you perfect your satin stitch, and even with a few notes on when not to use satin stitch.

Come, let us explore these archived articles together and revel in the wonder and beauty of The Satin Stitch!

Satin stitch is, in essence, a simple stitch. There is no extra movement to it. You simply bring your needle up into the fabric and then take it back down. With practice and care – and by following a few guidelines – anyone can master satin stitch, creating beautiful, smooth stitched elements with it.

Smooth is the operative word here. Satin stitch is called satin stitch, because it’s meant to be smooth, like satin. The surface of the stitched element is meant to be smooooooth. And that’s the only real challenge with satin stitch!

There are some simple ways to assure that your satin stitched surface is – and remains – smooth, and I’ve written loads about it in the past.

For example, check out this article called 12 Helpful Hints for Sensational Satin Stitch. In it, guess what you’ll find! That’s right – 12 helpful hints for sensational satin stitch. These aren’t necessarily tips just for the stitching of satin stitch. They also have to do with thread choice, padding, and more!

Slanting Stitches: Why Start in the Middle? demonstrates the notions of spacing and stitch angle when filling an area with slanted satin stitches.

I used that sample above to write this article on floche and satin stitch, because floche is an absolutely dreamy thread to use for satin stitching!

Sometimes, if you’re not achieving the results you want or picture in your mind, it’s not the stitching that’s the problem – it’s the supplies!

I also used floche (red!) for this satin-stitched monogram:

You can find many articles on this monogram, but I’ll just point out these two:
Beginning the Monogram
The Finished Monogram

Once upon a time, a gazillion years ago, I worked this monogram above in white, using coton a broder – another thread that’s fabulous for monograms and for whitework (which are frequently seen together). In fact, if you haven’t tried satin stitching with coton a broder, consider it! We offer this variety pack of several weights of coton a broder, to make it convenient to try out.

When I worked that monogram, I wrote this tutorial on how to take curves with satin stitch.

And here, you can see the finished monogram from that project.

This tutorial on satin stitched dots will teach you how to embroider really plump (or not so plump – up to you!) dots in satin stitch. Sometimes, it’s hard to get a perfectly round satin stitched element, so I show you how to do that.

There are many projects on Needle ‘n Thread that have featured satin stitch. Monograms in satin stitch are always a fave, but I use satin stitch in some variety or another quite often!

In this project, I was keen to save on silk thread when working the satin stitch elements, so you can see how I did that.

This lovely embroidered daisy project features one daisy worked in satin stitch (with instructions).

I used satin stitch on the florals in my Secret Garden Hummingbird project – and here are the details from that part of the project.

One of the earliest projects I ever published here on the website was this satin stitched stole, worked in silk threads on the loveliest of silk fabrics. The project was never completed, due to a slight disaster that ruined the second half of it. Unfortunately, the original photos from the earliest days of the blog are not accessible in their original format. Some day, I will unpack this half of the stole, re-photograph it, and probably frame and hang it.

And if you’re looking for something quite small but very useful, in my tutorial series on hand embroidered lettering and text, I included a tutorial for satin stitch in lettering.

I suppose we could wax eloquent for hours about the wonders of satin stitch, but I think this smattering of detail from the Needle ‘n Thread archives will give you plenty to explore!

If you’d like to catch up on the rest of the ABC Archive Series on Needle ‘n Thread, you’ll find the ABC Archive Index available here.

Hope your week is going well!

One of the questions that came in focused on needle painting. It was a very good question.

I thought that I’d elaborate on the topic, and show you what we talked about.

The participant is learning silk shading (also called “needle painting” and “soft shading,” among other terms). In her explorations, she’s run across multiple approaches: some splitting UP into previous stitches, some splitting DOWN into previous stitches, and some separating and coming up BETWEEN previous stitches.

Indeed, it is true – you can find various approaches to long & short stitch (which is, more or less, the stitch or technique used in needle painting), depending on the book, the instructor, the designer, the area of the world, and so forth.

As is always the case, when it comes to figuring out something, it helps to “look to the end” (what’s you’re desired end result?), to define terms, to explore variations, and so forth.

Let’s talk a little about this topic, then, using some tiny stitched samples that I played with for demonstration purposes. Later, I may expand the topic with some other samples, because these below were worked rather quickly and only with one type of thread – which definitely limits our results and understanding! If we play with the stitch with different threads, and we fiddle about with the various approaches, we’ll see divergent results that will help us learn more.

How about a clarification first?

