This comes at the perfect time for me, as I am between books, and haven’t got any embroidery projects on the go at the moment.

If you’re one of the other [...]]]> Exciting news! I was one of the three readers of Mary Corbet’s Needle’nThread selected to test Luzine Happel‘s left-handed schwalm embroidery instructions. I’m thrilled!

This comes at the perfect time for me, as I am between books, and haven’t got any embroidery projects on the go at the moment.

If you’re one of the other three embroiderers also chosen, please do not feel intimidated by me being one of the other testers. I am just like you – I have never done this style of embroidery either. We will each come up with different feedback for Luzine, and that is exactly the idea – to help her in any way we can with improving and correcting her instructions.

What fun! Thanks Luzine and Mary!

For years I had a hard time embroidering and set it aside because it was confusing & frustrating to [...]]]> In the comments sections of Mary Corbet’s last two posts, one a review of my Portuguese Whitework book, and the other about left-handed Schwalm embroidery, there have been lots of lovely things said about my books.

For years I had a hard time embroidering and set it aside because it was confusing & frustrating to embroider right handed. I bought Yvette Stantons Left Handed Embroiderers Companion and fell in love again with embroidery. Now I don’t feel frustrated. Joy Smith

I own Yvette’s amazing book on Mountmellick. Her instructions are amazing as are her designs. I am working on adapting her amazing florals to a 16 x 16 inch cushion design right now. Her books really are lovely. Anastasia

Yvette Stanton’s leftie stitch dictionary goes everywhere with me when I’m stitching. Julia Wild

Yvette’s book looks great. As well as being beautifully presented this compilation about Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães as a traditional needlework style, with information on its origin and instructional details on stitch techniques, is an important preservation of history. As time passes more of the intended original expression and knowledge of early needleworkers, and other information about the art style is lost, then sadly, remaining historical examples are misidentified or just lumped as whitework. Yvette brought us back to Mountmellick embroidery and now another whitework treasure. Lots of work done with love. Well done. I love it too. Thanks! Louisa

Thank you for saying such lovely things about my books!

Mary Corbet of Needle’nThread.com has presented an opportunity for English-speaking left-handers who’ve never tried Schwalm embroidery to work through [...]]]> If you’re a left-hander (and somehow I suspect that a few might congregate around here…!) and you enjoy whitework (I suspect that we might have a few of them too…!) there’s an opportunity afoot for you.

Mary Corbet of Needle’nThread.com has presented an opportunity for English-speaking left-handers who’ve never tried Schwalm embroidery to work through Luzine Happel’s Schwalm instructions to create a beautiful Schwalm project. In return, you provide Luzine with feedback on her English-language left-handed instructions.

I’ve put my hand up, along with MANY others! There are only 3 kits available for this, so Mary’s going to do a draw to allocate the kits. Because I’m between books at the moment, and don’t have a needlework project on the go, I’d love to try Schwalm embroidery. If you are interested, visit Mary’s blog and register your interest!

I do limit my quantity of [...]]]> Just a note to those who are likely to want me to come and teach for their shop, community or guild group next year. I am taking a lot of bookings – it seems people really want to learn Portuguese Whitework! – so if you’re interested, get in quick.

I do limit my quantity of teaching as I have a young family, and taking me away from them increases the load on my husband and extended family.

While classes on Portuguese Whitework seem to be the flavour of the month at the moment, I also teach Hardanger, Mountmellick, Merezhka Poltavska, left-handed embroidery, and stitch exploration classes.

If you’re interested, please email me with details of your requirements. I look forward to hearing from you!

I’ll be at Stand K39, so please come and visit me! I will be running a Craft Circle each day from 1:30-2:30, “Basic Embroidery [...]]]> A reminder that in just over a week’s time, I’ll be exhibiting at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour. It runs from 9-5 each day from 22nd-26th June.

I’ll be at Stand K39, so please come and visit me! I will be running a Craft Circle each day from 1:30-2:30, “Basic Embroidery for Left-Handers”. The class is free, but requires prebooking at my stand, and payment of $5 for the supplies.

