Today – woohoo! – I’m introducing the first of the 2022 Stitch Snippets, a series wherein we explore together some embroidery projects from start to finish.

The projects in the Stitch Snippets series will be of varying degrees of smallness. Some will be finished items. Some will be decorative springboards for your own ideas.

To kick the series off with a big ole bang, we’re starting with a project that I’ve named Bee-Jeweled Pincushion – a hexagon shaped embroidered pincushion embellished with beads and a little bee charm.

I’m so excited about this project! It’s a lot of fun to work, without taking too long to get to a very satisfactory and usable finish.

Let’s chat about what you can expect from the series, including when (date & time) the kits for this project will be available and what they entail.

Some of the things that we’ll learn while exploring the Bee-Jeweled pincushion include setting up an embroidery project, stitching the project with simple stitches, embellishing with beads, methods of constructing the pincushion (including the whys and wherefores of the materials I chose), and finishing.

The project will be broken down into a number of separate lessons, taken a little bit at a time. They’ll be published right here on Needle ‘n Thread, so that you can follow along online. Downloadable and printable PDFs of each lesson will be available for members on my Patreon page.

In between the lessons, other content will show up as usual here on the blog, so that we have a bit of variety for everyone.

Stitch Snippets Kits

When possible, I plan to have small kits available for the different Stitch Snippets projects this year. For some projects, kits might not be necessary. And for others, we might put together a small collection of specialty threads, or we might just make embellishments or fabric available. It just depends on the project and the availability of supplies.

For the pincushion, though, I have a limited number of kits assembled and ready to go. If they prove popular, we’ll try to do a second run. With the supply situation being what it is, though, a second run is tentative.

Each kit includes all the materials involved in making the pincushions, except for the filling. So, you’ll find fabric, thread, beads, Fireline for sewing on the beads, a lovely little bee charm, needles, interfacing (stabilizer), and board for the base.

You’ll need your own tools (embroidery frame or hoop, scissors, a ruler, utility knife, and so forth), an adequate filling of your choice (we used poly-fil to keep it accessible), a PVA or similar glue, sewing thread, and pins, clips, or clothes pins for construction.

The convenience of the kit is that you have everything on hand to get going and you don’t have to search for the same or similar items. Also, if you purchase your supplies online, you won’t have to pay for shipping from a variety of sources.

I’ve packaged these kits very simply, to help keep them more affordable. I’ve included enough supplies for the project, but not excess. So, for example, instead of full skeins and spools, you’ll receive partial skeins of thread looped in a thread card and labeled. The fabric is cut so that the design layout will fit on it in a condensed and concise way, with enough room to mount on a frame, but we will also talk about how you can enlarge the fabric if you want to use a large hoop.

You don’t have to buy a kit to work the pincushion. I’ll provide a list of supplies as we work through the project, and you can also substitute your own supplies. We’ll talk about substitutions and so forth along the way. This way, those who don’t live in the US or those who have resources at hand can source their supplies locally, or they can make substitutions based on what they have available.

Kit Launch

The Bee-Jeweled Pincushion Kit will be available in my shop here this coming Tuesday, January 25th, and 10:00 AM Central Time. This means that, for the East Coast, look for the kit in the shop at 11:00 AM on Tuesday; for Mountain Time, look for it at 9:00 AM; and for Pacific Time, look for it at 8:00 AM.

I regret that I’m not shipping the kits internationally, except to Canada and Australia (for those willing to pay the shipping – which is sadly higher than the cost of the kit).

If you have questions or comments as we work through the project, feel free to use the comment form at the end of each blog post. That way, you can get input from the wider Needle ‘n Thread community.

You can also post photos and progress in the Needle ‘n Thread Community group on Facebook, if you’re on Facebook and you want to join the group there.

On Monday, I’ll be sharing the pattern with you and we will get this project underway. And on Tuesday, the kit will be in the shop at the time mentioned above.

I can’t wait! I’m really looking forward to working through this project with you, and I hope you’re excited about it, too!

Have a wonderful weekend!