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If you haven’t already, you can pre-order your copy from Vetty Creations or ask for it at your favourite needlework store. It will be available in Australia and New Zealand in late 2023, and early 2024 for the rest of the world.
I have found discussions on my recent topics on social media incredibly interesting. So many of you have been so generous in sharing your thoughts, and I really appreciate that. (If you are unaware, we have very active discussions on my Vetty Creations Facebook and Instagram pages. https://www.facebook.com/vettycreations https://www.instagram.com/vettycreations) I have learned/ realised several things: – you love my books. You love the fact that I can be your teacher in your lounge room. All of this is useful and encouraging. I’m turning 50 next year. Having come to the end of writing my current book, I do have plans for what’s next, what’s next after that, and even after that… But at age 50, I need to consider that my career in writing books will come to an end at some point and that point is getting ever closer. So what do I want to do with the rest of my career that will be most valuable? What’s the legacy I want to leave? Yes, I want to continue to study and record lesser-known styles of embroidery, the skills of which are in danger of being lost to us. It is fully my intention to keep doing that. But when I stop doing that at the end of my career, it all comes to an end, at least in terms of my way of doing it (which people do seem to love). If I have 10 years of career left in me, that’s maybe another 5 books. If I have 15, that’s maybe 7 or 8 books. Do I need to be passing on the skills of how I create books in the way I do? I am a graphic designer, illustrator and photographer by training (I have a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication). I am a highly skilled embroiderer. Over many years I have developed the skills of an embroidery historian. I have attention to detail. I can explain technical processes clearly and succinctly. I can draw complicated but clear diagrams. I can take good photographs of embroidery. Maybe I need to be thinking of passing on my technical skills as well as the how-to-do-embroidery skills, so that others can continue on with that work, when I no longer do. Hmm… More thought required. Does this interest anyone?
You’ve probably gathered that I’ve been feeling sorry for myself about my World Needlework Convention classes not going ahead. I wanted to teach at it. I wanted to be part of it. Whilst buried in the all-consuming process of writing my book, I helped promote the event and my classes. People assumed that my classes would go ahead. I never did. These things are not great for one’s self esteem. My classes and teaching were not attractive enough for people to spend their hard-earned money on that experience. I have had many uncharitable thoughts about the phrase “RSN trained” and desperately wished that people didn’t believe idea that you have to be Royal School of Needlework trained to be an expert. (You can earn your expertise in so many other ways. You really can!) What a pity party it has been in my head… Somewhere along the way, thankfully, my brain flipped things on their head. However much I wish to be that teacher whose classes you just CAN’T miss, I realised that instead I have the privilege of writing excellent needlework books. I make books that I want to make, and somehow that turns out to be the books people want to buy! People hear there’s a new Yvette Stanton book coming out and automatically plan to purchase it. People say lovely things about my books that sometimes make me cry because they’re so lovely. That’s pretty special! Just yesterday, a lovely lady called Karen said to me, “I have always loved your books. I remember the first one I saw, thinking ‘this is how all craft books should look’.” Thank you to all of you who purchase my books. Thank you to all of you who love using my books. Thank you to all of you who support me in my endeavours. I still want to teach, but I’m going to try to be way more content with my career as it is; not wishing away how wonderful it already is! As I’m not going to London, someone phoned from someone overseas and asked me to come and teach them instead, at very short notice. Discussions continue but it looks like it could happen! Go where you are wanted, I say! No response is needed to this post. I am sharing my joy in my head moving to a much better place. And maybe it shows you how human I really am!
How many have you never seen before? Which ones are you looking forward to learning? Which ones are you looking forward to mastering, having already tried them before? Please share this post far and wide so that all can see what’s coming!
In case you’re new here, I thought I would introduce myself. I’m Yvette Stanton. I live in a small country town, about five hours north of Sydney, Australia. I’m passionate about embroidery, particularly whitework. My twin sister, Prue, and I were always creative, and when I was in high school I really began to focus on embroidery. Following school I studied graphic design at university, majoring in book design. From there, I brought my two loves together: embroidery and design. I now write books about embroidery, usually focusing on regional styles of embroidery, and helping to preserve them by teaching others about the historical styles, and how to make them. I enjoy researching traditional styles of embroidery, and my expertise comes from careful study of historical artefacts in museums around the world, and learning directly from the cultural custodians of the work where that is still possible. I have written two stitch dictionaries and a growing number of instructional embroidery books on historical styles, particularly whitework, leading some to give me the moniker “Whitework Queen”! I’m left-handed, and so all of my more recent books include left-handed instructions. I enjoy teaching embroidery through my online and in-person classes and my YouTube channel, White Threads FlossTube. I particularly love having left-handed students in my classes, as I am well placed to help them! As a whitework expert, I am exceptionally proud of the fact that I am self-trained in embroidery, which means that I am not slave to someone else’s “rules” about how embroidery “should” be done. The only rules I am slave to are the ones imposed by the embroidery style itself! I love embroidery and I love sharing it with others!
I have now put it back on the website as available. You can order your copy from my website: I will be reprinting this book (and several others) when I print my new book, “Hardanger Filling Stitches”, so if I run out, there are more coming. EDITED TO ADD: Just to be quite clear, this is NOT the new book I am working on. I am still working on “Hardanger Filling Stitches” and it will go to the printer soon.
