Nuts about Needlepoint » free projects

Laura Perin’s Mini-Mystery Mondays

Janet Perry — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:58:11 +0000

Since November Laura Perin has been sharing with us a simply delightful series of small mystery projects. They are delightful little explorations of color and thread.

The thing I like about them is that each is based on an overdyed thread. That makes them a great way to explore creating a color scheme from these popular threads.

I’m bogged down on the first one (don’t ask) but my [plan is to pick broken skeins of Watercolours from my stash that I wouldn’t normally use and then challenge myself to create a pretty scheme from them using only threads in my stash.

But you should try some yourself. They are great ways to try out Laura’s design and they will give you tastes of some techniques she uses extensively, such as Blackwork on canvas, complex borders, and multi-colored Rhodes Stitches.

Here’s a breakdown, with links, to each of the five (up through last week):

Mini Mystery #1

Mini Mystery #2

Mini Mystery #3

Mini Mystery #4

Mini Mystery #5

Part One

Free Embroidery Patterns

Janet Perry — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:40:44 +0000

Originally posted 2008-10-23 06:52:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

With the renewed interest in free embroidery (embroidery on a on-counted ground or fabric), you can find lots of pretty cool free patterns intended to transfer onto a piece of fabric.

But you can just as easily transfer them onto apiece of needlepoint canvas and use them as a line-drawing for your needlepoint.

Today we are going to talk about what to look for when you want to do this and tomorrow we will begin a step-by-step tutorial on how to go from a free pattern on the Web to a finished needlepoint.

When you look at embroidery transfer designs, what you see are the lines of the design which will be covered with stitching. Most free embroidery of this type relies on the fabric to covey the design and so they have lots of open spaces.

This is good for us as needlepointers because we will fill those areas up with stitches.
Tip #1 Look for designs with open areas which aren’t filled with lots of lines to be covered.

But (isn’t there always a but), in free embroidery other details, like facial expression are conveyed with lines and other details as well.

Here is where you have a problem. When you embroider on cloth you can stick a stitch anywhere, it can be any angle, it can stop or start anyplace. But with needlepoint you are stuck with the grid. The bigger the wholes, the fewer details you can convey. So a design with too many little details will lose them when changed to needlepoint.

It’s like looking at a scene through a screen as opposed to through a window. With the screen you can see everything, yes, but you lose detail. Needlepoint canvas is the screen.

In conclusion I thought today I would share with you some free embroidery sites where you can download new and vintage embroidery patterns.

If you want to play along with the tutorial, check back tomorrow to see the Arts & Crafts design I picked from this site. But you can pick one which suits your style and your mood and stitch away.

Check the designs out at these sites:
Embroidery Patterns – This Flickr album has many charming designs, many looking like children’s book illustrations.
TipNut – has a listing of all kinds of embroidery projects. Click on the link to find the particular project and then look through the article to find the pattern. Many of these are vintage and vintage style.
Meggiecat – has links to lots of great vintage patterns.
Needle n’Thread – Scroll down past the text ads to find many lovely patterns, often in traditional, Victorian, and Arts & Crafts styles.
Doe-c-doe – Every Thursday she showcases vintage embroidery and embroidery patterns. I’ve found lots of good things here.
Vintage Transfer Designs – Lots of great retro and vintage transfers.
Antique Pattern Library – This site is harder to use. It’s a list of vintage embroidery publiations available to download on the Web.

I’m sure you will find something to suit your fancy here. We’ll start the project tomorrow!

Plastic Canvas Baby Blocks – Free Pattern

Janet Perry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:54:25 +0000

Originally posted 2010-04-18 07:56:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Plastic Canvas Blocks from Roots & Wings Co.

One of the best things about needlepoint os that you can customize your stitching to suit your tastes or the tastes of the recipient. Take this free pattern for plastic canvas blocks from Roots & Wings Co. for example. You could stitch a set to match a nursery’s decor, or one using the mom’s favorite color.

There are suggestions for several options for the blocks, as well as pictures of others. You could make a color block (with each side a different color), dice blocks, a shape block (with each side a different shape), patterns, or even the traditional letters.

The blocks use standard plastic canvas squares from the craft store.

Taking Color Cues from Fashion

Janet Perry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:54:24 +0000

My husband thinks I’m sort of weird because I love fashion magazines. One big reason I love them is that they often give me ideas for needlepoint.
One great thing is that you can use color combinations that they showcase to put together interesting combinations for needlepoint.

