White Threads

New Zealand teaching tour, January 2017

Early-Style Hardanger bookmark Sardinian Knotted Embroidery biscornu Sardinian knotted embroidery doily

I am honoured to have been invited to teach in New Zealand in January 2017, by ANZEG (Association of New Zealand Embroiderers’ Guilds). My “tour dates” (I should get black T-shirts made up with these on the back, don’t you think?) are as follows:

4th/5th Jan: Otago/Southland (Dunedin)
7th/8th: Canterbury (Nelson)
10th/11th: Cook Strait Region (Wellington)
13th/14th: Taranaki/Wanganui/Manawatu (Palmerston North)
16th/17th: Hawkes Bay/Gisborne (Taradale)
19th/20th: Northern North Island (Onehunga, Auckland)

I’ll be teaching the Hardanger and Sardinian Knotted Embroidery projects shown, but I’m not sure which ones where!

Apparently there has been a lot of interest in these classes already, so if you’re wanting to join in, contact your local guild representative.

I’m really looking forward to visiting and teaching in NZ. I hope to meet you there!

Macramé – old and new

This morning I was greeted by an email from Houzz in my inbox, in which it loudly proclaimed that macramé, the knotted craft that took the world by storm in the 70s and 80s, is making a comeback. “Hmm…” I thought to myself, “I wonder if they mean the large chunky stuff that people call macramé, or the fine, amazing stuff that is done in Italy?” You know the type I mean: pot planters, owl wall hangings with big fluffy eyes, other non-owl wall hangings, all usually in the palette of the day of yellows, oranges and browns.

It’s Knot Over: Macramé Makes a Comeback

Yes, they meant the large, chunky stuff. 🙁

macrame-hanging-typo And as if to prove the point that macramé is on trend, this morning while shopping with The Gymnast, I came across this macramé wall hanging in one of the local “trendy, desirable” tween/teen stationery/accessory shops.

In recent years, Jeanine at Italian Needlework blog, has opened my eyes to what macramé *can* be. If you head over to her website, you can see a selection of posts dealing with Italian style macramé and a style of lace called Margarete lace (also known as Margaretenspitze, as the creator, Margarete Naumann, was German), which is a derivative of macramé.

Used by permission of Jeanine from Italian Needlework blog

This is a hand towel with macramé edging. Jeanine has more information about this particular example of macramé on her website.

Jeanine also shared with me a list of websites of Italians working macramé. Thanks Jeanine!

http://www.artedelmacrame.it/gallery.php
https://www.facebook.com/adriana.lazzari
https://www.facebook.com/macramepatrizia.paris
https://www.facebook.com/laura.demelas.3
http://macramemodena.blogspot.ca/
http://www.ilmiomacrame.com/galleria/

So, now that you know what macramé can be like, you can stop thinking about it with the same preconceived notions as I have had since the 70s!

Why would you?

I’ve been getting a few emails about this sort of thing. People have been finding early editions of my books on marketplace type websites, going for ridiculous prices.

The emails usually contain the question, “Is it out of print?” No-one can think of any good reason why a book would sell for that much money otherwise… (Apart from the obvious fact that my books are so good that you’d pay whatever you have to to get your hands on one… 😉 )

To deal with the example above, none of my books have ever been printed in hard cover. So how they are offering one in hard cover, I have no idea.

While that edition is out of print (it was the first edition), the second edition is still very much in print. For “Elegant Hardanger Embroidery”, I personally have run out of stock, but my distributors around the world still do have stock. And it is being reprinted as we “speak”.

Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature – this particular edition of it – is still very much in print. I have a whole box in the next room that I could ship off to you on Monday. I’d do it today, but being Saturday, there aren’t many places open where I could do that! I have others stored elsewhere that I could add to your shipment if you needed more.

I would be less surprised if you found a highly-inflated-price version of the first edition of Mountmellick Embroidery. But even if you did, the second edition is better! It has more projects, is in full colour, and has additional stitch and technique instructions.

I just shake my head. Some people are just out to make a buck.

