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!

Doodle Stitching

We just received this fabulous book called Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray. It has 400+ easy, adorable and fun embroidery designs illustrated and includes a cd as well as 17 projects to make! One project they feature are these embroidered drink coasters. You can see from the photo that they are really sweet. And, the great thing about them is that they are totally customizable. There is a good selection of drink illustrations in the book, and beyond that, there are so many colors you can choose to do them in that the possibilities are endless.

I decided to stitch one of the motifs, seen below, to see how it came out on fabric, and I am really pleased with the result. Not only was it a cinch to stitch, but it was a pleasure to stitch! Of course, I can't leave out that the design was just so cute! I chose to just stitch the little children for now, but in this family of motifs there were a bunch of other designs, from toad-stools, to gnomes, to flowers and trees, that would really make the whole scene complete.

This book has so many different motifs that would keep you busy and would really help make whatever you were looking to embroider special!

Stitch Painting

When looking at a thread painting, you may at first think that you are looking at an actual painting! The aim of thread painting is to create shading effects. This can create a very realistic image. When stitching in this method, you mainly use short and long stitches and stitch in rows to create the softest shading.

We just ordered a few copies of the book A-Z of Thread Painting, edited by Sue Gardner. It is full of information and projects that demonstrate this fun type of needlework. One of the projects that I was particularly impressed by would also be good for someone looking to try out thread painting on a smaller scale. This is the Pear, by Susan O'Conner of Victoria. This project can be completed with stranded cotton on fabric. The only stitches you use are a split stitch, long and short stitch, and back stitch. This book is really great because it gives detailed lists of all the threads and materials you will need and gives step by step instructions, including pictures for each step! I think it would be a great way to get acquainted with thread painting.

Another project that would be great for beginners is this kit, called "The Red Poll." Mary Corbett, of Needle 'n Thread did this piece as an introduction to the style, and I think it came out splendidly! The kit is by designer Tanja Berlin, and as Mary mentioned in a blog about the project, the kit includes thread, fabric, needles, instructions and a color photo of the piece to use as a reference! This piece is really sweet, and it looks like it would be a lot of fun to stitch! Think about being able to accurately represent bird feathers!

In the most recent and final issue of Fiber Arts magazine, there was a great article written by Jamie Chalmers of MrXStitch. Fiber Arts magazine is all about Contemporary Textile Arts and Crafts. The article featured an artist named Cayce Zavaglia. I found her work really inspiring, not just because I love portraiture! This piece, called Carol is hand embroidered using Crewel wool and Acrylic on linen. It is 14 x 38! Check out the detail for an up close image of the stitches. Just amazing! Like the Scarlet Quince piece I featured in our cross-stitch blog, I find that this type of needlework, rather than being intimidating, is more exciting because it is a challenge. When you finish it, you have the satisfaction of knowing you finished something really detailed and also conquered the form! Cayce says in her artist statement "I still consider myself a painter and find it difficult not to refer to these embroidered portraits as 'paintings.' Although the medium employed is crewel embroidery wool, the technique borrows more from the worlds of drawing and painting...Using Wool instead of oils has allowed me to broaden the dialogue between portrait and process as well as propose a new definiteion for the word 'painting'." I think it is interesting when artists look at their art form and other art forms and find a way to combine them to create something new. It will be interesting to see what else Cayce stitches in the future! And, for those of you who have been overwhelmed with a project before, look at this rug, seen in the book Needlepainting A Garden of Stitches by Eszter Haraszty. Amazing! This book was published in 1974 and shows this woman's house and all of the floral inspired thread painted pieces she completed. This piece in particular was quite awe-inspiring, partially because of its size! When looking at it and thinking about all of the small stitches she did, it's definitely a feat worthy of admiration!