Yesterday I finally sent off the files to the printer for “Hardanger Filling Stitches” and reprints of “Early-Style Hardanger”, “Smøyg: Pattern Darning from Norway” and “Portuguese Whitework”.
Hooray.
I’m exhausted!
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Apparently they were all sitting around in their embroidery group discussing things and they decided there was nothing to be lost from asking me to come to them instead. What a wonderfully opportunistic mindset! I said that I would be very happy to consider doing this for them. So far they’ve managed to *fill* three classes for me in Waikato. They have offered me to other nearby guilds, and there is the possibility of three more taking them up on the offer. We don’t have final dates yet, because we’re still not sure who I’ll be teaching for, but all going well, I’ll be heading off to the north island of New Zealand in November to teach some enthusiastic students. For anyone else who is interested in me teaching for them, I cannot fit any more classes this year. I have enough bookings for next year, and I’m now looking at 2025 for bookings. For those who are patiently waiting for me to teach some more classes in Walcha, I will schedule some for 2024 (to fill up my 2024 teaching calendar). Keep an eye out for announcements on FB and Instagram, on my blog, and on my website. As for teaching in the US, I’m still working on that. I submitted for the 2024 EGA Seminar but was knocked back. I know there are many who want to take a class with me, but due to really strict visa regulations, I have to be sponsored to come. To get a visa to teach in the US, I basically have to offer classes that no-one in the US could. I’ll keep trying, and I do have some ongoing discussions with a US venue. The photo is of a group I taught in Napier on my NZ teaching tour in 2017. I do not think Napier is on my list for the upcoming trip, though I could be wrong. I’m just going where they send me! I find the whole thing absolutely hilarious, that there were not enough students for my London classes, yet in NZ they’ve filled three classes without hardly trying! Go where you’re wanted… 🙂
I’m heading to Sydney today for the QuiltNSW Exhibition marketplace. Setup is on tomorrow (Thursday) and then exhibition runs from Friday to Sunday. I didn’t know whether I would have these ready in time, but I can now say that I will have new pendant kits available at the show! The kit is called “Fanciful Flowers Pendant” and will come in a range of colourways. The photo below shows the threads, keeping in mind that your screen may not provide an accurate depiction of the colours!
The kit contains all the supplies you will need to make one pendant, and step-by-step stitch instructions and construction instructions (try saying that phrase fast five times!). These kits are great gifts – either the kit itself for the recipient to make (the step-by-step instructions with heaps of diagrams will mean that even beginners can make them) or as a lovingly handmade gift. Perfect for friends, mothers, daughters, teachers, sporting coaches, or anyone special! I will put these up on my website for general sale, but it will likely be after I’m back from my time off, in October. The details for the QuiltNSW Exhibition 2023 are as follows: 10am – 4pm daily, Friday 15th Sept to Sunday 17th Sept. Grand Pavilion, Rosehill Racecourse, Sydney.
If I was to run a two day *weekday* embroidery class in somewhere like Sale, Victoria in very early May 2024 (probably 2nd-3rd May), would you be interested in coming? If you did want to come, what would be your top three techniques that I teach, that you’d like to learn? You can choose from: Please note that I do not have any bookings to teach in Melbourne, so if you’re in Melbourne and would like to do a class with me, this would be an excellent chance to do so. Have a break for a few days in lovely Sale with me! Just wanting to gauge interest at this stage, and try to get an idea of what the interested parties would like to learn. If you don’t want to comment publicly, you can email me at yvette at vettycreations dot com dot au (changing the appropriate words to symbols).
