Following on from my series of posts on bullion knots, you may find it interesting that today Mary Corbet has a post about needles for knots. We did cover this in my posts, but its well worth reading some more about it.
You can read my original posts at:
- Tips for working better bullion stitch
- Bullion stitch: thread twist and wrapping direction
- Bullion stitch: to hoop or not to hoop
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White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Timely post! Have avoided learning the bullion stitch, but looks like I have no more excuses now, with your detailed explanations in previous posts, and now MC’s “needles for bullions” post. Recently read a tip from a lady who uses darner needles to do bullions; she says the length makes them ideal to achieve the stitch?-Sharon
Hi Sharon – I think you have no excuses now. You MUST learn them!
You mention that the tip you recently read suggests darners. This is unusual, because mostly people suggest straws or milliners needles. However, if you were to use darners, they ARE long (as are straws, though) which would mean that it is easier to work long bullions. However, if you are trying to work a bullion with a long needle and only a short length of thread left… it can be quite difficult!
As it happens though, I do recommend darner needles for knots in Mountmellick embroidery. This is because Mountmellick thread is relatively thick, and can’t fit through the eye of straw needles. Therefore darners are the next best option for Mountmellick embroidery.