I need to take a break for about a week. I’ll be back next week to regularly scheduled programing.

In the meantime…

…if you’re new to Needle ‘n Thread – and even if you’re not! – and you want a good needlework fix, I recommend exploring the archives here on the website. You can do that two ways:

In the left column on the website (desktop version), you’ll find an “archives” section, arranged by year. If you’re on mobile, use the “hamburger” menu on the top right and scroll down to “archives.” It’s kind of fun to go back to the early years and pick up little tidbits.

You can also go to the “Tips & Techniques” section on the website here, and meander through any article or topic that catches your eye.

If you’re looking especially for stitch tutorials, 2012 is a great year for that in the archives!

In the Studio

In the studio this week, Anna is working on Blackberry kits. Yay! The last box of threads finally arrived. I haven’t opened it up yet and checked the contents, but I have confidence that they’re all going to be there.

(Famous last words?)

We also have an order of hoops coming in some time soon, so we’ll be restocking embroidery hoops if you’ve been looking for a specific size we don’t have. And we’ve got a huge order of Tulip needles that we’re waiting on – but it looks like they won’t be here till mid-October. I just wanted to let you know we have re-stocked them, but they’re slow coming.

We have so many great embroidery tools available for you, and more to come before the holiday crunch. One thing we likely will not be restocking before Christmas is the higher-end embroidery scissors (Dovo and Golden Forge). If those are on your radar for holiday gift-giving, for yourself or your best stitching buds, then now’s the time to get them!

If you’re looking for a good autumn project, we have some nice ones to choose from, especially as PDF downloads. You can find all our PDF downloads here – including Leafy Tree, Festive Fall and Octoberfest.

And we also have some great Christmas projects available as PDF downloads, for those who are gearing up for the holidays! I especially love these small projects in Twelve Trees for Christmas, Snowflakes, and Twelve Wreaths for Christmas. They’re great for weekends!

I know, I know – it’s all a bunch of “shameless shilling,” but hey! Business must go on! And hopefully, if you’re looking for a seasonal project, these will give you something exciting and fun to work on!

Things are a bit stressed on the home front. I’m using this week to recuperate and get a few things together as we keep moving into more advanced stages of attention and care for Dad.

Thanks for understanding!

The text reads O Clemens, O Pia, O Dulcis Virgo Maria. The C, P, D, V, and M are all decorated with a filigree pattern, while the rest (including the O‘s) are simply the filled letters with no filigree. On each end of the phrase (worked on a 40″ long linen strip) is the decorative monogram that I showed you here.

I’ve managed one word – Maria – and one decorative monogram so far. Besides the four remaining words and the one remaining monogram, I have three capital O’s to work as well.

I would really like to be farther along than I am, but I can only do what I can do at this point. I’m not going to beat myself up over slow progress on this project!

The biggest setback for me with this particular project is that I have to use a magnifier, which means I can’t work on the piece just anywhere. I have a limited amount of time during the day when I can isolate myself in the room where my stitching set-up is located and where I have access to my magnifier / light combo.

I suppose I could stitch this without the magnifier, but I find it difficult to be precise, especially on the tiny details of the serifs (that are very fine satin stitching) and on the tiny satin stitched details on the filigree. The dots on the filigree are itsy-bitsy! Eventually, I’ll photograph some close-ups with a ruler or something for scale.

That’s the right end of the whole strip, with “Maria” and the decorative monogram that I showed you here.

I’m stitching this from right to left because I wanted to embroider that monogram first, since I made a mistake on the transfer. I wanted to make sure I could cover the mistake adequately, rather than leave it to the end and find out I couldn’t – after embroidering the rest of the whole piece! It gave me peace of mind to cover up the mistake first thing!

The Other Project

Since I can’t isolate myself for long with my magnifier to work on this project, I have another one of these folk embroidery kits underway at home, too.

It’s my “night project.” It’s the project I can work on in any room, even in low light. I’m working on the Santorini Floral kit. It’s pretty!

I made a jolly good mistake on it, though, when stitching late one evening. I’ll show you that shortly, and I’ll show you my solution… which isn’t really a solution at all!

I’ll photograph that this afternoon and show you what I did and how I approached the mistake once I discovered it. Then we can discuss different approaches to correcting mistakes – and accepting mistakes.

Here in Kansas, by the way, the weather finally cooled down. Hallelujah! Bring on the fall weather, says I! I am oh-so-ready for it!

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

If you’re just joining in on this project, you can find the Project Index here, where you’ll find all the previous lessons.

If you’re a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received the PDF download for this lesson.

To frame this project, I initially wanted a round frame with bubble (convex) glass, but the cost of a good frame with bubble glass was a bit steep. I searched online for 6” round frames in black and ended up finding the one I used on Amazon. You can find it listed on my Amazon Recommendations Page here, under Embroidery Tools & Accessories. (Please note that this is an affiliate link, which means Needle ‘n Thread may receive a small commission for purchases made through that page with no extra expense to you.)

The frame has both a hanger and a stand on the back, so it can be used either way. It has glass, but when I use a photo-type frame for embroidery, I remove the glass. I only use glass when I use a custom frame that can be matted or spaced to accommodate the embroidery under the glass, so that the glass does not touch the embroidery.

You aren’t restricted to a round frame. This piece would look great in a square frame with a round-cut mat, too!

In addition to a frame, you’ll need a piece of white mat board (I prefer acid-free) and a piece of thin, low-loft batting. Cut the mat board into a circle the size of the insert in the frame. The easiest way to do this is to take the provided paper / decorative insert in a purchased frame and trace its outline onto the mat board. Use a craft knife or even a strong pair of scissors to cut out the mat board. Cut a corresponding piece of batting.

You will also need pins, a needle, and strong thread for lacing. I often use a double length of heavy cotton hand quilting thread for lacing, or any other strong cotton string that won’t stretch. Sometimes, I use linen thread, which will also work.

