threads Archive

Koigu is an amazing yarn. Sock weight and hand-dyed in Canada, it’s about the the only yarn I take up knitting again to use. The colors are amazing. Single-color or multi-color blends have the most lovely combinations. Even the solid colors have wonderful depth. It’s also amazing for needlepoint on 13- and 14-mesh canvases. The big problem is that they are knitting yarns not needlepoint threads and come in skeins of about 175 yards, making one skein almost a lifetime supply of a color. One option is to search eBay and Etsy for “mini-skeibs,” skeins of 10-20 yards that are used for projects such as the Beekeeper’s Quilt that use small bits of many yarns. These can be hard to find in my experience. Even so I adore this yarn because in addition to the great colors, it stitches like a dream. In the pictured project, Koigu is used for

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“Vintage Modern” Doesn’t that name bring up some wonderful images? A bit retro, a bit timeless, a bit up-to-date, this is the new color collection from Threadworx. The picture above is the series in Vineyard Silk. It is also available in Au Ver a Soie and cotton floss. I’m sure pearl cotton and, I hope, both wools aren’t far behind. Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013Some Rights ReservedOriginal content here is published under these license terms: X License Type:Non-commercial, Attribution, no Derivative workLicense Summary:You may copy this content, and re-publish it in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes, provided you include an overt attribution to the author(s). You are not permitted to create derivative works.License URL:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd

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Pearl Cotton is lovely for stitching but it can be troublesome to store. Work with it as packaged and get a tangled mess. Remove the tags, untwist, cut at the knot and you will have long lengths and lose important information. Try to put the tag back on and it’s a mess. Cut at the end with two loops and miss cutting some threads. This gives you a worse tangled mess. I usually solve this by cutting at the single loop end and leaving the tags in place. You will still have one knotted length that’s hard to pull out, but that’s a small price to pay. That is until now. Wild Olive has a cute and clever idea to make your own storage for Pearl Cotton using popsicle sticks, described in this illustrated tutorial. If you aren’t using a ring for storage, you can even do it more easily

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Originally posted 2010-12-15 07:16:34. Republished by Blog Post PromoterHigh Cotton is a new five-strand cotton thread from The Point of It All Designs. It’s simply wonderful. Unlike floss it is almost matte and is very strong. Like many matte cottons it is also soft in the hand, something I really like. It comes 18 yards in a skein with 135 colors currently (more on the way). The colors I have are bright but with a wonderful soft vintage look that, I think, makes them fit with more designs than more acid contemporary colors. The color names, which appear on the tags are great and include such intriguing names as Peaches & Herb, Flying Monkey, and Princess Phone. With names like these I can hardly wait to see the colors! The manufacturer says they are strong enough to use for stitching rugs, but I chose to stitch this Jody Designs ornament

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Originally posted 2008-07-29 12:28:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThreads: Dinky Dyes has just released their first collection of silk ribbon. The ribbon comes in 4mm & 7mm widths in their 20 best-selling colors. Crescent Colours has added Garden Days colors to their line of floss, including ladybug, grasshopper, and Caterpillar. Dede’s Needleworks has introduced four new threads: FireFly a wired thread for couching (think 3-D), Glitzy, a super-shiny gold thread for 18 mesh or higher, Super-Twist,semi-twinkle in 67 colors, and Prisms, a clear opalescent. She will soon be distributing Treenway’s Fine Silk Cord in 100 colors. Finishing: Have you ever thought about making a bellpull but hesitated because you didn’t like the hardware? Rosewood Manor has come out with lovely turned wool rods in 7 colors and two lengths (6 and 8 inches). They can also be ordered with cords. Designing Women has photo and scrapbook albums with oval or

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Scrappy Squares Needlepoint Quilt is a quilt portrait needlepoint. I love patchwork and quilts but don’t have the sewing ability to make them. Therefore, using quilts as my inspiration I turn them into needlepoint. Many of my free projects on this blog, as well as ebooks and club projects draw on this rich store of boldly graphic designs. This design is based on squares that are multiples of each other. That’s easy to do in needlepoint with Box Stitches. A Mosaic Stitch is twice the size of a Tent Stitch. A Scotch Stitch over 4 threads is twice the size if a Mosaic Stitch. A bigger Scotch (or in this case a Mosaic in a Diagonal Gobelin border) is twice the size of the first Scotch. Knowing this you can mix and match squares to create a lively design. This quilt uses all solid colors. If you chose to use

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Originally posted 2010-04-14 07:26:34. Republished by Blog Post PromoterToday we have a guest post from my friend Jen Funk-Webber. She puts out a delightful email newsletter, The Needlework Nutshell. She also runs the Stitching for Literacy Bookmark Challenge and designs wonderful needlework which you can see on her site, Funk & Weber Designs (http://funkandweber.com/fw/index.html). In her most recent newsletter she mused about experimenting in needlework. I loved it, and she gave her permission to reprint it here. ************** I had an interesting e-conversation with Amy recently. I do a lot of preaching about experimenting with new embroidery techniques, materials, and ideas. I’m a huge fan of doodles and am undeterred by disasters. I am willing to leap before I look, and failure is (almost) as welcome in my house as success. Truth be told, failure comes around more often than success, but he can be quite entertaining, a lover of

