Focus on: Sublime Stitching

We recently received a number of embroidery patterns for our shop by Sublime Stitching. Sublime Stitching was founded by artist Jenny Hart. She is very well known for her personal embroidery work, which has been featured in Vogue, Nylon, Spin, The Face, Juxtapoz, The New York Times Magazine and more! One of her pieces is this fabulous portrait of Edith Piaf. She also has an upcoming exhibition in Paris that focus on her drawings! You can check out images of her drawings at her flickr page. They have a reminiscent style to her embroidered art. I am intrigued by her style and really enjoy her work, whether it's her embroidery or drawings. Also check out her blog for some of her favorite artists and updates on what she's working on!

Some of the fun Embroidery Patterns we have available in the store are shown below. Included in the packs are an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of iron-on transfers. You'll use them to transfer onto whatever item you wish to embroider on, and then use the included innstructions and embroidery lesson (if you're rusty or new to embroidery!) to start your project! The package promises to imprint multiple times, so if you really love the design, you can stitch it more than once!


Come on in to the store when you have a chance and check out these great patterns! There's a lot to choose from, and with all the different threads we have in stock, so many different ways to stitch them!

Stitch of the Week: T Stitch

The T Stitch is an open stitch that can be used for stitching angel wings, lace, and small details like flower buds, glasses, and eyeglass lenses. It is used for filling in areas where you would like to show the canvas as well as the stitch. It's an excellent stitch for an open background. You should use a color that closely matches the painted background to make sure that the canvas that shows through matches and/or compliments the thread you're using. We used DMC Overdyed Perle cotton on top of a rectangle that had been painted red for the middle example shown above. This really created a lovely effect.

For angel's wings use Snow, Kreinik #12 or #8.

Stitch of the week: Rice Stitch

The Rice stitch is also known as the William and Mary stitch or Crossed Corners.

When using this stitch in one of your projects, you will do a diagonal cross stitch over an even number of canvas intersections, then each corner of the cross stitch is tied down with a diagonal stitch in the same or a different color. This stitch has a variety of appearances depending upon the weight, color, and texture of the yarn employed. It looks great in a background, as a border, a filler or a feature stitch. The advantage of this stitch is it is an attractive stitch with multiple variations. The only disadvantage is that it is a slow stich.
Some variations to make this stitch stand out even more would be to use two colors (cross in one color, tie downs in another color). You could even blow this stitch up, which would make it the "giant rice" stitch. This is achieved by doing a diagonal cross over four canvas intersections. The straight rice stitch is performed by stitching horizontally and vertically rather than diagonally.

Stitch of the week: Norwich Stitch

The Norwich stitch, also known as the Waffle stitch, is a counted thread stitch where you stitch 3 rows diagonally, stitching over 3 intersections, then 4, then 3, and then stitch the same amount of rows in the opposite direction so the stitches intersect. This stitch fills a square area, but produces a diamond pattern in the center of the stitch. Use solid color threads or overdyed threads for a more dramatic effect. It can either be worked in one color or two. Also, a good thing to keep in mind when considering this stitch for your piece is that it looks stunning with an overdyed thread!

Check out the photo below to see some examples of this lovely stitch using threads like kreinik, perle cotton, and watercolors overdyed cotton. This would be a lovely decorative stitch for an abstract geometric piece. When researching how it has been used, one stitcher said she was going to use it for a tissue box cover. Although there was no photo of the finished project, I can imagine that it came out very well!

Wearable Needlework

Embroidered and stitched accessories and clothing have been around for a long time, but it seems like the trend of using embroidery, cross-stitch and needlepoint to stitch things like buttons, earrings, headbands, barrettes, bags, and more has been coming back. After a recent search on Etsy, I came across a few shops owned by crafters who really caught my eye. The theme was wearable needlework!

The Pin Pals, run by artists Samantha Purdy and Sara Guindon, whose blog you can see here , have a really fun Etsy store. I definitely lost track of time looking at all of their goodies and also perusing their Flickr page, where you can see other projects they've done and also some craft shows they have participated in! One of my favorite products that they sell and show are these great barrettes. They've really found a way to use relatively simple designs and create something really sweet and wearable. I know I would love to wear these! Another great way to incorporate their buttons is shown to the left. The acorn buttons really add a really pretty accent to the dress.

Another crafter I came across is Claudia Dominguez, who runs the store Deep Indigo on Etsy. You can also browse her Flickr page to see other crafts that she has done. I really love these rosebud earrings. They are so dainty, and I love the combination of the delicate embroidered flower and the herringbone fabric. One of the other products she sells in her shop are these charming zippers. They are embroidered around the edge, so that when you sew them, you will be able to see the embroidered details, which would really add a special touch to whatever project you were sewing.

Something probably everyone has seen are embroidered blouses like this one, also from Etsy at the store Purple Deer Vintage. It isn't hard to find embroidered shirts, but if you are confident and ambitious, you could definitely embroider your own shirt. There are many different patterns and motifs in books and online. We definitely have a good selection here at the shop of books with different embroidery templates which you could use as a starter to creating your own.

As a testament to how needlepoint and needlework is becoming more popular, this Baguette Needlepoint Kit can be found on Neiman Marcus' website. It is a Fendi bag that includes the thread, three design cards, needles, and thimbles. Needlepoint purses and clutches are definitely a popular item here at the shop, and this just goes to show that they aren't exclusive to needlepoint shops!