Block & Damp Stretch

When you’re ready to finish an embroidery project for framing or for making up into some specific item, it’s always a good idea to block and damp stretch the work.

To do this, pin the work, embroidery side down, on a surface that will receive pins. I use 1/2″ thick 12″ square cork tile for blocking.

Pin one side at a time, starting with A. Pin along the outer edge of the fabric, starting in the center out to one side. Then go back to the center and pin out to the other side.

Next, pin side B (the opposite side) in the same manner, then C and D.

As you pin, slightly pull the linen out so it is lightly stretched between the pinned sides. Make sure the sides are straight and square.

When the piece is pinned out as shown above, lightly mist it with water and leave it to dry. The fabric will shrink slightly and smooth out.

Gather your frame, the cut mat board and low loft batting, and your damp stretched embroidery.

Have some decent ball-headed pins on hand, the thread you chose for lacing, and a needle.

Place the mat board circle on your table. Place the low loft batting on top of it. You can secure the batting if you want by either applying a light coat of glue to the mat board and then pressing the batting onto it, or using some double-sided tape. It’s not essential, but it can be helpful to secure it if you’re having trouble with shifting.

Cut your embroidery out in a circle, so that it extends at least 2″ all around the mat board. Make sure that the embroidery is centered before you cut.

Then place the embroidery over the mat board and batting, face up, and centered.

Pin the embroidery over the mat board by pushing just the tip of a pin into the edge of the mat board. You don’t have to go deep – just enough to hold it in place.

Pin at each point of the compass, north, south, east, and west (or, if you consider the face of a clock, noon, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00), as shown above.

Make sure the fabric is pulled smoothly over the board and batting. You don’t have to pull it tight, but you do want it to be smooth and not loose.

Then go ahead and pin halfway between those points, so that you have 8 pins in, as shown above.

Cut your lacing thread about 40″ or so long, and knot one end. Turn the pinned piece over and begin lacing by passing the thread through one side of the fabric, across and circle and into the other side of the fabric, to pull the sides in over the board foundation.

Work all around the circle, always working opposite sides to pull the fabric in over the board.

Do not remove the pins!

Continue until you’ve laced all around the circle (about 8 spokes) and pulled the fabric over the board all around.

Turn the piece over, make sure the centering is still good, and then you can remove the pins. You’re not finished lacing yet, though!

Now you can just go hog wild with the whole thing, lacing all around, pulling the fabric into the center, and kind of “pleating” it as you go. Your lacing stitches should be providing constant and consistent tension across the back of the board.

Do this until the fabric is all relatively flat and “firmly” laced in place. Tie off with a knot and cut away any excess thread.

Why Lacing & Not Glueing?

When I prepare a project like this for framing, I prefer to lace instead of glue. You can remove lacing. It’s very difficult to remove adhesives.

Down the road, if I want to re-frame the piece, clean it, or use it for something else, I can cut away the lacing and still have a perfectly good piece of embroidery. I wouldn’t be able to do the same thing – or at least, do it easily – if adhesives were involved.

With the glass removed from the frame, place the piece in the frame, embroidery side out.

Turn it over to check the placement of the embroidery in the frame. Turn the embroidery until you get the design where you want it, in relation to the hanger or the stand, so that the finished piece is situated nicely in the frame.

Turn the frame back over, close the back, and turn the holding tabs over the back cover.

I tested the hanging apparatus and it worked fine.

Though my intention was the hang the piece on the gallery wall at the studio, I ended up keeping it at home, sitting on my entrance-way table where it serves as a great conversation piece. All my visitors want to eat the blackberries.

That, my friends, is the end of this stitch-along project. I hope you enjoyed the process!

More Kits

We will have more kits available for this project next week. The instructions will remain in the Project Index here on the website so you can access them and work your way through each lesson.

Have a wonderful weekend!

You’ll find it available here in the shop now.

My plan was to ultimately release the PDF download, but not quite this soon and possibly in a different package. I wanted to stitch a corresponding project that we’ve designed and put both projects together. But it is unlikely I’ll get to the second project any time soon, and it may make more sense to handle them individually, anyway, for those who prefer one but not the other.

Also, realizing that many of you who are outside North America want to work the project, too, I don’t want leave you hanging any longer!

Today, I’ll tell you what you can expect from the PDF, including the advantages of working with a PDF. I’ll also talk about substitutions you can make if you are unsure of finding or affording the original materials. We’ll talk a little bit about sourcing materials. We’ll also discuss the difficulties of substitutions and managing expectations when using substitutes.

Finally, I’ve included a quick personal update at the end of today’s post, so that you will know what’s going on in case I disappear for a wee bit now and then.

Plique-á-Jour is this Art Nouveau styled embroidery project worked in silk and gold threads on silk fabric. It is a lovely project – delicate and pretty – that looks a lot more advanced and complex than it actually is.

The silk embroidery on the project is worked with stranded silk, which handles much like regular embroidery floss. The primary stitch is a loosely-interpreted long and short stitch (split stitch, really), in the form of silk shading or simply as long and short stitch filling, where there is no shading.

The goldwork on the project predominantly relies on couching, which is simply stitching over the top of the real metal thread to sew it onto the fabric. A little bit of the goldwork is chip work, which means you snip the goldwork thread into little chips and sew the resulting chips onto the fabric as you would a bead.

So these are not super complicated techniques, but the results are stunning, nonetheless.

The project, then, is suitable to determined beginners who have some knowledge of basic embroidery techniques. You should be able to transfer a design, thread your needle, start and end threads, use a hoop or frame, and, often more than anything else, read and follow needlework instructions. You should also have some knowledge of how to source embroidery supplies in your own country. I’ll help you the best I can if you have a hard time sourcing supplies and you ask for help, but we don’t always know where to source supplies in every country! Still, if we can help, we will!

The Downloadable PDF

The PDF is a 29-page downloadable document delivered to you via a download link in your email. It is not a tangible product. You will not receive anything in the mail with your order.

