I don’t have as many cool tips as I wanted to have for finishing projects to have a Finishing Friday. I do, however, probably have a decades worth of small infodumps on various ‘fabrics’, so Fridays will be Finishing and Fabric Fridays now, if that’s ok. There is so much fun stuff about fabric (I will be using that word for a ground which is used either for embellishing or wearing.) I will also be going through different dyes and fibers as well. This will not be a comprehensive listing of all fibers, dyes, and backgrounds, but I hope it will give a wide enough base the length of time spent and confusion encountered when trying to choose a fabric will be minimized.
I will roughly be starting out with as early as we know about, and end with the most modern fabrics we have as of yet. I will try to keep it in chronological order, but that will not be completely possible.
So I hope you will have fun joining me!
Information every needle worker can use: RSN Stitch Bank
Sometimes, it makes no sense to ‘reinvent the needle’. There are some amazing resources on the web for needle workers of all types, and I am going to share some of the best and most useful ones I have found over the past few decades of needle working. Search the keyword ‘needlethread’ for all my posts showcasing helpful sites.
First is the RSN (Royal School of Needlework) Stitch Bank. This is a digital stitch dictionary for both surface work and counted work, as well as specialties such as mirror work. They are endeavoring to catalogue stitches old and new to make sure there is a record of them. So this is inherently a huge stitch dictionary, where you can search via technique, or stitch use, or merely browse the collection. And you can create your *own* library of stitches you can access on the site.
Each entry has a photo of the completed stitch, its name, some information about it, the stitched worked *with a click to flip* to see how it would be worked left handed! It also has a video showing how it is worked, and then what category stitch it is, common uses for it, what techniques use it, variants of the stitch, and related stitches. It also has each stitch documented, and examples of the stitch in use.
Please check it out.
It is wonderful to live in the future.
Brick Stitch Rainbow earrings
Happy Pride! Here’s a free PDF to download with instructions on how to make all four sets of these earrings.
These earrings will also be given away. You can subscribe here and follow on my facebook . Or follow on my insta and tag two friends who would like rainbow earrings, your choice! I will notify the winners for addresses by June 10th.
Ribbon Sunflower
I like ribbon work, regardless of it it’s silk and in a needle or three-inch wide grosgrain. It’s all wonderful to create with. Ribbon is fun to play with and there is an almost never-ending variety of materials and colors and results.
And years ago, I bought this 7/8 inch wide yellow ribbon to make sunflowers with. It just seemed right to do it now.
If you have a yellow ribbon of that exact size in your stash, you can make one my size. If you have *any* yellow ribbon, you can make a sunflower of any size.
The center of the flower is black felt. For this flower, I used a toilet tissue roll as a pattern, and traced around it with chalk. I then rand a basting line through the drawn line and pulled it up. Knot the threads on the back and shape it to be the center of your flower. I do have some 1/8 inch brown ribbon put aside to make a center with French Knots, but there was an urgency to make this.
I used 7 6 inch strips of ribbon to form the flower You can add petals to make it thicker, or cut shorter ones to make a double petal flower as well.
All you need to do is fold your ribbon half way, and secure the base. I just pinned it to the center.
That’s it. It’s all done now. I have made a few of these to pin to jackets and hang in windows and even to give away.
Enjoy making a sunflower.
And let there be peace on earth.
Protected: Light-hearted election graph
Sigil to Protect Protestors Graph
This is a sigil created by LAURA TEMPEST ZAKROFF to protect protestors.
Her post about it is here:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tempest/2018/07/a-sigil-to-protect-protesters-those-detained-by-ice.html#disqus_thread
At this point in time, I thought people who enjoy working with thread may want to have this graphed to make.
All credit to Ms Zakroff. Feel free to use this for any use except commecial or for profit using these rules: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Shamrock and Thistle
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate it. As we’re in a weird situation right now, here’s a free pattern to combine your Scottish and Irish heritages while under this shutdown!
Have fun, and if you use it for anything, let me know!
TiNy Hands font graph
a free graph, based on the free true type font by BuzzFeed.
Enjoy!
Veterans’ Day Poppy
On November 11th of every year, many people in the Western world honor our veterans. Mostly by wearing poppies.
This year, I am making out own simple felt poppies to wear, and I am sharing it with you.
They take little time to make, so if you have red and black felt (or a black button) you can have one to wear in under an hour. A few people and an afternoon could have a basketful to donate, hand out, or sell to raise money.
You’ll need a strip of red felt and a disk of black felt (use your scraps!) and thread (I have used quilting thread, doubled sewing thread, and 2 strands of floss. It’s not seen, but will need to be strong to not break when pulled).
Of course, you’ll need a needle and scissors and possibly a tapestry needle to help pull the thread tightly.
I’ve included the pattern.
So the first thing you’ll need to do is cut out your poppy flower and center. You want to cut on the solid lines. The dashed lines are your stitching lines. You do not need to transfer them. You can scale the flower up or down at this point.
For the petals, you want to start at one corner with a knot, and stitch along the long curve and up each petal. This is a simple running stitch, and not too tightly. The dashed lines are a pretty good size to go by.
Then you want to carefully pull the thread so the felt bunches up on itself. This is where a toothpick or large needle can be helpful. You can use this time to nudge the petals into whatever shape you want to. When the flower is bunched, attach the end to the area you started, drawing the flower into a circle.
Then you can put that aside, and work on the center. The center can be a button or a disk of knots, or anything you want. Here I used a black felt disk. Stitch around the outside and pull it closed again. Then take a few stitches across the back so that it flattens out and sits well
Then you simply use the thread you have tightened and tack it to your petals.
Tie it off to finish it. At this point, you can add a pin back if you have one and want to. or, you tie the thread off and clip it
And you are done. If you make one, please show me! 🙂
My disk was 1.5 inches in diameter, if you want to get your pattern close to mine.
Holiday Angel for a quick stitch
Every once in a while, you need a homemade present you hadn’t thought of. It’s the realization that the holiday is closer than is appears, or that there will be an extra at a gift exchange, or that there’s a party you were just invited to. And people the people who we are, we often want to embroider one.
That’s where this little angel comes in.
A simple little dear made with bits you probably already have at home, that you’ve kept because they will be useful some day!
And today is that day! 🙂
This is my little angel made with red, gold and brown floss, and beads on natural colored felts. I stitched a face on her.
This is the same
And this one is actually made of old jeans off the scrap pile and Kreinik metals from the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design’s Burlesque Challenge.
I think she’d look best with both a face and a halo, but she is cute no matter what.
What you’d need for each angel is scraps of thread and felt (or anything that would not unravel too easily), anything you’d want to embellish with (ribbon, metals, beads), and of course, your needles and scissors and ‘regular stitching supplies’. And the pattern that is included below. You will want two of each pattern cut, to cover your stitching, unless you are in a real rush.
Just choose your favorite border stitches and go to town, embellishing until you are out of time. Stitch the two wings and bodies and faces together (if you have two faces) with a button hole stitch, and assemble with the face on the dress and dress over the wings with the hanger between the body and wings. And you are done.
If there is any interest, or even if there is not, I may get a full PDF together with how to do these angels.
Happy Holidays! And Happy Stitching!
