Cottage Garden Threads is a “home-grown” Australian thread dyeing business. It’s one of those stories I just like reading about – a lady who started dyeing threads in her kitchen, and now carries a wide range of beautifully colored threads that are stocked in retail shops and used by needlework designers.
The threads at Cottage Garden come in different weights of perle cotton and in stranded floss. If you like overdyed threads, you’ll likely find the colors to be quite sumptuous. I think it’s really neat to read on their blog what inspires the colors of their threads. Yes, of course, there are gardens, but there’s also this kingfisher! Talk about color!
Some of the colors are subtle and subdued…
… and when they’re named things like “café au lait” – well, you understand why when you see the thread!
Some of the threads remind me of autumn and winter gardens…
… while others evoke images of late spring and summer.
Besides thread, Cottage Gardens also supplies overdyed felt – Cottage Garden Trims.
In 1/2″ and 1″ widths, this scalloped trim would be great for felting projects…
… but I was looking for something for little bookmark gifts. And this is perfect. The top 1/2″ trim can be stitched and adhered to the larger 1″ trim, to make little 4″ bookmarks – perfect for student gifts! Kind of like mini versions of these bookmarks hand embroidered on felt. Fun, eh?
I don’t use overdyed threads a whole lot in my stitching, but occasionally, the bug bites, and I feel obliged to indulge! I’m looking forward to playing with these. The colors and the variations make stitching fun, so I’m planning on having a little fun – I’ll let you know what I turn out!
Cottage Garden Threads are distributed primarily in Australia, but there are some stockists world wide, if you want to look for them. You can find the lists of stockists on their blog. Pretty good list, for a home-grown business, isn’t it?!
Like I said, I love success stories like this one!
So, what about you? Have you used Cottage Garden Threads (probably a more pertinent question for my Aussie friends, I suppose!)? And how ’bout that felt trim? Any other ideas for it? Leave a comment and tell the rest of us your ideas!
Finally, don’t forget the Silhouette cutting machine give-away this week! If you haven’t signed up yet, feel free. After all, I’ve got to give it away to someone – it may as well be you!!
