Originally posted 2009-09-02 07:36:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I finished this Bargello cupcake last week and decided it would look fantastic in a rough wood frame I have. It’s great to use frames you find inexpensively to frame your needlepoint and it can cut finishing costs dramatically, but, as my friend Marianne learned, it isn’t as easy as it looks. First, be aware that the stated frame “size” is the size of the opening NOT the size of the picture on the front. Depending on how much lip there is on the frame the size of what shows can be considerably smaller. Therefore, unless you “test” your design by fitting the frame over it, plan of having white space all around your design. My problem here is that I have a pretty center and a frame, but I need to know how much background to stitch. If you have
Monthly Archive:: October 2011
Today is the last day to sign up for my stash busting club — the Easiest Needlepoint Club Ever. The special price of $30 for a whole year of delightful projects designed to help you use your stash of threads ends at midnight Pacific. Each month, beginning tomorrow, you’ll get emailed to you a PDF of a great stash-busting project, usually including finishing instructions, so you can create unique projects such as the two shown here. Even better, participants will have a chance to order finishing items, threads for backgrounds, and selections of scrap bag threads at special prices. If you live outside the US, this club is great because all projects are sent to you electronically — no long waits for the mail, no customs hassling, no extra payments for international shipping. I love using up my stash and I think you will too. Click on the button below
Originally posted 2009-02-09 05:23:38. Republished by Blog Post PromoterBarbara has posted the latest patch to the sampler on her blog. It’s Diagonal Scotch, one of my favorite stitches. She has alternated rows in two colors, but you can also make another fun stitch, Hesitation Stitch by only making the shortest stitches in each row a contrasting texture or different color of thread
Remember when you were little and you got those cards with holes punched in them that you sewed with shoe laces? With the new Cutter Bee Piercing Bugs from EK Success you can take this idea and update it. The tools allow you to pre-punch paper and card stock with rows of holes. While not big enough for shoelaces, you can use embroidery floss for sewing. To turn this into a special gift, make the holes on cardstock with decorative paper glued on it, include charts for motifs and borders along with threads to match and a needle. Package it all in a pretty basket for a great gift or rainy day activity
Originally posted 2010-01-06 07:37:26. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAlthea had a great post recently about filler stitches to go around Needlepoint Bargello. If you have a Bargello medallion or with open spaces, you will want to add some stitching around them. While any stitch will do, straight stitches are easiest to use and compensate around the pattern. Because it’s supposed to be a background, you will want a less busy pattern in a single color. In an older post, I have some ideas on stitching backgrounds that can be applied here. Here are some other small straight stitches that would work for Needlepoint Bargello backgrounds. The straight stitches and flat, light look of pattern darning are perfect to set off Bargello. While there are many variations, this simple 3-1 darn I use over and over. Double Linen is one of my favorite background stitches. It’s small, and has a great
Because of the upcoming Stash Busting Needlepoint Club, I’ve been getting questions about what these projects might be. I thought I’d take today’s post to explain a little bit about my philosophy for making (and designing) stash busting projects. My motivation for learning to use my stash had its origins in many things. First I love quilts and I’m particularly fond of of quilts that “make do” by using up little scraps of fabric. I thought these would translate well to needlepoint, as indeed they do (all pictures come from my Scrap Bag Needlepoint book, available in mid-November as an ebook). Then there was my husband asking me to shop my stash first. This took care of many things, but I still had odds and ends of thread. Finally there was a realization that when we buy threads for projects we always end up with leftovers. I wanted to make
Originally posted 2002-08-18 09:04:29. Republished by Blog Post PromoterJane Zimmerman, self-published, 2005, ISBN:0-9646219-3-2. Jane Zimmerman is a teacher with an encyclopedic knowledge of all types of needlework. She has decided to create a comprehensive collection of stitch variations and patterns. It will be a collection of three books, of which this is the first. It covers Mosaic, Cashmere, Scotch, Gobelin, Eyelet, and Plaited Stitches. This book contains 385 stitches. Each stitch has a photograph or a stitched sample. and a diagram. Many diagrams have numbering, and virtually all have noted about the stitch, the type of variation, or the name. Each chapter is devoted to a type of stitch (Mosaic, Cashmere and Scotch are grouped together). The chapter have a brief introduction which describes the type of stitch and something about the variations. One aspect which is different about this book, the stitches are not titled. Names of stitches, if
