Focus on: Wool & Hoop

We just received a large shipment of kits, books, and pins from Texas-based shop Wool and Hoop. Wool and Hoop was founded by Katherine Shaughnessy. She is a formally trained artist who, although her mother taught her crewel embroidery at a young age, started using stitching more often in her art in college. She became more interested in embroidery and was searching for fun cool crewel kits when she decided to start making her own. That's how Wool and Hoop was started.

Wool and Hoop's crewel kits are all really fun and have bright colors and designs that are simple enough for beginners (the kits say they are appropriate for ages 8 and up) to learn with but that seasoned stitchers would also find exciting. And, an added plus is that everything you need is inside the kit. It includes linen fabric, wool thread, needles, a blank greeting card and envelope (for finishing), and complete instructions. There's even a free hoop included! The designs are around 3 x 3 inches each, so they are also a great quick project you can stitch up for a really nice personal gift.

Along with the kits, we received Katherine's first book, titled The New Crewel. It's full of interesting information about crewel as well as ideas for projects. Each design featured in her book includes a list of the fabric, thread, stitches, and finishing ideas for that piece. She also adds helpful little crewel tips after each pattern. We also got transfer fabric so you can transfer either your own designs, or the ones you see in her book, and we also got assorted packs of her designs, ready to be ironed onto your fabric of choice! With so many options, it's easy to see how you could end up with a lot of different projects with only one design!

Below see a picture of Mandy, who is stitching one of the kits up as a sample of what it will look like finished and to experience it herself. She's having a lot of fun, and it looks really fun to do as well! I think these kits will be a lot of fun! Come on in and see what they're all about and to get acquainted with crewel work!