After seeing (and sharing with you) Jacqueline’s lovely little embroidered E, I find myself more in love than ever with this particular monogram alphabet!
I’m looking forward to taking some time to work some of the letters in the near(ish) future. Monogrammed items make perfect gifts, and I’d like to monogram some gifts for Christmas this year. That’s the plan, anyway.
And that’s one of the reasons I’m pummeling you with a set of three letters each week – when I do get to the point of working some of the monograms, I want you to have access to all the letters, too.
Today, the next set of three letters: the M, N, and O.
In old publications that featured alphabets to use for monogramming, the M was often present, but the W was left out. On this alphabet, if you flip the M over and remove the small swirl on the top right, you’ll have a pretty good W.
I’ve never actually discovered a written, first-hand explanation of exactly why certain letters were left out of alphabets – the W or the M, the Q or the O, the I or the J, the C or the G – but I always figured the reason could be one of several:
1. Printing was more expensive back in the day. Making an alphabet as compact as possible to fit on a printed page made sense. Eliminating a number of letters that could be adapted from other letters in the alphabet was a good way to do this. Why print the same form (or almost the same form) twice? That space could be used for something else.
2. Have you ever tried to create a balanced layout with the full 26-letter alphabet? It’s not easy. Eliminate two of the letters (especially a space hog like the W), and with 24 letters left, it’s much easier to create a good looking layout!
(I really have no idea if the above explanation has anything to do with the elimination of letters in monogram alphabets of old, but if I had been making layout decisions, it would have been the main reason!)
3. I’ve mentioned this one before: in some languages, you simply don’t see names beginning with certain letters as frequently, so the need for those letters was not as pressing. W, for example, is not a very common initial in French names, and neither is I. I’m sure names beginning with these initials exist, but they are nowhere near as common as the M or the R, for example.
Those are three common sense explanations for missing letters that come to mind. If you know of any others, I’d love to hear them!
Monogram Embroidery Pattern Printables
Here are the PDFs for today’s monograms. The letters will print at 1.5″, 3″ and 4″ high if you choose no scaling (or a similar setting) on your printer. You can enlarge and reduce them by using the scaling feature on your printer or by using a photocopier.
Monogram for Hand Embroidery – Delicate Spray M (PDF)
Monogram for Hand Embroidery – Delicate Spray N (PDF)
Monogram for Hand Embroidery – Delicate Spray O (PDF)
You can find this monogram alphabet for hand embroidery and several other monogram alphabets under Monograms for Hand Embroidery on the Patterns page here on Needle ‘n Thread.
Coming Up on Needle ‘n Thread
Tomorrow, I’ll announce the winner of Little Flowers in Silk & Organza Ribbon – if you haven’t had a chance to join in that give-away, there’s still time!
We’ll be moving ahead with the Secret Garden project a little bit this week – I’ll show you the finished flowers and we’ll discuss color choices for the hummingbirds and various approaches to stitching them. If time allows, we’ll take a look at some other related ideas with this project as well.
I have another needlework book I’m dying to share with you – this is a good year for some excellent new embroidery books! – and a few other bits and bobs, too!
