For many embroiderers, the go-to filler is satin stitch, particularly for monograms. Mary Corbet of Needle ‘n’ Thread shows how effective stem stitch can be for filling a design, such as the letters in this ecclesiastical embroidery. And she explains … Read More ...
Print and stitch!
Robin Kingsley of Bird Brain Designs says a product called Transfer-Eze eliminates the tedium of transferring embroidery designs. You can go from computer graphic to ready-to-stitch design in a couple of quick steps. Get the details from her blog post… Read More ...
How to apply Thread Heaven
After you take a few stitches, does your floss get rough and tangly? Mm-hmm. Mine, too. A tried-and-true solution to this problem is a sparing application of Thread Heaven, a thread conditioner. Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching shows us just … Read More ...
Tutorial: Waved chain stitch
This week’s TAST challenge is waved chain stitch. See the tute on SharonB‘s Pin Tangle blog.… Read More ...
The fall festival is open!
The fall Counted Wishes Cross Stitch Festival is now open and will be online through August 7. The site says,
… Read More ...The Counted Wishes Festival is a unique Needle Arts online show featuring a wide variety of artwork from many independent
Free charts: Cross-stitch
Tutorial: Buttonhole bars
Sarah Whittle shows us how to stitch detached buttonhole bars, the perfect stitch for creating lacy spiderwebs. See the tute.… Read More ...
“Embroideread” with Checkout Girl
Oooooo! Look what Melissa Crowe (Checkout Girl) is up to: She’s sponsoring a contest that combines her two great creative loves — embroidery and poetry. She invites us to embroider a poem and submit a photo to a … Read More ...
Publish your CS designs on CrafTown
CrafTown.com publishes readers’ original craft designs, and right now they’re especially interested in “beefing up” their cross-stitch offerings. Although it’s not a paying gig, I’ve heard through the grapevine that the site gets 600,000 to 800,000 hits a month, which … Read More ...
Oops! Pardon my French
I received a sweet note from reader Sivani, gently pointing out an inaccuracy in credit for a design. I’ve been posting links to the French blog plaisirdecreer, which has been sharing a beautiful blackwork sampler in instalments. Sivani … Read More ...
Get a free Halloween-in-July design
Yikes! I almost let a great freebie slip by! Urban Threads‘ e-newsletter points to a free lace spiderweb design and says,
… Read More ...It’ll make a sweet coaster, doily, or spooky decoration for your haunted house. Freestanding lace is awesome, and
Variegation adds life
Laura Wasilowski of Artfabrik blog recommends using variegated thread to add life to hand stitching. She says,
… Read More ...Changes in color value or hue make the surface more active and tantalize the eye. I’m making small quilts and I want to
Tutorial and exemplar: Triple chain stitch
This week’s TAST challenge is triple chain stitch. (See the tute on SharonB‘s Pin Tangle blog.) Shirley of Shirley’s Twisted Threads wasted no time in trying this one out. Within 24 hours after the challenge was … Read More ...
Tutorial: Zig-zag coral stitch
Kim of big B shares her latest adventure with 100 stitches through a tutorial on zig-zag coral stitch. See the tute.… Read More ...
Cross-stitch for newbies
If you’re itching to try cross-stitch embroidery, Connie G. Barwick will get you started right. Connie is the cross-stitch editor at About.com, and she offers a series of tutorials designed especially for beginners: Stitch Your First Cross Stitch, How … Read More ...