Please also keep in mind that all second hand sales do nothing for me. I get no portion of those sales. With a new book, I have been paid a portion of the sale price. That funds me writing more books. If I got no revenue from sales of my books, I couldn’t afford to write more books and I would have to get a “real job”.

If you’d like to buy any of my books, go to your local needlework store and purchase them there. If they don’t have them, if they’re a good store, they can get them in. And, you can always purchase directly from me from the Vetty Creations website. While I don’t promise to sign all books that I send out (because sometimes I’m tired and I forget!) there’s a very good chance that the book I send you will be autographed.

Just leave those ridiculously priced second-hand books alone, and laugh at them, along with me.

PS: My husband said that if you *really* want to pay that much, he’s happy to sell you one of ours for that price. 😉

Now taking pre-publication orders!

Early-Style Hardanger is now ready for pre-publication orders. This is the biggest book I’ve ever written (that’s why it took so long!). I’m so thrilled to final present it to you.

What’s in “Early-Style Hardanger”?

Briefly, Early-Style Hardanger by Yvette Stanton, has 160 pages and 3 pattern sheets. There are left- and right-handed stitch instructions in the step-by-step style, with clear diagrams, that you have come to expect from me. There is cultural and historical information, and many photos to help you understand the difference between contemporary Hardanger and the older style, traditional, historical Hardanger. There are 10 projects, ranging from small through to large. They include:

bookmark
square mat
pin tins
biscornu
table runner
Christmas stockings
cushion
lampshade
embroidered shirt
traditional apron

More information will go up on the website as I have the time – including a comparison between my two Hardanger books (Elegant Hardanger Embroidery and Early-Style Hardanger), and what you can find in each one.

Place your order today!

Order your copy today, and it will be sent to you as soon as our shipment arrives in approximately June.

Please share this news with all your stitching friends. I do know that a lot of people have been waiting a long time for Early-Style Hardanger, and they’ll be pleased to know they can finally place their order.

If you have questions about the book, please don’t hesitate to ask!

What’s next?

After sending Early-Style Hardanger off to the printers on Thursday, it’s been no rest for the wicked.

I went to Melbourne on the weekend to teach one of the projects, a biscornu, from Early-Style Hardanger for the Embroiderers Guild Victoria. I had a simply lovely weekend sharing a subject I am passionate about with lovers of Hardanger. We had so much fun! Thanks to the ladies of the Victorian guild for your kindness and hospitality. I always feel so very welcome.

Tomorrow I’ll be teaching a little class in Mountmellick embroidery, which will be fun.

Later in the week I have to do a whole heap of paperwork. I’m so not looking forward to it, but there’s no excuse to keep putting it off now.

And after that I can finally start to focus on what’s next. I need to get on with organising promotion for the new book. I need to update my website to make it mobile-friendly. I need to get the website set up to take orders of “Early-Style Hardanger”. I plan to get on with doing some online classes. And I have another book that I want to start writing. I have to get stuff ordered and ready for the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair in June. And I need to go through my list of “what to do after I finish the book” that I’ve been putting together for more than a year now!

And maybe I’ll find time to do something nice like visit the Miss Fisher exhibition of clothing from the TV series at Old Government House in Parramatta.

“Early-Style Hardanger” has gone to the printers!

The final black and white proofs ready for the printers.

I’ve finally done it!

Overnight and this morning I transferred all the files to my printers, and then all the files for the five other books I’m having reprinted at the same time! Only about a year later than I had originally anticipated.

What a HUGE amount of work this book has been. I have realised during this process that I am absolutely terrible at estimating how much time it is going to take me to do something. I thought this book might take a year to do, and as time has dragged on well past that year (to nearly two) I have on occasions become quite down about it. But recently I realised that this is the biggest book I’ve ever done, so of course it took a long time!

It has 160 pages, 3 pattern sheets, and 10 projects. It is the very first Hardanger book to include both left- and right-handed instructions (as far as I know, anyway!). The photo above shows the final black and white proofs, ready to go off to the printers. The actual book itself will be in full glorious colour, though.

I’m incredibly proud of it. And incredibly sick of it! Don’t get me wrong: I think this is one of the loveliest styles of embroidery that there is, but I’ve had quite enough of writing this book!

