I received a lovely email on the weekend from Deborah, to check if I was ok, as she noticed I hadn’t posted in a while. (Thank you, Deborah, for your kindness.)
I am still unwell and was finding that posting (coming up with things to say and saying them in full sentences without bits missing or incorrect words!) and replying was really taking it out of me. So I had a little break.
This week I have things to say again, but I might take a break again at any time. My health is more important than a constant stream of posts to keep Instagram and Facebook happy.
Today I have a question for you. Next on my list of things to do – though who knows when I will be well enough! – is to revise The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion. It has been out of print for a little while. (The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion is still very much in print – go forth and purchase if you wish!)
I have a list of stitches that I would like to add, but the ones I really want are the obscure stitches that most people have never seen before. Years ago, I was kindly billeted by someone, and stayed in the room housing her extensive needlework library. I enjoyed perusing some of her books. (Thank you, Kerryn!) I remember finding a new-to-me stitch in a book about Chinese embroidery. I made some notes of it on a piece of paper. I kept that piece of paper for many years, but I’m annoyed with myself that I don’t have it anymore – right when I could really do with it! All I remember is that it was a book on Chinese embroidery. I have no further details than that!
Do you know of any obscure stitches, perhaps from your cultural traditions, that you would like to see recorded? Part of the reason why I do what I do is so that cultural information is not lost to future generations. By recording how to do those stitches, we can keep them going.
If you have stitch suggestions for me – for anything that is not already in my stitch dictionaries that you wish was – please let me know. You can comment here, or email me privately at yvette at vettycreations dot com dot au (changing the words to symbols where appropriate). Thanks!
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Hungarian Braided Chain Stitch and Shell Chain stitch are both very pretty..
Thanks. Not sure if Hungarian Braided Chain is already included. I’ll need to check. Thanks!
I couldn’t remember! But Shell Chain, definitely. There are a few in my books about stitches by Edith John – a lot of them are more interesting to play with than to use, but I’ll fish them out and see whether anything else occurs to me..
I’m not sure what the copyright situation is, but the instructions for Holly Braid Stitch have only ever appeared in Jacquie Carey’s book, and she describes it as a braidmaker not an embroiderer, so I think you would help make sense of it!