It can be printed, or it can be used from a computer or mobile device, tablet, and so forth.

The advantage of using a PDF on a tablet, laptop, etc., is that you can zoom in on the document to see clear, enlarged photos on your screen, should you wish to really examine the stitches. You can’t really do this in a printed book. But, if you prefer to work from print, the PDF is formatted for easy printing on a home computer. If you don’t have a home computer that will print to your satisfaction, you can take it somewhere and have a copy printed for personal use.

In the PDF, you will find the design, the materials & tools list, step-by-step photo and diagram instructions for the techniques used in the project, and then step-by-step photo development of the entire project from beginning to end, with tips and techniques discussed as the project unfolds.

The resulting project is a small masterpiece – a beautiful addition to your own decor or a lovely gift to give to someone dear to you. It can be framed, or it can be finished in other ways that you explore on your own. The project instructions do not include the piece being finished into “something.” We created it for framing.

Making Substitutions

You are welcome to make substitutions for the materials in this project. For example, you might prefer to stitch with cotton floss instead of silk. You might use metallics instead of real metal threads. You might enlarge the design and use wools or something. You are most welcome to do any of that!

However, please note that substitutions of any material will affect the outcome of the project. It may even alter the way you should go about stitching it.

The project is presented as we worked it, in silk, on silk, with goldwork accents. The PDF does not include other ways to stitch it. But if you have ideas, by all means, test them out! There’s nothing wrong with that! It’s a great way to learn and a great way to customize the design to your own tastes.

Delivery & Download

When you purchase the PDF, you’ll be required to enter a valid email address on your order. This should be the email address where you expect to receive the PDF. Please double-check the email address that you enter. If you enter the address incorrectly, the download link will not show up in your inbox.

Once the link is sent to you, for security reasons, you have three days or four download attempts to save the file (although of course we will always be happy to send you a new download link if you have difficulties). Any time you click the download link (even if you are just previewing the PDF on your phone), it registers as a download.

Use whatever way you are accustomed to saving / downloading electronic files to your computer. Normally, but depending on your operating system, you can right click on the link and choose “download linked file” from the drop-down menu to save the PDF to your downloads folder.

If you do not receive the download link within about 30 minutes or so, check your spam folder or any other folders that are established in your email, that receive social or promotional emails.

Please note that some email service providers automatically block emails with download links in them, often depending on your security settings.

If you have any trouble at all with your download, you can always reach out via email and I will help you out.

Once you have downloaded the PDF onto your device of choice, you can then print the PDF from the file on your device. Please do not print the PDF preview that pops up when you click the download link. Wait until the file is downloaded, then print from your downloaded file.

I hope that you enjoy Plique-á-Jour! We put a lot of time and consideration into developing this project, because we wanted to create something really beautiful and memorable in silk and gold, in a style that we love.

You can find the PDF available here in the shop.

News on the Home Front

I’m working through a few difficulties on the home front right now with Dad. Because of this, there may very well be days I don’t show up, although I’m doing my best to work ahead of things. I’ll keep you abreast of the situation, especially if I need to go silent for a little while.

This week’s final lesson for Blackberry Brambles & Blossoms should be ready on Friday, but it might have to wait to next week. I’ll do my best to get it out to you Friday, though.

Hope you’re having a great week!

I haven’t made as much progress on it as I would like. Things have been a bit nutty on the home front, making it hard to concentrate and focus on a project for any effective length of time.

With the lettering on this piece, I’m using Soie d’Alger silk (you can read about it here – it’s a spun silk that handles like stranded cotton, but has a higher sheen and softer “spread”) in two shades of blue.

I wanted to use two shades of blue in order to keep the letters from looking entirely flat. The lighter shade helps give them some dimension, visually.

The filling is just a simple “long and short” stitch, which ends up being more like long-and-longer stitch, or sometimes just more of a split stitch filling – whatever works as I go, to fill the letter.

In the swirling confusion of the decor around this M, part of the letter got lost, and I didn’t realize I hadn’t stitched all the blue until I was taking photos.

For the letters’ serifs (those are the little decorative lines – like feet or caps – that are part of the letters), I split stitched those bits and worked an overcast satin stitch right over the thin split stitch line.

When I first started the letters, I just split-stitched the serifs, but the outcome was not as smooth as I’d like, so overcasting the split stitch lines with the satin stitch helped to smooth those out a bit.

At this point, I was antsy to finish the whole word, because I wanted to get on with the gold filigree around the M.

But that’s about when I noticed I hadn’t finished the M, and that’s as far as it went.

Hopefully, I’ll get back to this project this week, if things calm down a bit on the home front with Dad.

More Ahead

I have another home project going. I call it my “Night Project” because it doesn’t take any concentration and I can work on it in the evenings and at night, when my brain is ready to chill a bit. I’ll share progress on that with you later!

At the studio, we are cutting more fabric for the white and natural linen sample packs. We still have some of the natural in stock, but only a very few. So we’ll top those up for you!

We’ll have the final lesson on the Blackberries project this week, too.

See you soon!

Transfer Veil, in my mind, falls in the same category as “transfer mesh” because it works the same exact way. But there’s a huge difference between Bohin’s Transfer Veil and the “transfer mesh” by Clover that we looked at the other day.

The biggest difference is that you can actually transfer detailed designs with transfer veil – with some caveats.

I played around with the curious stuff for a bit and tried different approaches with it, because, although I like the concept, I wasn’t too keen on part of the product (specifically, the transfer pen used with the veil).

I’m just going to write about my adventures in a very loose way, so that you can see what I tried and why, and then you can decide if Bohin’s Transfer Veil is a product that you’d like to use for design transfer.

Above, you can see the supplies that I started working with when I first played with Bohin’s Transfer Veil – a couple small cuts from the transfer veil fabric (we’ll talk about that below), the pen that’s included in the package of transfer veil, a micron art pen (to test an idea), an embroidery design that I printed on a piece of regular printer paper (you can find this particular design for free, here), and some test fabric – a high count, smooth-hand natural colored linen.

