It's a Crewel World

I've written about Crewel before on this blog, but there are a few items that I hadn't mentioned before that I think deserve to be featured! Crewel is a form of surface embroidery where you use wool thread to employ a variety of embroidery stitches to create a design on fabric, traditionally linen. We've had a crewel class in the past, and are hoping to offer one again in the future, so that we can introduce you to this beautiful craft if you haven't been already!

This past winter we found out about Wool & Hoop, a small business out of Texas founded by Katherine Shaughnessy. Katherine's designs are simple and straight forward and are therefore perfect for beginners. She has a very informative book called The New Crewel. It's an excellent book, filled with lots of great information about crewel, from its origins to how it's being used in the contemporary world of needlework. The book has a great selection of her designs with project ideas, but she also has separate kits that we also sell. If you follow this link you can see all the crewel kits we offer. At the bottom of the list are all of the Wool & Hoop kits. Each kit comes with linen fabric, wool thread, needles, a blank greeting card and envelope, as well as instruction. These kits are great first projects but are also fun projects for more advanced stitchers as well, as the finished product is a lovely card you can send to a loved one! Who doesn't love getting such a special note in the mail?

Another great Crewel kit we have is this "It's the Berries" kit. It's perfect as a chair pad, picture, pillow or stool top. I like the vintage appeal of it, and think it would be great as a chair pad! This kit comes with a 14" diameter design printed on pure linen, 100% wool crewel yarn, a needle, cording, and complete stitching and finishing instructions. This project would probably be best for an intermediate stitcher, but since the stitches look like they're mostly satin stitch, it shouldn't be difficult to pick up quickly if you're a beginner and happen to be adventurous and love this piece!

Besides Katherine's book, we have a great book called A-Z of Wool Embroidery. This books is part of the A-Z collection of books. All of these books are great for beginners and advanced stitchers alike because they are packed with different stitches and projects. This particular book has a lot of valuable information about Wool Embroidery. As well as teaching you a wide variety of stitches that you can use in Crewel projects, it has a back section full of designs which you can transfer onto fabric and stitch up for yourself. It's a great book, perfect for anybody looking to learn about Crewel. Come on in to the shop or check out our website to see these crewel projects and more! I hope you enjoy learning about crewel and trying it out for yourself!