I also have made a note on the website of the dates I will be out of office in the next little while. If I end up going on my impromptu teaching trip in lieu of the London trip, I will add those dates. After all my hard work over the past year, I’m going to have some time off and get out of the office for a bit! Any orders or enquiries will be attended to upon my return. The dates the Vetty Creations office will be closed are currently:
That depends on so many things… How much of a beginner are you? Are you a complete beginner to embroidery, or are you a beginner to the styles of embroidery that I do? Have you done any counted cross stitch, and liked it? Yes? Then you could go for a counted style of embroidery (most of the styles I’ve written on). No? Then choose a non-counted style (Mountmellick or one of my stitch dictionaries). My advice is to choose the style of embroidery that appeals to you most and decide to learn it. If you like the look of it, you’ll be more likely to persevere with it. If it doesn’t really appeal to you, but you think it’s the one you “should” learn, when it gets hard, you may not be bothered persevering. Of the counted books, the techniques in “Smøyg” are probably the easiest, because they’re really just running stitch. However, if that style doesn’t appeal to you, then don’t choose it simply because it is easy! For some, they find the techniques in “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery” quite difficult, because the process is really quite unusual. However, if that’s the style of embroidery that appeals most to you, then you’re more likely to keep going until you master it. My books all have step-by-step instructions, and they are written to cater for the beginner as much as the experienced stitcher. You can see flip-throughs of most of my books on my YouTube channel, White Threads. There’s more info on all my books on my website. https://www.vettycreations.com.au/books.html Please note, not all of my books are currently in print. Some will be reprinted when I print my newest book, but some are awaiting revision before they are reprinted. However, you might be fortunate to find them in your guild library.
One thing people tell me again and again when they see my work in real life, rather than on the screen or on the pages of my books, is that it is so different to see the real thing. There’s so much we can see when we’re there with the piece that we just don’t or can’t see otherwise. That’s one of the reasons I travel to the places where the embroidery I am studying comes from. I want to see the real examples in museums and private collections, not on screens or on the pages of a book. I can understand the work so much more! So come along to the QuiltNSW Exhibition 2023 Marketplace and see my work for real! 10am – 4pm daily, 15th-17th September. Grand Pavilion, Rosehill Gardens Racecourse, Sydney. I’ll be at Stand 12, which is a tucked in a corner, at the end of a row.
I’ll have a large display of my embroidery for you to look at. It’s always so much better seeing these things in real life! I’ll have my books, project supplies packs, kits, patterns, hoops, fabrics, threads, needles and so much more.
It’s on from Friday 15th until Sunday 17th September, 10am to 4pm daily, at the Grand Pavilion, Rosehill Gardens Racecourse, Sydney. I’ll be at Stand 12, which is a tucked in a corner, at the end of a row. So come along, marvel at the quilts and I’ll see you there! And when you come, please introduce yourself to me!
Elegant Hardanger EmbroideryElegant Hardanger Embroidery is less comprehensive than the others, but focuses more on contemporary style Hardanger. It only has right-handed step-by-step instructions. Notable inclusions in this book are buttonhole edging (not in either of the others), lacy buttonhole edging (in this and Hardanger Filling Stitches), and 15 projects. A beginner could use this book.
Early-Style HardangerEarly-Style Hardanger has both left- and right-handed step-by-step instructions and focuses on traditional style Hardanger. Notable inclusions in this book are old-style stitches that have fallen out of regular usage, and 10 projects. A beginner could use this book.
Hardanger Filling StitchesHardanger Filling Stitches has both left- and right-handed step-by-step instructions, but focuses mainly on the cutwork aspect of Hardanger. It does have some of the basics, such as klosters, cable stitch, eyelets etc, but that is not its main focus. Notable inclusions in this book are over 100 filling stitches and variations, and a large Hardangerband sampler project. A beginner could use this book.
So which one?Personally, I feel that Early-Style Hardanger would be a good one for a beginner to learn the basics really well, and also move further into harder stitches and techniques. If you’re one of the many people who have come to me through my friend hardangerrebel on Instagram, that book is how she learned Hardanger.
“Hardanger Filling Stitches” by Yvette Stanton will be available in Australia andNew Zealand in late 2023; the rest of the world in early 2024. Pre-order your copy from Vetty Creations or your favourite needlework shop. |
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
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A couple of weeks ago I had a phone call from a lovely lady in New Zealand. “So, because you’re not going to London, would you come to teach us instead?”
It looks like I’ll be doing a teaching trip to Tasmania and Victoria next year, in April-May. I’ve had a few enquiries from people in the Gippsland region of Victoria in the past little while. There doesn’t seem to be an embroiderers guild group in that region, so there’s no point in me approaching them. So I was wondering about hiring a brightly lit hall or meeting room somewhere, and running a class for people who are interested. I’d probably need a minimum of eight people.
In two weekends’ time (15th-17th Sept) I’ll be at the 