Let’s talk first about Bohin’s Transfer Veil.

When you purchase a package of Bohin’s Transfer Veil, it comes with three “veils” – three pieces of the actual transfer medium.

The veil is a non-woven, very fine, durable, semi-transparent white “fabric” that looks a lot like a very, very fine interfacing, but isn’t.

I have no idea what the fabric is. It doesn’t say what the fabric content is, and I don’t know if it’s a fabric that’s used for other applications outside the needlework world, or if it’s a specific fabric concocted by Bohin, specifically for this use. It’s interesting stuff.

I can tell you what it isn’t:

It is not organza. It is not interfacing. It is not net of any kind.

This is what it looks like. It has a little stiffness to it, but it isn’t stiff-stiff. When it’s wet – which I’ll show you below – it goes completely transparent and limp, and it feels very silky.

There it is again – this time, with a design traced on it with the supplied transfer pen.

And right there, I found a little hang-up with the product. It’s not the product itself, though. It’s the transfer pen.

Let me explain.

With this approach, according to the directions, you’re to trace the embroidery design onto the veil using the supplied water-soluble transfer pen. Then, you lay the veil on top of your fabric and trace over the design again, using the same pen. The ink from the water-soluble pen will flow through the transfer veil onto your fabric.

Because you’re using a water-soluble pen, when you’re finished with the design, you can rinse the transfer veil, let it dry, and use it again.

It’s a great idea, but I wasn’t too pleased with the original tracing with the water-soluble pen. It is hard to see and the line is very thick. The supplied pen does not draw a fine line.

Before I went any further, I got it into my head that maybe the design could be drawn onto the veil with a different pen. I decided to try a micron pen, even though they are permanent. I figured it would be worth the little square I cut from the corner of the transfer veil, to see if a permanent pen would work. It would be nice to be able to re-use a very visible transfer, after all, especially when transferring repeat designs.

Well, that’s what was in my head, anyway.

So I traced the design onto the veil with the micron pen. Then I laid the veil on my fabric and used the water soluble pen to trace over the micron pen.

The ink from the water-soluble pen forced some of the black micron ink onto the fabric.

I didn’t like that result – and I also didn’t like the result of the water-soluble transfer pen. The line is very thick, and if you have a very detailed design, it wouldn’t work so great.

I had it in my head, though, that maybe I could actually trace over the design using the micron pen, and transfer a micron pen line to the fabric.

I tried with the micron pen. I traced over one line on the design.

As I traced, I felt like I had to trace it pretty heavily, sketching back and forth over the line to get the ink to flow through the veil. The micron pen has a completely different type of ink and a different type of pen tip compared to the water-soluble pen.

It resulted in a fine line through the transfer veil – which isn’t unacceptable – so I decided to trace some more.

Now, about Micron pens used this way: I don’t mind using a micron pen for certain design transfer uses. It’s not a “universal” approach. It doesn’t work for every stitching situation. But for some situations, it works well, as long as you can cover the line completely with embroidery.

In any case, I traced a little more, and you can see the result next to the water-soluble pen result in the image above. It didn’t make a terrible line, but it’s not that great, either. Still – it could work in some cases.

Would I use a micron pen and the veil for detailed designs? No, probably not.

Then I decided to switch pens again.

This time, I would try the DMC water soluble fine tipped transfer pen that I reviewed here.

The top part of the design in the photo above is traced through the micron ink (on the veil), using the DMC water-soluble pen. It still sends some of the micron ink through the veil onto the fabric, but overall, the transfer line is quite nice.

I tried again, using a fresh piece of veil onto which I traced the design, using the DMC water-soluble pen on one part of the design (the dark blue), and the included Bohin water-soluble pen on the other part of the design (the light blue).

I traced through the veil onto the fabric using the same pens, and you can see the results above.

In some places, while tracing (especially with the DMC pen), I wasn’t sure if the ink was flowing through the veil enough, so I found myself hesitating on the veil, or going back over areas. You can see a few darker lines in the dark blue part of the transfer, and a few areas where my pen hesitated enough to form darker spots on the transfer.

But overall, I find the dark blue, finer-tipped transfer acceptable. The line is clear and easy to see on the transfer and it’s clear and easy to see on the fabric.

Now let’s head to the sink with the used transfer veil. This is the piece that has the design transferred with both the DMC and the Bohin water-soluble pens.

When you run the transfer veil under the water, it goes completely transparent, limp, and silky-feeling. But it doesn’t feel like it is going to fall apart or dissolve. It stays intact just fine.

This is taking it out from under the running water, while it’s still completely wet. There’s no sign of any design on it.

I laid the wet piece on a towel for a few minutes and went back to it. Here is the dry transfer veil, ready to use again.

The Upshot

It works as promised, and I think it works pretty well.

It definitely works best on light fabric. You can get away with slightly darker fabrics if you switch to the DMC darker blue transfer pen. In general, water-soluble transfer pens don’t work great on dark fabrics, so if you’re wanting to transfer onto something dark, this likely won’t work for you.

(Someone really should invent a white water-soluble transfer pen.)

The only thing I’d change for my own use is the pen. I’d use a fine-tipped water soluble pen for this approach, but only for situations where I don’t mind using a water-soluble pen. (I only use water-soluble pens for some applications, not for all embroidery transfer situations).

There are, incidentally, other fine-tipped water-soluble pens out there, besides the DMC one. In fact, I think Bohin makes a fine-tipped one, but that’s not what’s included in with the Transfer Veil.

Is this a new favorite way to transfer embroidery designs? For me, probably not. But it works, and I can see how it could come in handy. It’s a good option to know about!

Where to Find It

Normally, I’d give you direct links to places where you can find the product I’m talking about.