Throughout each day, my colleagues and I will be doing demonstrations on our stand. So you’ll be able to catch me at various times demonstrating various forms of embroidery. I’m thinking I’ll demonstrate my Portuguese Whitework embroidery, but is there anything in particular that you’d like to see me demonstrate? Perhaps the Mountmellick knitted fringe?

Please come and say hello, as I’d love to meet you!

And while that will feel like an achievement of sorts, then I have to embark [...]]]> Yesterday I spent the day trying to finish stitching the drawn thread work base for my Portuguese whitework tablecloth for the book. I really hoped I’d get that part done, but time got away. Maybe I’ll get it done today.

And while that will feel like an achievement of sorts, then I have to embark on the process of working the surface embroidery of mostly bullion stitch. I feel like I have a looong way to go on this tablecloth yet!

Yesterday I also received a lovely message from Paula, a Brazilian teacher of embroidery, which she gave permission for me to share with you:

Now that I use the The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion I am also loved by the lefties even being a right handed teacher! To avoid problems I keep both books in the classroom – really great books!

The books that Paula is talking about are my left and right-handed stitch dictionaries, The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion, and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion.

I wholeheartedly support the idea of teachers having a copy of each of these books in their classrooms when teaching. As a teacher myself, I find that they are invaluable for those moments when I can’t be everywhere at once (no, I still haven’t mastered that…!) as it means that students can get started or sort our their difficulties because the instructions are so clear. I often make my way round a classroom and find that I’m not really needed there, because students are so happily working from the instructions in my books!

Of course, I do understand that some need additional help, perhaps manipulating a needle or getting started, and some just need to be shown. And that’s why I teach classes – because sometimes a real in-the-flesh teacher is what people need.

But for those times when a real in-the-flesh teacher is not available (perhaps even during a class) then The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion, and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion are great to have on hand. If you’re a teacher, just like Paula, your students will love you for it.

I just had notification the other day that I [...]]]> I will again be exhibiting at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour this year. The show runs from 22nd to 26th June. I will be sharing stand K39 with Belinda of Cassis Craft and Janie of Janie Hubble Designs – two lovely ladies!

I just had notification the other day that I have been allocated a Craft Circle for my “Basic Embroidery for Left-Handers” class, which will be from 1:30-2:30pm each day. The class is free, but has a kit cost of $5 for materials, payable in advance to me at the Vetty Creations stand (K39). Please prebook at the show, with me before the class. First in best dressed!

If you are on the mailing list for the Craft Fair Friend, the brochure that the organisers send out with information about the show, you may find me amongst the pages. Apparently I’m one of “the” people who will be at the show, and you need to come and meet me! The organisers had a photo of my books, but asked me for a photo of me instead to use for the Craft Fair Friend. I went one better and provided them with a photo of me *with* my books! (You can see it at the top of the email if you’re reading this via email, or at the top of the right-hand column if you’re reading on the web.)

Janie and Belinda and I will also be demonstrating our specific craft techniques on a rotating basis on our stand throughout the day. There’ll be lots to see and learn! If you have specific questions for me, please come and ask me!

I really look forward to meeting any of you that might be able to come to the show. I don’t bite, and most of the time I’m really quite pleasant to be around.

Firstly she drew a flower on some paper, and I traced it onto the fabric. We were using fabric and thread left over from my [...]]]> On Saturday I had a half day just with my younger daughter, age 6. She had expressed a very strong desire to do some embroidery with me. So we did.

Firstly she drew a flower on some paper, and I traced it onto the fabric. We were using fabric and thread left over from my mini class at the craft show last year, so while there were only a few colours of thread to choose from, she was quite happy with them.

She decided to outline the flower petals in outline stitch. I started her off, and then she kept going. I did have to restart her for each new petal, because outline (and the closely related stem stitch) are not the most easy ones to change direction with. She’s not the most exacting little girl, so she didn’t really worry if the needle accidentally came out on the wrong side of the thread!