I realize that long & short stitch (the “stitch” itself) does not necessarily equate to needle painting or even silk shading. It’s often the basis of the approach to needle painting, but if you consider “long & short stitch” proper, it’s often demonstrated in a very rigid way, with a very distinct long-and-short sequence of stitching.

Needle painting generally involves a looser approach to long and short stitch.

This looser approach is often something more along the lines of “long-and-longer-and-a-short-and-a-longer-here-and-an-even-longer-here-and-a-squeezed-in-short-here-plus-another-long-followed-by-a-not-as-long-but-definitely-not-short-stitch.”

But for the sake of this particular demo, I’m going to stick with a rather rigid long-and-short stitch.

I started with a few shades of green crewel-weight wool thread and a piece of linen in a hoop. I drew two very small squares (about 3/8″) on the fabric – but I ended up extending those a little bit, as you’ll see. I’m using a chenille needle, so don’t be mislead by the eye. It looks like a tapestry needle, but it has a sharp tip.

I drew two boxes because we’re going to talk about splitting up vs splitting down and what happens to the fibers of your thread with each approach.

I decided to go ahead and work a split stitch outline along the top of each box, because I wanted to talk about the split stitch, too.

Long and short stitch is, after all, a split stitch. Not split stitch, but a stitch that is split.

When you’re filling shapes with filling stitches like long and short stitch, it is some times helpful to outline part or all of the shape with a split stitch outline, and then to work your outermost filling stitches just over that outline. Doing so helps give a very defined edge to your filled area. It is not always necessary, true, and in some cases, it might not be advisable – it might overcomplicate things. But in many, many cases, this outline is helpful!

So I started with the outline.

The box on the left – we’ll call it A – features the split stitch worked along the top line of the box, splitting the stitches UPWARDS. I came UP into the fabric and through the stitch, splitting it, then took the stitch forward on the line and down into the fabric. When I came back up, I split the stitch that I just formed.

You can find a video for split stitch here, if you’re not familiar with it.

Box B is split backstitch. With split backstitch, you’re splitting the stitch from the top, passing DOWN into the previous stitch. It is a different stitch altogether from split stitch, and you can see how different in this article on split stitch vs. split backstitch.

Perhaps this discussion of split stitch seems off topic, since we’re talking about long & short stitch, but still, it serves a purpose.

Notice that the two stitches in the samples above, though they look similar, do not look the same. The stitches on box A are puffier and a little plumper. The stitches on box B are tighter, a little more compact looking – somewhat flatter and closer to the fabric.

If, with the simple split stitch, we get a slightly different look in the resulting stitch depending on splitting UP or splitting DOWN, then it stands to reason that, with the long and short stitch (which also relies on splitting from one direction or the other, depending on the book, instructor, etc.), you’ll also get a different look to the finished product, depending on the direction of your split.

I stitched the first row of long & short stitch in light green on both boxes, and I was very careful to maintain the same tension, as much as possible. To this end, I made sure that I was stitching these samples all in one go, without taking a break.

On box A, I began the second row of long & short stitch by splitting UP into the stitches, just as I did with the split stitch outline on box A.

On box B, I split DOWN into the first row of stitches.

I tried to zoom in for you here and show you the two boxes from an angle, so that you can see that there is a difference in them. It’s not a Huge Difference at this point.

And in fact, on elements this small, the difference is minimally noticeable.

But it is there.

Notice how the stitches in box A are fuller and fluffier. They sit a little higher on the fabric.

When you split UP into the stitches, you pull the fibers of the thread upwards with the working thread as you pass through the stitch. The fibers don’t compact, because they aren’t being pulled down onto the surface of the fabric. They’re not getting squished and held against anything.

Here, I’ve added a row of darker green to both boxes, splitting UP in box A (left) and DOWN in box B (right).

At a glance, they don’t seem to look that different from the front.

But still – there is a slight difference. Box B looks a bit firmer. The stitches look a bit more distinct. They are more compact. They’re held down against the fabric.

Here, you can see it perhaps a bit better – box B (the distant box) looks flatter.

Does It Matter?

In a small scale sample like this, nope. Not really.

If your intention is supply a gradual color change by way of rigid alternating long and short stitches on a small sample like this, I think either sample works. You definitely get the gist of what long and short stitch is.

But… what’s your end game?

Do you want a rigid long-short pattern?

Or are you trying to achieve something that blends well? Something that softly and smoothly transition from color to color? And that results in a kind of dimension and “realism” in the embroidered image?