In this case, I’m going to suggest that you do a Google search for “Bohin Transfer Veil.” The majority of sources that will come up are online quilting stores. The prices seem to vary greatly. You can find the 3-veil set (each veil is 12″ x 20″) for around $14 – $15, but I have also seen it priced much higher – as high as $29! So shop around, if you plan to try it out.

Believe It or Not, There’s More

I’m not finished playing with transfer methods. I want to show you a few ideas I tried out after playing with the transfer veil. They worked “ok” – probably not great, but “ok,” and I can see how knowing about them might be useful for you. So I’ll share those explorations down the road a bit.

Have a terrific weekend!

Today, we are going to finish stitching the project. We’ll embroider the foundation for the berries, add the beads, and then add some finishing touches to the project. Then, our final lesson next week will be preparing the project for framing.

If you are just joining in on this project and you want to read more about it – or follow along with it at your own pace – you can find the Blackberry Blossoms & Brambles Project Index here, where all the previous articles about this project are listed in chronological order.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you will find this lesson in a handy downloadable & printable PDF format already posted.

Let’s get started on the berries!

We’ll begin by working the foundation for the berries using one strand of floss in either dark red or dark plum. If you are stitching a predominantly red berry, use the dark red. If you are stitching a predominantly black berry, use the dark plum.

I selected the smallest berries around the wreath and designated them as red. They are padded in red and covered mostly with red beads. I added a few black beads to the red berries to give a hint of ripening.

All the berries are worked with a dark plum foundation and covered mostly with black beads, although please note that only two (large) berries are covered solely in black beads. I added a few red beads to most of the black-beaded berries.

To work this part of the project, you’ll need to dark red floss, the dark plum floss, greens, the beading needle (smallest needle in the kit), a regular embroidery needle, all the colors of beads, and beeswax.

Begin by working a split stitch outline on the design line with one strand of floss (either dark red or dark plum, depending on the berry).

As with the blossoms in the previous lesson, if the split stitch is troublesome for you, you can use split backstitch or even regular backstitch.

Then, using the same floss, begin building the padding foundation from the middle of the berry outwards to the edge.

The method for building the padding is the same method used in creating a satin stitched dot. You can find a tutorial for that here, if you are not familiar with the method.

The key here is to work a “surface” satin stitch, rather than a true satin stitch, so that you are not building up padding on the back of the fabric, too. If you’re not sure of this method, check out the tutorial I linked to above for padding satin stitched dots.

The surface satin stitches here don’t have to be “perfect” – they don’t have to be exactly parallel, they don’t have to shoulder up to each other nice and smoothly, with perfect coverage. At this point, you are simply building a mound inside the berry outline.

Continue building that mount, working each layer of padding over the previous layer, with the stitches always perpendicular to the previous layer.

As you fill to the inside edge of the split stitch outline, try to finish with the final layer inside the split stitch horizontal across the shape of the berry. The outline should be full, as shown above.

Now, still using one strand of floss, satin stitch (using proper satin stitch) over the foundation and the split stitch outline, working from the center out to one side. Return to the center and stitch the satin stitch out to the other side.

Preferably, the satin stitch at this point should run vertical down the length of the berry.

With this final layer, strive to cover the berry with a proper, smooth, closely stitched satin stitch that covers the outline well. Let the outline dictate the shape. Only satin stitch to cover the outline, so that the oblong shape of the berry is maintained.

Work the foundation padding on all the berries around the wreath before you begin to bead. If you bead the berries first, your thread will be more likely to catch on the beads as you stitch. So it’s best to finish the foundations and leave the beading at this point to the end.

Beading the Berries

To bead the berries, use one strand of (waxed) floss and the smallest needle (#10). For the predominantly red berries, use the dark red floss. For the predominantly black berries, use the dark plum.

There are different ways to bead berry shapes, and we experimented until we found a method with an outcome that we liked best. When you look at a blackberry, the drupelets all seem to be arranged in a uniform direction in almost a “bricked” linear layout on the berry, but if you try to imitate that with beads (especially when stitched on a flat surface), it just doesn’t look right.

So we decided to avoid entirely the method of stitching the beads in a linear layout, which seems to be a favored way of beading berries out in the needlework world. We just didn’t like the way the beads looked when stitched this way, as they didn’t keep a realistic berry shape and the berries ended up looking stilted, stiff, and misshapen rather than natural.

Instead, I stitched the beads in clusters, with the beads going in random directions. I started in the middle of the berry somewhere – not the exact center, necessarily – anywhere inside the berry, works fine.

I sewed on one bead in the same method we used on the blossom centers, so that the beads sit up like a tire. I stitched through this first bead twice.

Then, one at a time, I added beads outwards around this berry, surrounding it, stitching the beads in random directions to fill the surface of the berry. More tips are included below.

Sew the first bead on somewhere inside the berry. It should sit up like a tire. Sew through it twice.

Be careful with the tension on your working thread. Try to be consistent. You want the bead to be sewn on firmly, but you don’t want it to sink and get lost in the foundation. You also don’t want some beads to be sewn very tight, while others are sewn on much looser, so that you end up with an uneven surface. Try to pay attention to that as you go.

Then, sew beads individually close around this first bead. Work them in any direction – you want them to be rather random.

Sometimes, if the space gets tight, you might not manage two passes through the bead. That’s ok.

Continue to fill out towards the edge. If you are working a predominantly red berry, add in a few black beads, too, here and there.

As you work to the edge, keep all the beads as much as possible on the foundation. Don’t allow a whole bead to sit on the fabric. They should, for the most part, be completely on the thread foundation, because this is what will ensure a good shape.

It’s ok if a bead here and there might just barely overlap onto the fabric, but you definitely don’t want a whole bead off the padded foundation.

As you work near the edge, use the working thread to pull the beads inward and make sure they are firmly on the foundation and sewn down firmly.

Looking from the side on this berry, you can see how the beads are turned to follow along the edge, parallel to it. Sometimes, your beads will be parallel to the edge like this. Sometimes, you might have to sneak a bead in that’s perpendicular to the edge.