Once the petals were complete, she chain stitched the stem. I showed her one stitch and she was off. Then she wanted to choose another stitch for around the leaves but wasn’t sure what. She looked through the entire The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion (she’s a leftie too) but nothing caught her fancy (oh dear, my book is wanting!). So she “made up” her own stitch. Actually it was just running stitch, but she worked it short and knobby, so she named it “knob stitch” and was extremely proud of herself for devising a “new stitch”.

Then she worked a cross stitch in the flower centre, and French knots around it. I showed her one French knot and she didn’t need me anymore for them either. She then worked two French knots in the leaves.

I was very surprised about how independent she was with her stitching. I really only needed to be there to demonstrate the stitches once, thread needles, start new threads, and listen to her unending commentary about where she’s up to!

Once she’d finished the embroidery, I asked her if she’d like to make it into a cushion. She was so excited! So we got out the sewing machine and I set it up for her. She couldn’t reach the floor to press the presser foot, so I put a carton of my books there and placed the presser foot on top.

We pinned the front and back of the cushion together, with right sides together. She understood why they had to be right sides together. She operated the presser foot, and I guided the fabric through the machine. She learnt how to pivot at the corners, including getting the needle to stay down in the fabric, then lifting the sewing foot, and turning the fabric.

Please understand this whole process is accompanied with a very high level of excitement!

I showed her how to tie off the threads and clip the corners of the cushion. We turned it right side out through a gap we left in one side, making sure the corners were fully turned. It was stuffed with polyester fibre fill, and then together we whip stitched the gap closed. I started it off for her, she did a bit, then she got me to do the rest.

And she was the absolute picture of happiness, looking at her first embroidery project made into something REAL! She’s been showing it off to family and friends ever since, and now I’m showing it off to you!

Last year I attended a course at [a patchwork shop], to do with hand-appliquéing designs. There were 3 left-handers out of 12 participants, and one had your book [...]]]> Yesterday I received an order of The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion from a lovely lady who told me about the circumstances that resulted in her purchasing the book:

Last year I attended a course at [a patchwork shop], to do with hand-appliquéing designs. There were 3 left-handers out of 12 participants, and one had your book on left-handed embroidery. It was certainly a help on the course for some of the more complicated stitches [the teacher] encouraged us to use.

I’ve always enjoyed needlework, but it has very much been my hobby, not my consuming passion. Now I find needlework can strain the eyes, so have done little embroidery or cross-stitch in the past 10 years, finding patchwork easier to do. However I like to have “something on the go” so was pleased to see a book for left-handers.

Her comments raise a very interesting point: she found The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion a useful addition to the class she was taking. It seems that it made it easier for her to learn about the stitches that the teacher suggested that they could use, from a left-handed point of view.

Statistics suggest that 10-15% of all people are left-handed. It is therefore likely that we can extrapolate that to show that about 10-15% of embroiderers are also left-handed. Within an embroidery class, that usually means that from about one to three students are likely to be left-handed. (That’s my experience anyway.)

I’d therefore like to suggest:

• If you are a needlework teacher where your class might include any sort of embroidery, PLEASE supply at least one copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” for the left-handed stitchers to use within the class. They will love you for it.
• If you are the shop owner of a shop where needlework classes take place, PLEASE supply at least one copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” for the left-handed stitchers to use within the class. They will love you for it. And make sure you have enough on hand to sell to each of the left-handers in the class. You’ll find that when they try the book, they’ll see the great benefit to owning their own copy!
• If you’re a left-hander, off to a new needlework class any time this year, please remember to take your copy of “The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion” with you. Chances are you will find it useful in the class, and even if not, other lefties in the class are still likely to find it interesting.

With such a useful left-handed embroidery reference book available now, the nicest thing you can do for left-handed embroiderers is have it available for them.

If you received a copy of any of my books as a Christmas present, or have recently treated yourself to a copy, I’d love to hear what you think of them.