If the latter is the case, I contend that you can achieve that result better if the fibers of the threads blend together better – and this happens more with box A, where the fibers of each previous stitch are lifted by the new stitch, than with box B, where the fibers of each previous stitch are compacted by the new stitch.

Here is an example of a petal worked in soft shading with wool. I used a loose version of “long & short stitch,” splitting UP into the stitches, and the result is a very smooth blending of the fibers. There’s no dipping or dents that darken with small shadows and compact threads the transitions of shades.

Unfortunately, I didn’t stitch this petal two different ways, because I never do shading splitting downwards.

Is It “Wrong”?

Is it “wrong” to split downwards?

No.

It depends on what you want to achieve. It depends on the look you want! It depends on the technique! It depends on the finished product!

You can’t really call either way “right” or “wrong.” In some forms of needle painting, the splitting is downwards, because the overall look the designer or the style requires is different from what is achieved by splitting upwards.

Some cultural embroidery techniques employ a downward split. Some stitchers prefer the tightness achieved by the downward split. Some stitchers prefer the downward split because they find it easier to execute.

Ultimately, it just depends on what you like and what you want to achieve.

Today’s samples are quite limited, too, because we only explored with wool. If we were playing with silk or with cotton – and with different types of silk or cotton – we would have different results. We might look at what happens with different threads a little later, if I have time to “geek out” further on the topic.

Coming up, though, I’ll elaborate on the topic again, by demonstrating the upward and downward split in a different stitching technique. It might showcase the difference between the upward and downward split a little more clearly.

For now, that’s enough stitch-geeking for one day, don’t you think?

The video (linked to below) was shared with me by a member of the broader Needle ‘n Thread community – and I couldn’t be more grateful! It seems like a long time since I’ve watched a video with as much interest and enjoyment as I did this!

Lately, interest in the Tapestry is ramping up more than usual. There are a few reasons for this, I think. Certainly, the exhibition of the Tapestry in England at the moment is a Big Deal, so that’s one reason. Another? There are two beautiful books coming out a little later this year that have to do with the Tapestry. I’ve received advanced copies of both, and I can’t wait to share the books with you!

But, no matter what, I think the Tapestry will ever and always be of interest to embroiderers. It’s such a massive, compelling, fabulous piece of history – all done with needle and thread!

The video, Archeologists Reexamine the Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry, is a just about an hour in length. It focuses on … well! So Much!

It’s hard to pin down favorite parts. I ate the whole thing up twice!

The points that I enjoyed most, if I must nail it down: the boats (around 32:56), the dyes (around 43:45), and the food history (around 47:20) that tells us quite a bit about social changes that came along with the Norman conquest.

The entire video, though, is incredibly absorbing. There is so much to learn from this “document” that we call a tapestry. The whole subject is such a source of Wonder and Amazement to me – and the video is well worth watching!

I hope the video gives you a pleasant little diversion over the weekend!

What’s Up at Needle ‘n Thread?

I’ve settled into a regular routine of working from 9-noon at the studio most weekdays, and working from home the rest of the time while taking care of my Dad. It seems to be working out ok. We are definitely not getting as much done, but we’re keeping afloat at the moment.

You’ll find a lot of new stock in the shop, if you haven’t explored over there recently.

For example, I’ve expanded the selection of these folk cross stitch kits. They are so enjoyable, and they feature lovely designs!

We have a wide, wide range of embroidery hoops available now (when it rains, it pours). For a while, it was hard to get stock on good wood hoops, but we’re back up and running in the hoop department. If you’re looking for a good hoop or two, then, we can help!

We also have high quality, thin cotton twill tape in a variety of widths, for binding the inner ring of your hoops. This is the best cotton twill tape I’ve found. It adds the friction and protection you want, without much extra bulk. And it lasts! Once you’ve bound a hoop (you can read about binding the inner ring of your hoop here), it should last the life of the hoop.

We are still working towards a stitch-along before too much more time goes by. I want to sneak peek it to you soon, but I need to make some progress on it and nail down the decision factors: this color thread, or that? These beads, or those? Or none? We even need to decide on ground fabric. It will certainly be linen. But what linen?!

Did you miss the hand turned tools that we started bringing in at the beginning of 2026? We have some in stock – including a wide range of really fun acrylic hand-turned tools. Why is acrylic fun? Because you can color coordinate – with projects, with seasons! So many color combinations! (These make terrific gifts!)

I’m sure there’s more – much more – that I want to tell you! But I’m on empty!

If you’re signed up for the EGA Virtual Lecture with me tomorrow at noon (Central Time), I’ll “see” you then! I can’t wait!

Have a lovely weekend!