It doesn’t matter – the direction of the beads is not the essential concern here. Instead, the essential concern is that the beads are worked close together, randomly, and that they cover the padded foundation without extending out onto the bare fabric.

It’s better to leave a tiny bit of embroidered foundation showing, than to try to cover it and end up with a whole bead entirely on the fabric.

Here is the same berry, looking at it from the other side.

Fill the beads in, keeping them close and clustered.

And here’s the berry, filled up!

Notice the addition of the black beads, too,

Notice in the image above that there are red beads on most of the black berries, and black beads on the red berry.

Notice that only the one large berry at the top of the photo is completely worked in black beads.

Notice that, from the side, you can see some of the floss of the foundation on this berry.

It doesn’t matter. Rather that, than the beads extending beyond the foundation. It is not noticeable in the finished project.

And notice here the occasional red beads.

The Calyx – Different Approaches: Simple is Better!

The blackberries have a calyx at the top of the berry, made up of sepals. This is the green cap right at the top of the berry. They tend to twist upward and dry out as the berry ripens.

On this piece, I experimented with two different approaches to the calyx. The easier approach, in my opinion, produced the better results.

The easiest approach is to use two strands of green (they can be two different shades) in the needle, and to work a combination of daisy stitch and straight stitch fanning up from the top of the berry by the stem.

This is very simple and it looks good. There’s already a lot of greenery and twiggy bits around the berries, so this is a case where “less is more” – too much stitching here can look too cluttered.

Because the sepals on blackberries are often somewhat withered looking and twisted up, I thought it might be fun to try some drizzle stitches at the top of the berries. In fact, I don’t think they look so great. They are a bit heavy for the piece, even when worked with just one thread, and they didn’t deliver the look I was after.

The drizzle stitches above are worked with two strands.

Even when worked with one strand, as shown in the photo above, they added a little too much clutter. In some cases, they tended to look Dr. Seuss-ish.

Still, I left some of them so that you can see what they look like. It might be something that you want to try.

If you’re not familiar with drizzle stitch, you can find a tutorial for it here.

You can find a tutorial for daisy stitch here.

Note that on some berries, the calyx isn’t necessary. I didn’t add a calyx to every berry, because every berry isn’t being viewed from exactly the same angle. It tends to look cartoonish when all the berries look exactly alike.

The Finishing Touch – A Sprinkling of Beads

Once your berries are finished, the last touch on the piece is a sprinkling of the bright green beads among the brambly bits.

Using the medium green floss (one strand, waxed) and the smallest needle (#10), sew random green beads, scattering them among the twigs around the whole wreath.

They should be sewn up like a tire, with two passes through each bead.

Keep the spacing pretty distant – you want a light, airy affect, not close and cluttered.

When moving a distance between these beads, turn your work over and run the working thread under the stitches on the back of the fabric. That way, you won’t have longer unsecured threads stretching across any distance on the back of the fabric.

Try to follow a logical path around through the greenery, and work section by section around the wreath. Do not cross through the center of the wreath. Any time it looks like your thread is going to be considerably long (say, more than 2 inches), end the thread and start a new one. But always make sure you’re running those longer (up to 2″) threads underneath stitches on the back of the work.

And just like that….

You’re finished!

In the next and final lesson, we will prepare the embroidery for framing.

Blackberry Kits

We will have more kits for this project soon. If you still want to pick up a kit to work this project, you’ll be able to access all the lessons in the Blackberry Brambles & Blossoms Project Index to stitch the piece at your own pace.

We’ve been laboring in the background to bring you a variety of new and re-stocked goods on the website. I wanted to release them all at once, because it helps you with shipping costs.

So here we go – a “product dump” of a number of delectable goods that have been a long time coming!

You will find all the re-stocked goods here in the shop. I’ll also link to them individually below.

So What’s New?

Here’s a list of what we’ve been able to stock:

Plique-a-Jour

A very limited number of Plique-a-Jour kits.

We had great trouble getting the goldwork threads in for these, and unfortunately, the price increased noticeably. I split the difference on the price increase, so it wouldn’t be as drastic. Sigh. It’s not how I wanted it! But the project is beautiful, and if you are an Art Nouveau fan, you’ll love this delightful piece. You can read more details about Plique-a-Jour here.

Fabric Sample Packs

Several types of fabric sample packs! I haven’t been able to stock these for a while, due to the fluctuations in availability of different linens. I finally chucked in the towel and decided to concoct new sets, that I can vary as I need to.

We have white linen sample packs and natural linen sample packs, colored linen sample packs, and a new array of linen-cotton blend sample packs in fabulous, fun colors.

All of these are terrific ground fabrics for surface and / or counted work. The sample packs give you an opportunity to get the feel for working with different weights and types ground fabrics. If you find a fabric you especially love among the samples, you can contact me for larger cuts.

Because the natural and white linen sample packs are always in high demand, I stocked more of those than of the colors, which are presently somewhat limited.

Two Beautiful New Inspirations Books!

We have Inspirations Studios two new books available: Beautiful Butterflies and The Four Seasons Casket.

I know many of you have been watching for these new releases. They’re going to be very popular. Beautiful Butterflies is especially stunning, and to me, it’s such a wonderful project book because not only are the butterflies beautiful, but they’re a very manageable project size.

If you’ve been waiting for those to become available, they’re available now to order. They will ship a week from Monday, so if you combine other products with a book order, we’ll hold your order until the whole order can ship together (unless you tell us otherwise).

Goldwork & Stumpwork Masterclass Books

I’ve restocked Alison Cole’s Masterclass books in Goldwork and in Stumpwork.

These are perennial favorites and always in demand, as they are probably the most thorough books on both topics and excellent for reference and instruction.

Wood-Turned Tools – Gorgeous New Options!

