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About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Line Stitches to Use for Filling

 

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If you’ve ever browsed through a stitch dictionary, you’ve probably noticed that embroidery stitches are often arranged according to the job they do.

Line stitches, for example, are stitches that work up in lines – and this is where you’ll find stitches like backstitch, stem stitch, split stitch, and chain stitch.

Filling stitches fill up spaces. Here’s where you’ll find satin stitch and long & short stitch, lattice fillings and the like.

But there’s no hard and fast rule that says line stitches can’t be used as filling stitches – and sometimes, a line stitch is really the best option for filling up a design area.

Today, let’s look at a few examples of how line stitches can be used to fill spaces on an embroidery project.

Stem stitch filling on a monogram
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Garden Swirl 5: Finishing the Embroidery

 

It seems as if Tuesday is becoming my new Monday, thanks to what I like to call The Upheavals of Life. Hopefully, there will be some Downheavals soon. Thanks for your patience!

Last week, we finished up the major flowers and centers on Garden Swirl, the current stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread. Today, we’re going to finish up all the embroidery and prepare the embroidery for the finish work of mounting the embroidery in the box lid.

If you are new to the Garden Swirl stitch-along, you’ll find all the previous installments of this project – including design, materials list, and instructional content – listed here in the Garden Swirl Project Index.

Garden Swirl 5: Finishing the Embroidery
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Blues: Experimenting and Shading on Embroidered Lettering

 

Lately, I’ve been sharing progress and thought processes, designing process, and so forth on this embroidered maniturgium that I wrote about here.

I’ve made a little progress, and I’m into the stitching now. There are always adjustments to make, and there’s always the battle against persnicketiness, but at some point, on projects like this, you just have to take the leap, make a decision, and start, trusting that, overall, the idea will work out.

So I started.

Shading embroidered letters
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Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 4: Flowers & Centers

 

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday in Kansas – a little later start to the week than intended, but here we are.

Today, we’re going to move forward on Garden Swirl, our current stitch-along on Needle ‘n Thread. We’re almost finished with the embroidery. It’s a little project and it goes pretty quickly, but the nice thing about a stitch-along is that you can work it at your own pace.

If you’re not quite caught up, that’s ok! You’ll find all the lessons for this project listed here in the Garden Swirl Project Index, so that you can catch up at your leisure.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon, you have already received these instructions in PDF format, for easy download and printing. You have everything you need right now to finish the embroidery on the project.

If you would like a materials kit for Garden Swirl – with the design pre-transferred for you on beautiful, fine white linen twill – you can find those kits available here.

If you would like a decorative box for mounting Garden Swirl (along with the finishing supplies for mounting in the box lid), you’ll find those available here.

Garden Swirl: Flowers & Centers
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Voided Monograms – and Other Good News!

 

Today is a Milestone Day here in the studio!

After I-Don’t-Know-How-Many-Years (ok, I do – it’s been 9 years ago this very month!), I have finally completed the design collection and stitching guide for Voided Monograms!

Now, it’s true. I haven’t been working on this for nine years running. But sometimes, it feels as if I have!

I’m excited to make this new PDF – Voided Monograms: Design Collection & Stitch Guide – available to you! Many people have asked for it over the years, and at long last, here it is!

These voided monograms are packed with color, stitches, texture – everything that’s fun about embroidery – and a lot of leeway for your own creative input and manipulation. They’re great fun to stitch, they will teach you all kinds of lessons and help you hone your embroidery skills, or simply allow you to relax and stitch your heart out!

Voided Monograms: A Design Collection with Stitching Tips and Instructions
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Garden Swirl 3: A Few More Flowers

 

Happy Monday!

Today, we’re going to move right along on Garden Swirl, by stitching a few more flowers on the piece.

If you’re just joining in on the stitch-along, you can find the Garden Swirl Project Index here. There, you’ll find all the previous installments, including design and materials, listed in chronological order.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received today’s lesson last week, in a downloadable PDF format. If you haven’t picked that up yet, hop over to my Patreon page, where you’ll find it listed under “Collections” in the main menu.

Garden Swirl stitch along 3: more flowers
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Embroidered Maniturgium: Battling the Indecision of Decision Making

 

I’m having one of Those Weeks. Umpteen attention-beggars. A gazillion interruptions. Unprioritized Priorities taking over every task list. And the Great Battle of Indecision in Decision-Making.

True, it’s all part of the adventure of life! I’m happy it’s Friday, and I look forward to some time to Un-muddy the Mind this weekend.

And how will I unmuddy the mind? Well, for one thing, I’m going to make a decision! I always tackle the questions that need a decision, first. Indecision can be crippling, when it comes to moving forward on a project or plan. So the quicker I can solve the decision dilemma, the better.

In life, there are lots of huge decisions that we all have to make at some point or another. I’m not really talking about one of those biggies. Not at all! I’m talking about a decision that, in the scheme of things, is really rather trivial. But it has thrown a wrench in my forward movement. And so I need to tackle it.

This weekend, I will make a thread decision.

Embroidered Maniturgium: thread decisions
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