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Originally posted 2009-06-12 06:06:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Over at Needlework Tips & Techniques, there is a wonderful page of information about embroidery floss. It is designed for Cross Stitchers, but there’s lots of advice that works for needlepointers too. There is a video on how to separate plies. This works for any stranded thread. There is information about several ways to start your thread, including a loop method, which is worth trying for needlepoint. Do not, however, use the table of number of plies; they are not correct for needlepoint. Instead, use these amounts: Congress Cloth: 2 strands 18 mesh: 4 strands 14 mesh: 6 strands 13 mesh: 6 strands 12 mesh: 8 strands Also remember that these techniques and amounts. work for any stranded thread, such as stranded silks, where the individual strands are about the same size as floss. Thanks and a tip of the hat

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Are you confused by the colors in Kreinik’s metallics? Do you wish you could look at similar colors side-by-side? While shop owners, teachers and designers have color cards, most of us just get frustrated. Kreinik has come to our rescue with the new Color Selector Tool. It’s one of the best and most useful tools for stitchers on the internet. The site goes well beyond a color card. With it you can find all the shades in all the sizes of a particular color. If you want to know if a particular color comes in specific size of thread, enter the number, you’ll know immediately. The table includes product (size), number, name, shading order, and a photo of the thread. You can sort by any column, and more Those columns pack so much into them. You can buy threads from the table. You can see easily how the different finishes

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Originally posted 2009-08-19 07:34:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I’m getting ready to start stitching a charming piece from Needle Delights called “Down the Garden Path.” I just love it and the way it uses so many different shades of Watercolurs. So I decided to use it as a chance to try some new colors of this and other overdyed threads, that were new to me. When I bought them I thought I could just switch one thread for another, but it isn’t quite so easy. The original threads have a range of values from light to dark, mine are mostly light. And they have a selection of multi-color threads and ones with shades of one color, I only have one or two single color threads. This happens to many stitchers, so I thought I would share with you how I have planned my threads out before I begin to

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Challenging. That’s the word I’d use to sum up the new thread from Kreinik. Made from several strands of their Easter Gras braided together, this thread comes in several sizes (Blending Filament, #8, #12, 1/16″ ribbon, and more). I tested these threads in several of the sizes on two different canvases. First some general reflections about the thread, then the test results. This thread is very stiff. It doesn’t straighten easily and tends to curl up on itself. The usual methods of straightening did not have much of an effect on it. I found that its stiffness made it kink on the back, so the back of the work is uneven in thickness. This does not appear to affect the front, but might be a concern in some finishing. It frays at the tail. The thicker versions of this thread are worse because there are more strands, but every size

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Originally posted 2003-02-20 22:27:39. Republished by Blog Post PromoterLinen is one of my favorite fibers. Although its use in embroidery isn’t very common, it has a strength and sheen which is unique. People who like linen really like linen and can’t get enough of it. I came across two new linen an linen-blend threads recently I want to share with you. Green Mountain Linen is a 20/2 linen, which is a perfect size for 18 mesh canvas. It comes in 20 yard packages. Like most linen threads, it’s a bit stiff and somewhat hairy — it’s the solid brown example in the photo. Oriental Linen is from The Thread Gatherer and is a blend of linen an silk. It is made up of two, two-ply strands, which can be divided into two strands for stitching. The thread I used in the sample has one ply of rust and one of

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Vineyard Silks has new shades in both Vineyard Classics (silk ) and Vineyard Merino. The colors are simply lovely blue-greens with names such as South Beach, Ocean Breeze, and Laguna Beach. These form a color family. They are pictured here Planet Earth’s Pepper Pot Silk has a new color, Melon, a grand classic melon/coral color. This has been one of my favorite colors for years. There are new colors added to the new Paternayan. Sevral of their first round of colors have been restocked

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Originally posted 2007-12-10 07:28:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I have a new favorite thread, it’s the red in this new Flames Bargello project. The color is Cardinal and it’s a shade of Watercolours from the Caron Collection. I think it just glows and is the best red thread ever. I like it so much I’m going to use the rest of the skein for some Christmas ornaments (not that I have time to work on them. As I did with Tahiti Watercolours (my previous favorite) I may start stockpiling it. * * * But I also want to thank those of you who commented on the original Flames Bargello post asking about my idea for a Scrap Bag Needlepoint version. Here it is (in process). While my original plan was to do all the diamonds in different colors, the red was so striking (which I didn’t expect), that I’m

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Spare a thought for the terrible plight of needlepoint bloggers and shopowners. We see all the new products, sometimes even weeks before they are released anyplace else. But there is no way that we can stitch everything we see that we would like. New needlepoint products get me excited, so I want to share them with you. Elizabeth Bradley has some exciting news. First off she has a new series of small kits for kids. The colors are light and cheerful. They are 6″ square and come complete with canvas, threads, needle and chart card. They have also expanded their line of tapestry wool to include some brighter and more modern colors. THere are now 363 colors available in 10-yard cards and 60-yard hanks. DebBee’s Designs has added a Gold design to their popular Glitz & Glamour line. It’s laid out to look like stacked gold ingots. It uses Kreinik

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