I’ve restocked all the hand-turned wood tools that we carried earlier this year, including complete crochet sets. The latter sold out very fast – the craftsman who makes our tools was just now able to make us more!

I’m excited to have these on the shelf again, especially as we approach the holidays. They make perfect gifts for stitchers. You’ll find them all listed on the main page of the shop here.

About the Blackberry Kits

The only item I wanted in stock that we couldn’t manage was the re-fill on the Blackberry kits. We’re still awaiting a thread shipment. It should arrive before the end of this coming week, hopefully, but then we have to prepare the kits. Sadly, I couldn’t afford to keep waiting on the thread arrival to launch these other goods.

But if you are placing an order and you want a Blackberry kit, leave a note on your order to hold it for the Blackberry kits. We’ll let you know when they’re stocked, and you can add one to your order. You must leave a note on the order for this to work. Please do not rely on email to hold your order.

And that’s the shop news for the day! I’m awfully relieved to get these goods listed again, and I hope you like them!

Coming Up!

Oh, this week, we’ll be embroidering scrumptious, plump blackberries! Look for the next lesson in the stitch-along.

We’ll also discuss yet another transfer method. (Did you know there were so many?)

I’ve got a couple project updates to share, too! And more!

Hope your weekend’s off to a great start!

We’ll take a close-up look at what it is and how it works, and then we’ll talk about its use in the area of surface embroidery.

This product comes packaged in a roll. It’s a thin, stiff sheet of Polyethylene Terephthalate, a thermoplastic polymer – like the stuff used to manufacture beverage bottles and food containers. It’s stiff, resilient, often clear, provides a barrier against moisture and oxygen. (Incidentally, when it’s produced as a textile, it’s called “polyester.”)

The plastic sheet is perforated with evenly spaced holes. In the scheme of things, these holes are small, but when it comes to design transfer for surface embroidery, they’r actually pretty big!

This is the basic concept behind using this as a transfer method for an embroidery design:

Lay the plastic sheet atop your design and, using a Sharpie or similar (you can also use a pencil, if you’re tracing onto the matte side of the plastic), trace the design carefully onto the plastic sheet.

Above, you can see the design in the lower part of the photo, behind the transfer mesh. In the upper part of the photo, that small bit with the broken lines is the traced result of a small portion of the design, on the plastic. For this, I used a fine-tipped Sharpie.

You have to take care as you trace the design, because those holes in the plastic make it very difficult to draw a continuous, smooth design line. But if you go slowly, you can trace a semblance of the design onto the plastic.

If you used a heavy, fat-tipped marker, you would achieve a bolder design line on the plastic, because you’d cover more area around the holes in the plastic, but I rarely use a bold-tipped anything for design transfer. In fact, I never do. The finer I can make my design lines, the better.

So, if the design is in any way a detailed design, it is difficult to achieve a detailed tracing, because the design tracing is interrupted by the rather large holes.

Once you have your design adequately traced onto the mesh, lay the mesh design-side up on your ground fabric.

Above, the transfer mesh is lying on the corner of a piece of linen.

You can see the mesh better in this close-up, and you can see that the tracing on the mesh is interrupted by the large holes.

Now you are meant to use your favorite transfer medium (a pen, pencil, water-soluble pen, or whatever works best for you) to trace over the design that’s on the mesh, presumably leaving a dotted outline of the design on your fabric.

It is very difficult (ok, almost impossible) to achieve a smooth transfer line during this part of the process, especially if you are using anything remotely fine-tipped. The pen tends to bump and skip over the holes, and of course, anywhere there isn’t a hole, you won’t have any transfer line. So you end up with a broken, spotted (or dashed) design line, as you can see above.

For that attempt, I used the DMC water soluble transfer pen I wrote about here. Had I used a softer, marker-type tip that creates a bold line, the open holes would have filled better, but they still would have produced a broken, bumpy line.

The Upshot

While I could see using this medium to transfer very bold, simple designs onto fabric, using heavy markers that you intend to cover with something like a heavy yarn, I find this method and transfer medium pointless for any kind of detailed embroidery design. It simply doesn’t work well – and there are many other approaches out there that render a more detailed design transfer!

But overall, that’s the concept of this particular brand of transfer mesh. And if you’re transferring a bold, simple design (a simple shape, like the kinds of shapes you might associate with the most basic of cookie cutters), I could see how this product could work ok enough to achieve transfer goals, if your design is to be covered with heavy yard or thread.

But in most cases for surface embroidery, I’d likely give it a miss!

Next, we’re going to look at a different product that uses the same concept, but produces a much better transfer under certain circumstances. We’ll also talk about alternatives that can be used, with a little patience, to achieve similar results.

Looking for More?

If you’re looking for more articles on transferring embroidery designs, you can find them under this topic tag: “Design Transfer.”

I am presently compiling an index that organizes the different types of design transfers and what they work well for. I’ll share that with you shortly!

If you’re just joining you, you can find all the previous installments of this stitch-along available in the Blackberry Brambles & Blossoms project index, here. As the stitch-along progresses, each lesson is added in chronological order so that you can easily follow along.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received this lesson in a very handy PDF format, easy for downloading and printing.

Remember: the stitch-alongs are meant to progress at your own pace. Even though I’m putting these instructions out once a week, it doesn’t mean you have to stitch the whole lesson before the next one is posted. It’s not unusual for Life to get in the way of our projects, so just go at your own pace!

The blossoms on Blackberry Brambles & Blossoms are embroidered using a padded satin stitch shaded with straight stitches. Because the flowers are small, they work up pretty quickly.

For the petals, I used one strand of blanc, light violet (DMC #24) and medium violet (DMC #153).

For the centers, I used the green 15/0 Miyuki seed beads (see the materials list here) and green floss. You can use either green, depending on how much green you want. I used both on different blossoms and either looks fine.

A little pat of beeswax comes in handy as well. If you have the kit, you are supplied with all of the above.

Begin with one strand of blanc and split stitch the design outline of all the petals on a blossom.

