Ty-Di Threads
Lately I’m noticing more and more that thread manufacturers are
really listening to what you, the stitchers, have to say, and adding products to meet those needs. A perfect case in point is Ty-Di Threads, a new family of hand-dyed monochromatic threads. One of the owners of Ty-Di, Terry Christopher owns a wonderful needlepoint shop, 2 the Point and has brought her knowledge of needlepoint and of the “gaps” in the current lines of thread to bear in creating this line .
There are five threads in the line. They are, Cotton +, a blend of cotton and rayon, Just Cotton, an all-cotton matte thread, Spun Silk, a pure silk thread, Sof-Silk, a silk/wool blend, and Simply Wool, a worsted wool thread.
The colors are dyed to match across all the threads. The colors are beautifully brilliant and many are designed to plug “holes” in the current lines of other threads. This is great, especially if you do more modern canvases, because finding traditional fibers in bright modern colors has been hard to do until now. When my daughter saw these threads in a needlepoint shop she went crazy for the colors, finding some of them the best ones she’s ever seen — and she doesn’t even stitch!
All the threads are designed to be used as a single strand on 18 mesh canvas. as you can see, the single strand worked with all kinds of stitches. This adds some great new textures for stitchers who don’t like to strip and ply their threads. Terry notes that they can also be used on 13 mesh with a normal to light coverage if the canvas is painted.
I found the threads simply wonderful to use. Cotton + is a nubby thread thread. if you use it for basketweave, this nubbiness somewhat hides the stitches, so you can get a neat texture. I also used this thread as a background with Nobuko as the stitch and the
texture of the stitch was somewhat modified here as well. I used encroached Gobelin and I it could be a great combination.
Matte cottons are hard to find and wonderful to use for needlepoint. Because the texture recedes, they are great for many areas. But until now the choices of mattes for 18 mesh were few. DMC matte cotton is too large, Madras is multicolored, Matte 18 is too soft and thick for many stitchers and Flower thread needs to be plied up. Just Cotton fills this need with a thread which stitches like Matte Cotton but fits on 18 mesh canvas.
Spun Silk is one of the few silks out there which works as is for needlepoint. Because it is a bit fuzzy, unlike Trebizond or Silk Serica, it is less likely to catch on your hands or the canvas. It fits nicely into the mesh and fluffs up a bit. It isn’t a really shiny silk, but I just loved it.
Sof-Silk is another great silk/wool blend. Although relatively new, these threads have become tremendously popular with stitchers. These threads add another dimension of color.
Simply Wool is similar to tapestry wool in that it is designed to be used as is, but it’s thinner. If you’ve been needlepointing a long time, you will remember Orchidee a wool popular in the 70′s and 80′s. This thread reminds me of that. It’s a great thickness for 18 mesh and is very soft. Another wonderful thread.
Ty-Di Threads are worth finding and using — you will be so delighted with the possibilities
Related posts:
[...] Ty-Di Threads [...]