I have one of each. The most important thing I have ever done in terms of my embroidery was to send out a press release to Australian publishers of craft books, when I won the Nordic Needle Annual Hardanger Design Contest, back in 2000. That is how my whole “accidental career” of writing books about embroidery started, as two of them suggested that I should write a book on Hardanger. (I had just thought I could contribute to a book they were working on. It never occurred to me to write one myself!) The most important thing that happened to me in terms of my embroidery was when I was about 12 years old: my parents gave me a copy of the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlecraft. I used to work my way through it, learning and trying all sorts of different things. So what’s the most important thing you’ve done or that has happened to you in terms of your embroidery?
I’ve wondered whether whitework is seen as the purview of guild groups and therefore people are less likely to sign up for a class in it, when they feel they could just learn it from someone in a group they’re in. I’ve wondered whether the demographic for whitework is such that people who enjoy it don’t go to conferences. I’ve wondered whether people are scared of whitework, or at least scared of learning it in a class setting, and would prefer to learn it from a book. I’ve wondered whether people look down a list of classes and get dazzled by all the lovely colour and don’t even notice the projects that are white. I’ve wondered if people get dazzled by the prospect of a teacher from far away and choose them in preference to someone who is available locally to them. (And if this is the case, is this cultural cringe at work?) Do you choose to take whitework classes? What makes you choose them: the project, the technique, the teacher, or something else? Why would you NOT choose a whitework class at an event; preferring a non-whitework technique? I’m making the assumption that if you’re here, reading a post by me (sometimes known as the Whitework Queen!) that you may have some level of interest in whitework! I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts!
Because my forthcoming book, Hardanger Filling Stitches, is basically an exhaustive stitch dictionary, there is only one project in it. However, as there’s only one, I had to make it a good one! The Hardanger Filling Stitches sampler is a band sampler featuring as many Hardanger filling stitches as I could fit onto it! Most, though not quite all, of the stitches in the book are featured on the sampler. There are traditional stitches and contemporary stitches. You will learn so much from working this sampler as there will surely be stitches you haven’t tried or even seen before! The sampler is worked on 28 count linen banding, with linen thread, and some delicate little beads. I will be selling supplies packs on my website for those who would like someone else to take care of gathering the supplies for them! The supplies packs will be supplies only – you’ll still need a copy of the book because that’s where the instructions are. Is this a suitable project for a beginner? Probably not. The whole book is more aimed at the intermediate to advanced Hardanger stitcher. However, the book does explain ALL the stitches required, with step-by-step instructions and oodles of diagrams, for both left- and right-handed stitchers, so even beginners can use the book and will learn an awful lot from it! The supplies packs can be ordered from my website, though they will not be sent until the bulk shipment of books arrives from the printer. The book is also available for pre-order at my website. I hope this sampler provides many new learning opportunities for you! I’ll be at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair next week. It runs from Wednesday 28th June to Saturday 1st July. Please note it no longer goes to Sunday – just Wednesday to Saturday! The Vetty Creations stand will be F07. To find it, head towards the catering section and I’ll be right on the edge of the seating area. The aisles and rows are oddly numbered, so those sorts of directions will not be helpful. You can also look for my orange flag flying above my stand. I will have many new releases at the fair, and though my new book, Hardanger Filling Stitches, won’t be ready yet, you’ll be able to see it in its current state, and pre-order it. Just yesterday I finalised the cover for the book. The image on the front is part of the sampler in the book. It’s a band sampler, with nine bands, and you can see part of two of them on the cover. You can see that there is a huge range of filling stitches, both traditional and contemporary, and that gives you a great idea of what you’ll find in the book. At this stage I’m still hoping that the book will be available in Australia by the end of this year. It is likely that the rest of the world will be early 2024. We’ll see! I still have to finish creating the book, though I’m getting closer all the time. It is a 280 page book, so there’s a lot in it, and it is a huge amount of work! The other new products I will be releasing at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair are as follows: While these products are not yet on my website, they will go up in the days following the craft fair, meaning all those who cannot get to the craft fair in Sydney are also able to purchase them. The Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair: 28 Jun-1st July, The Dome, Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. See you there! |
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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I visited my off-site storage for my books yesterday. I saw a carton sitting by itself and wondered what it was. It was next to the Frisian stacks, so I assumed it was one of them. Imagine my surprise to find it was a whole box of “Early-Style Hardanger” which I thought I was completely out of stock of! I had no idea there was another box there!
What’s the most important thing you’ve done or that has happened to you in terms of your embroidery?
Premax ringlock scissors – these are my new scissor recommendation following the sad demise of Dovo scissors. I have been testing these out while writing my new book, and I’m really, really happy with them.
Frisian whitework Christmas decorations – pattern and kit. The kit comes in four colourways – teal (shown), burgundy, light grey and charcoal.
3 inch/ 7.5cm wooden hoop – these tiny hoops, made of smooth beechwood, are great for working on a single Hardanger motif or a small embroidery detail.
Smøyg needlecase kit. Featuring smøyg, which is Norwegian pattern darning made of simple running stitch. Three colourways to choose from – lava, lavender and lagoon.
Whitework cube sampler – pattern and kit. Features three different styles of whitework: Portuguese whitework, Sardinian knotted embroidery, and holsaum.
Frisian whitework tree of life – pattern and kit.