Because these elements are very small, keep the split stitches quite small. It is helpful to maintain tension on the working thread from the back to hold each stitch flat on the fabric while you bring the needle up from behind to split the stitch.

If you find split stitch too persnickety, you can use split backstitch (splitting DOWN into each previous stitch instead of up), or even just plain backstitch. Just be aware that it is sometimes difficult to get a smooth outline on a curved shape with backstitch.

After split stitching around all the petals, work horizontal straight stitches inside the petals as shown above. When working these straight stitches, start each subsequent stitch right next to where you ended the previous stitch, so that you aren’t carrying the thread the whole stitch length on the back. This is a surface satin stitch, rather than a typical satin stitch, and it helps to avoid building up padding on the back of the fabric, too.

You can read more about this approach to “surface satin stitch” for padding here, in this tutorial on building up padding for satin stitched dots, if you are not quite sure how to do it.

Now you’ll work the satin stitch over the petals, vertically. The satin stitch extends from the center inside base of the petal and up over the top of the petal, over the split stitch outline.

Start with a satin stitch in the center of the petal. Then, work satin stitch out to the edge of the petal on one side of that center satin stitch. Then, go back to the center and work out to the opposite outside edge.

On some petals, the stitches will be more or less absolutely parallel and they’ll cover the petal completely. On other petals, you may find that you have to “fan” the stitches a little to get good coverage.

Here, you can see the completed satin stitched petals around the whole blossom.

On the upper right petal, you can see that I had to sort of “fan” the stitches out, to get good coverage on that petal. If I used perfectly parallel stitches on that petal, it would have gotten too crowded and it would have looked a bit weird.

The difference between the fanned and un-fanned satin stitch won’t be noticed at all in the final product.

Switch to one strand of the lightest violet (24). Bringing the needle up into the satin stitch layer by the outer edge of the petal in the center, splitting the satin stitch, and work a straight stitch down the middle of the petal to the base of the petal.

Work two stitches to each side of that center stitch, coming up into the white layer and splitting the stitches and going down at the base.

These stitches will all be “fanned” towards the growth point, which is the center base of the petal. You want these stitches to be fanned out across the petal, so that there is white space between the stitches near the outer edge of the petal, but the stitches will be very close (possible touching) at the base of the petal.

There should be five of the light violet stitches fanned out in each petal.

Now, you’ll do the same with the medium violet (153), only you’ll start these stitches in the lower third of each petal, and you’ll only work three stitches in the medium violet.

You can see a close up here of the different layers: satin stitched white petals, split with five long light violet stitches originating near the outer edge of the petals and fanned across the petal, and then split with three medium violet stitches originating in the lower third of the petals.

Now we’ll fill the centers of the blossoms.

The centers can be filled with 15/0 seed beads, or with a mixture of seed beads and French knots, or with all French knots.

When working with beads, it is helpful to wax the embroidery thread. This adds a little extra strength and protection to the thread.

I use Miyuki round seed beads which are the highest quality glass beads you can find today. They are quite smooth and they don’t generally pose a problem when stitched on in place with embroidery floss.

Still, a light application of beeswax helps to strengthen the embroidery thread for the beading process, especially for those who are uncertain of the smoothness of the beads they are using.

Please note that beeswax is used here as a thread protector and strengthener. It is not intended (nor should it be used) as a “thread conditioner” (to smooth cranky threads) for regular embroidering. Beeswax can darken embroidery threads, especially noticeable over time, and therefore, it isn’t intended for the visible, decorative stitching in embroidery.

To wax thread, I use 100% beeswax. I use my own beeswax “petites” that I make, and one little berry-shaped petite is included in the kit. The wax is quadruple filtered, soft cap wax (not brood / comb wax), without any additives. It is not prone to becoming brittle like the beeswax cakes you’ll find in the sewing notions aisle. This is the same wax I use for my beeswax petites that are available here.

If your beeswax seems hard or brittle, hold it in your hands for a few moments to slightly warm it, or sit it in a sunny window. Normally, the process of working with it will make it softer.

Holding the thread gently against the wax, lightly draw your thread against the surface. It may cut into the wax slightly (typical of a good, softer wax), which is ok. You just don’t want it sticking in the wax so that that the thread breaks when you pull it. Draw the thread over the wax two or three times lightly, and then draw the waxed thread through your fingers a few times to work the wax into it and remove any crumbs or flakes.

Sew a bead directly in the center of the flower by passing a straight stitch through the bead.

You’ll bring the needle up in the fabric, string on the bead, and then pass the needle down into the fabric a bead-width away from where the needle first emerged.

The bead should sit up on the fabric like a tire.

Now, work another stitch through the center, so that there are two stitches passing through the center of the bead.

Bring your needle and thread to the front of the fabric next to the center bead (anywhere next to it) and still inside the center area of the blossom.

Pick up six seed beads and string them down onto the thread as shown above.

Take the needle and thread to the back of the fabric right next to where you emerged, and pull through slowly.

As you pull through, the beads will form a kind of loop. It might not be a perfectly round loop, but that’s ok!

Above, the red line indicates the path of the thread through the beads.

Use your needle or your finger to manipulate that loop of beads around the center bead, so that the loop of beads encircles the center bead, as shown above.

Now, work your way around the loop and stitch a tiny holding stitch over the thread between the beads, to keep the loop in place around the beads. You don’t have to stitch between every bead. Three stitches around the circle will work fine.

This will give you a typical beaded “flower” for the center of your blossoms.

If you find the beaded “flower” center too large, you can always stitch down about three beads, and fill in around them with French knots.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use beads at all, you can fill the center entirely with French knots.

And that brings us to the end of Lesson 3!

I know it’s a lot of information in one article, but be assured that the blossoms work up quite quickly! You’ll stitch them faster than it took me to write the instructions, I’m sure!

In next week’s Lesson 4, we will stitch the berries. Woohoo!