Sometimes you are lucky and the magazine spells out a combination for you. For example, the combination of nude, light pink, minty green, and coral in Style Watch inspired the Twinchy freebie pictured here. It’d entirely made up of Cashmere stitches, charted below. (Instead of a complete chart, use the picture of the finished needlepoint to stitch it.)

A stunning malachite-grren sequined evening gown inspired me to stitch a malachite clutch in all metallics.

When looking to fashion for color inspiration there are three types of things that can inspire.

You can take you inspiration from an individual outfit. If you see an outfit that combines a bright yellow blouse with navy blue pants, look at the neutrals paired with it to create the start of a great piece.

You can take inspiration from the colors in a print. The prints do lots of the work for you. They always have a background color, which becomes your background. The figures in the print determine the other colors. You’ll get the best success from using these colors in similar proportions. You can do this by writing down the colors and then ranking them from most to least used. Note also where there are big gaps. (A future post will demonstrate how to do this).

You can also take inspiration from a color spread, as I did here. The spread took these colors and showed current clothes and accessories in this palette. Coral was most predominate, then light pink (some almost white), green came next appearing in one piece and as a print’s background. Nude was used the least, although both the light pinks and lightest corals were almost nudes.

While I love and often use the combination of deep coral and bright turquoise, this combination made me think about these colors in another way. The threads I used included three shades of Aurora silk perle (coral), Gentle Arts floss in porcelin (center pink), Kreink #12 in an unlabeled color (green), Elegance E844 and Neon Rays N40 (nudes), and a mix of Gentle Arts Cotton Candy and Crescent Colors Spun Sugar (outside pink).

And it’s all thanks to the fashion magazine.

Use Free Designs to Make Great Gifts

Janet Perry — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:30:23 +0000

Originally posted 2010-12-05 07:17:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Make a Needlepoint Pin for a Quick Gift!

There are some great free gifts that you can make using free patterns available on the Internet. Many of these designs use innovative finishing techniques.

My sister site, All about Needlepoint, has listings with links for many of these patterns. Today I’d like to highlight some of the categories.

One of my favorite ideas for a quick gift is a needlepoint pin. Amoung the highlights in these designs is a series of monthly pins by Mary Cosgrove, available through the Kreinik site. The Celtic pin pictured above, designed by Kandace Thomas is another one of the many small designs at Kreinik.

Bookmarks are another great idea. There aren’t many in the index, but one is a lovely design by Orna Willis that includes finishing instructions.

There are so many good ideas out there including a plastic canvas holder for “singles” of drink mixes, linked in the accessories for home list, a mesh bracelet from Orna in the accessories list wonderful sea creature magnets from ANG (listed under magnets), and lots of wonderful stitcher’s accessories, large and small.

ANG SOTM Update

Janet Perry — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:14:35 +0000

The picture here is of my first patch in the 2012 Stitch of the Month (SOTM) from ANG. I am using all stash threads in my favorite color, Teal. Throughout the year I’ll be sharing my progress with you.

I’m committed to being thrifty in my needlepoint purchases, so I try to use what I have on hand. I love this because it means I need to exercise my creativity and make something my own. I always find inspiration in how using scarce resources can make something beautiful by thinking of my beloved Amish and scrap bag quilts. In these quilts using what is on hand makes quilts of great beauty.

While I don’t aspire to those heights, I do want my needlepoint to be beautiful as well as thrifty.

Starting from the teal threads I pulled from my stash I did some other things to make changes.

Since I didn’t have any opal canvas, I made a unique canvas of my own. Using a natural sponge and Martha Stewart Pearl Craft Paint in Jet Stream, I sponge painted the entire piece of canvas. This will create a textured light teal background that is, easy to do and very interesting.

A teal heart will look odd, so I turned it into a rectangle. But I kept the small heart on the inside and I may even make it the focal point by stitching it in another color. The new shape meant I had to extend lines. It also meant that the shapes near the bottom of the heart were too large, so I added some additional lines. Those spaces will most likely have SOTM‘s from previous years in them.

The first area is stitched. I used Dragonfly Lotus Panda Threads, a hand-dyed and hand-spun silk/wool blend. It isn’t super shiny like Panache, but I love it’s subtle look. The color is Teal Shadow.

Watch for more next month. If you are stitching this project, check out the ANG Yahoo group, they are assembling information about the different thread and color combinations.

Make an Initial Ornament

Janet Perry — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:36:52 +0000

Originally posted 2010-12-03 07:23:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

It’s easy to make and finish a round initial ornament such as this one.

Begin by finding a Lee Needle Arts round luggage tag. You can also use their round ornament, but I like the many colors of the tag.