Originally posted 2009-09-17 07:00:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Even if you live in a part of the world where the leaves don’t change much (like the SF Bay Area), fall always makes me think of brilliantly colored leaves. And since I can’t have them for real, I want to stitch them. To stitch your own leaves begin with a simple leaf outline. Leaves are a great choice for applique quilt block and Wee Folk Art has two wonderful ones available free, oak and maple leaves. Begin by printing them out. Adjust the size of the outline to fit the item you want to stitch. I decided to make ornaments, so I shrunk my outlines. Once you have your outline, transfer it to canvas using a pen made for marking on fabric (such as Pigma Microns). One possibility for filling your leaves (pictured above) is my adaptation of an idea
I got a question recently about buying a magnifier. I can’t use these because they aggravate my vision problems, but if you are considering this, take some time before you go looking to do some research. No I don’t mean poke around looking at sites for products, but think about how you will use them. Ask yourself some questions: What I can tell you is that you should think about how and where you will be using it in order to narrow down the options. Ask yourself questions such as this: Will I be using it at home only or when I travel to guild meetings and classes? If you will be using it for classes, you’ll need one that’s portable. When I’m at home do I have a table nearby for holding the magnifier? If not, I’ll need one that hangs on my neck, sits on your nose (glasses),
Originally posted 2004-09-18 06:30:07. Republished by Blog Post PromoterFor people who have watched her Needlearts show on PBS, Shay and her wonderful way with all forms of needlework needs no introduction. For those who haven’t let’s just say that Shay is one of the nicest and most innovative needleworkers around. This beautiful book distills much of Shay’s wisdom covering Goldwork, painted canvas and shading. Each section is lavishly illustrated with detailed explanations of techniques. I’m not very familiar with Goldwork and I found Shay’s explanations clear enough so that I would feel confident tackling a beginner’s project. There is a charming one, a dove, in the book. The section on painted canvas has a good overview of threads and techniques. It includes detailed instructions on techniques which often aren’t covered, stripped threads, using a laying tool, and properly starting and ending threads. A wonderful part of this section talks about
Here are some great needlepoint tips and facts I’ve come across recently. If you need to clean out canvas holes after ripping out thread, instead of buying a specialized tool, try wrapping some masking tape around your fingers and pressing it gently to the ripped out area. Another great tool for this is a “spoolie” otherwise known as a mascara brush. Just make sure it’s clean. If your are assembling a box, tissue cover or other item from plastic canavs, always work from the closed end to the open end — it’s easer to hide threads ends that way and you get a better fit. Looking for a hard-waering stitch for a rug or chair seat? Try the combination of Continental and Penelope canvas. Your Basketweave will look nicest on the back if you keep the needle parallel to the canvas threads: horizontal on the down rows and vertical on
Originally posted 2010-05-20 07:02:06. Republished by Blog Post PromoterCategories for Needlepoint Stitches, second edition, Julia Key H. Snyder, self-published, 2008 When it comes to stitch dictionaries, there are two schools of thought. One group organizes the dictionary by the structure of the stitch. The Needlepoint Book is probably the best know of these. The other group organizes the dictionary by the area to be stitched. Categories for Needlepoint Stitches is an excellent addition to this type of stitch dictionary. The great strength of this type of book is that when you are searching for a stitch most of the time you want a stitch for something specific. For example on my current project, I need a stitch for some clothing. In the chapter on fabrics, I find more than 20 pages of stitches, covering many techniques including laidwork, pattern darning and basketweave patterns for needlepoint damask. Other stitches are meant
DMC recently redesigned their website and I recently had a chance to explore it. For a company that has been in the needlework business for so long and who has many threads that are popular with needlepointers, this site is a huge disappointment. There are several areas where you might look for needlepoint, and most of them are very disappointing. Let’s begin with “threads.” Go there and click on “needlepoint threads.” What’s is listed there” Tapestry Wool and no other threads. People stopped using only wool in needlepoint in the mid-70′s. Where are the many other threads that have been standards for needlepoint for decades, let alone DMC’s innovative new products? Not under needlepoint, you’ll find them under embroidery threads. Couldn’t DMC have listed them under needlepoint as well, it isn’t hard to do. A second section is education and this is the only good part of the site for