For your weekend reading pleasure, here’s a little round-up of needlework-related links that I’ve come across lately that I thought were inspirational, interesting, or just fun!
So, grab a cup of something satisfying, and come browse with me!
Need a Simple Autumn Embroidery Project?
If you’re looking for an autumn-related embroidery pattern, I like this free PDF of swirling leaves from the DMC blog.
I like to use patterns like this on the 30×30″ deluxe flour sack towels from American Chair Store. They’re the best flour sack towels around, and the 30×30″ size makes great little tea cloths or bread basket liners.
Grab some floss in fall colors, trace the designs onto the corners of the towel, and you’ve got something fun to stitch that’s easily transportable!
William Morris Extraordinarily Stitched
You’ll be inspired by this! Francesca, on her blog La Soffitta del Tempo Perduto has posted an update on a William Morris embroidery piece (mixed media, really – there’s some fantastic painting there, too) that she started five years ago. It is stunning. Simply stunning.
Gold Threads in Vienna
Jessica Grimm offers up a fun article on discovering a gold thread manufacturer in Vienna, Austria. Fascinating stuff!
A couple years ago, I wrote a series of articles on deconstructing a goldwork piece, and we examined these gold domes that are used for grapes and wheat in goldwork. You can read the article on the grapes here. Guess what? Jessica’s goldwork source in Vienna makes them, and she’s now carrying them in her shop. Check them out!
Color, color, color!
If you’re a thread junkie, you probably don’t want to hear this. But I’ll tell you, anyway! Colour Complements has some new hand-dyed thread colors out…and they’re really pretty!
Bee Hives and a Vintage Scene
Because I like beehives (my Lavender Honey e-book grew from my love of beehives), I thought I’d share a link to this antique beehive image from Graphics Fairy. If you’re into embroidering scenes like this, this particular one offers lots of scope for texture! I like it!
Australian Historic Prints
On BibliOdyssey, you might find these antique prints in honor of Lord Carrington interesting. They’re beautifully done and they sport some fantastic design details that would translate really well into embroidery!
Trim it!
This is a fun article on the making of 18 century trims by hand, from Two Nerdy History Girls. There are even links to videos at the end of the article, so you can see how it was done. Wow! It’s a lot of work!
I’m Twitterpated…by a Hedgehog!
It’s machine embroidery, just so you know – not that I have anything against machine embroidery, mind you. And this machine embroidered hedgehog is fantastic! I’m in love with it! While you’re visitant Lisa Topin’s blog, Agnes & Cora, check out her embroidered moths, too. Lots of inspiration there for all kinds of creative endeavors with needle and thread.
Weekend Plans
This is where I tell you about all the things I’m probably not really going to accomplish this weekend. But I always like to start the weekend optimistically! So here are my two project goals:
I’m in the process of setting up a mega-huge petit point project that my nieces and I will be working on together (hopefully). The fabric set up has been occupying my evenings lately, and I hope to finish the set-up process this weekend, so that stitching can begin. I’ll share it with you when I have anything exciting to show you.
I’ve set up this goldwork and silk project that I’ll be working through step-by-step here on Needle ‘n Thread in the months ahead. This weekend, I want to add the felt padding, so that I can show you the initial set up and we can get going on it.
In fact, if you’re interested in goldwork and you didn’t catch my article yesterday, you might take a look at it. It announces a new video-based class on essential goldwork techniques, many of which will be part of this upcoming project. The class, taught by Lucy Barter, is affordable (it’s less than $30 right now, at 25% off if you go through the link on yesterday’s article), and it’s a really good deal!
May your weekend be relaxing, productive, and everything else you want it to be!
See you Monday!