You will also need:

18 mesh mono canvas
pigma marker
overdyed thread
background thread
one thin & one thick metallic to coordinate or contrast with overdye
ribbon
letter enlarged to fit 2 3/4″ circle

Begin by finding your letter, there are lots of alphabet sites out there and many books of fonts. This A is from a book called illuminated initials. I enlarged it to fit the space.

Use the template and your pen to trace both the circle and the letter centered inside it.

Use your overdye to stitch the letter in a textured stitch. I used Staggered Mosaic.

Once this is stitched, pick another stitch for the background and stitch it in your background thread. I used T Stitch and cream matte #8 metallic.

Once the background is complete, you want to accent the letter
with Whipped Backstitch and the other two metallics. These colors do not have to match, mine didn’t.

Begin by making Backstitch all around the ornament with the thicker metallic. These stitches should go over two threads and be right along the edge of the letter. The metallic I used, Kreinik #12, is very close to the green of the overdye.

Once the backstitch is complete wrap it with the thin metallic, Sparkle Braid here. Bring your needle out under a backstitch and emerge on one side, bring the needle over the first stitch and under the second, re-emerging on the first side.

Continue to wrap like this, without your needle entering the canvas until the outline is wrapped.

To end a thread, bring your needle to the back as it goes under a stitch and start the new thread in the same hole.

Trim and insert into the tag. To make it an ornament, hang it with a ribbon. Tie a knot and then a bow over it in a thin but pretty ribbon making a loop. Thread the opposite end of the loop into the hole at the top of the tag. and pull it through a bit. Bring the bow end of the loop through the loop end and pull it tight. This is called a Lark’s Head Knot and is a perfect hanger for your charming ornament.

2012 SOTM Colors – Reveal your Teal

Janet Perry — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:48:59 +0000

Teal is, in clothing, a universally flattering color. In my family where we got from golden to ashy to ruddy to olive, it’s the only color we can all wear successfully.

It is also just about my favorite color and currently I am on a serious teal buying spree, getting a leather tote, tops, dresses, and just about anything else I can get me hands on.

But all this is besides the point. I’m going to make the ANG 2012 Stitch of the Month (anyone can follow and it’s free, check it out). The piece will be done in shades of one color in a variety of threads.

I want to use different color and I want to use all stash threads. I also didn’t want to use a color that is strongly associated with a cause, since I don’t know what the result will be (it’s a mystery project).

So I picked teal because I love it.

These are just the first threads I’ve pulled for the project. They include some metallic, Grandeur and Pebbly Perle, Waterlilies, a vareigated knitting yarn, Vineyard Merino, Silk & Ivory, Dragonfly Lotus Threads, and Planet Earth wool. I haven’t gone through all the drawers yet, so I know I will be adding more threads.

It’s way overkill but this gives me plenty for picking and choosing. I’m thinking I’m going to buy some teal paint and sponge paint white canvas for the background. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

BTW, teal also happens to be the color of our local hockey team, the Sharks, who used Reveal your Teal as a slogan one season.

Stitch your Stash around the World – Almost Done!

Janet Perry — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:34:53 +0000

Originally posted 2009-03-17 06:20:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’m hoping by tomorrow morning I’ll be finished with this piece. But I wanted to share a completed corner.

If you remember, I made my center too big and so I had to add two more rows in the corners. Since I didn’t want to repeat stitches, I chose new ones. The aqua is Triple Diagonal Brick and the pale coral **.

Then I added corners in the two aquas with each block four Scotch Stitches.

The border sides are two rows of Diagonal Gobelin in two of the corals. I had planned to do the two darkest shades, but I don’t have enough of the middle shade. As a result I’m using the lightest and darkest shades.

Then I’m finishing with two rows of Continental in medium coral and charcoal.

The whole thing will be inset into a pillow and will go into my bedroom which is coral. My original plan was to use these colors extensively in the new house, but our downstairs is done in much more vintagey colors of soft bluish green, true green, and buttery yellow, so these colors REALLY won’t go. But my bedroom is coral faces both East and West and has a nice corner for reading with bookshelves (soon), a chair and a chaise, a vintage table and a Spanish style lamp. This will be a perfect addition.

Free Christmas Ornament Patterns on this Site

Janet Perry — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:56:56 +0000

Merry Christmas!

I love CHristmas ornaments and stitch them all the time. Some of that love has been reflected in the projects I’ve done for this site.

In case you are like me and want to start a new stitching project (although I’m most likely cooking not stitching), you might want to make one of these delightful little projects.

Besides these stand-alone projects, check out last year’s Learn-a-Stitch Mini-sock series, and the many Twinchy posts, there are lots more ornament ideas there.