Over the next little while, the coloured proofs will come back to me for checking. This is the last point where any changes can be made. Hopefully I will find nothing that needs changing!

Then when all is approved, it gets printed. From there, the cartons of books get sent off around the world to me and my distributors. And then it gets sent out to retailers so that you can finally have it in your hot little hands!

In the next week I will get the page on my website ready for pre-publication orders. Thank you for your incredible patience in waiting this long. Only a few more months now, and you can have your copy. I estimate I will see my printed copies in about June (I’ll probably have more of an idea of that in the next few days) and then it will be a bit longer than that to get into the shops in various parts of the world.

HURRAH!!

final checking of manuscript

I’ve just printed out nearly the final version of the manuscript for “Early-Style Hardanger” ready for final checking.

FINALLY.

😀

The printout is in black and white, but you can be assured that the book will be in full, glorious colour. That’s the back cover showing.

NEARLY THERE. (Big, happy sigh.)

Things that scare me: Frixion pens

Sometimes in my classes, people use Frixion pens. I always express my caution about them. To me, they, and those “wash out” markers are not what I would be using.

I do not like the idea of marking my embroidery with a pen ink that disappears. This is because I cannot be sure that some of it does not stay. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Jenny K Lyon, from Quilt Skipper has written a comprehensive post about Frixion pens, in which she discusses their use, and even spoke with a Pilot (the company that makes them) rep. While it is written from the point of view of a quilter rather than an embroiderer, what she has to say is still very relevant. I highly recommend you read the article.

So, what DO I suggest you use? A plain old HB pencil is fine. But even better is a wash out PENCIL, such as the Sewline Fabric Pencil. These pencils will not soak into your fabric. They will not bleed onto your fabric like those horrible wash out markers. They will make a nice, fine, removable line. When you use them, you are putting particles of ceramic “lead” onto your fabric.

They will not disappear, but what they will do, is wash out, or you can use the eraser on the end to erase them. If you can see them, they are still there. If you cannot see them, the particles have been removed. It’s a fairly straightforward visual clue!

To me, a fabric pencil is the best option. If you read the article, you will have noted that the Pilot rep said they did not design Frixion pen for use on fabric. The Sewline Fabric Pencils were designed for use on fabric, and are, in my opinion, the best product to use on fabric.

As well as for drawing patterns onto embroidery fabric, I often use mine with white lead in it for tailor’s markings when dressmaking. I just have the one pencil and I swap the leads, so it is very versatile. Of course, you can also have two separate pencils if you know you’re likely to use both colours regularly.

You can purchase Sewline Fabric Pencils on our website, and read more about them there.

Embroidery mythbusting #1

“The linen wasn’t evenweave, because some of the threads were thick and some were very thin. And there were those slubby bits.”

No.

Evenweave does not refer to the thickness of the threads with which the fabric is woven. It has nothing to do with whether some threads are thick, and some threads are thin.

Evenweave refers to the number of threads within a certain measurement. If, over a particular measurement, there are the same number of threads over both the warp and the weft (down and across) the fabric, then it is evenweave.

For example, within a measurement of 1 inch, there might be 25 threads across the weft. If there are 25 threads within an inch measurement on the warp also, then it is evenweave. If there are 25 one way, and 28 the other, it is not evenweave.

Within the measurement, some of those threads might be a little scrawny, and some might be a little plump. This is immaterial (sorry for the pun!), because it is the *quantity* of threads that is important.

Stitching Hardanger klosters

Have you ever seen a video of someone stitching Hardanger klosters left-handed? They’re usually right-handed, aren’t they?

Well, not anymore.

Yesterday I wanted to spend an afternoon doing something fun, relaxing, and different to what I normally do. Way back in May last year, I shot some video of me stitching the collar for the Hardanger blouse that will be in “Early-Style Hardanger”. However, I never had any chance to do anything with it. Yesterday I did!

For those who are reading this via email, you can view the video here.

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

In addition to that, I have now set up the Early-Style Hardanger book page on my website for the book! There is a small blurb at the moment, but more information will be added over time. On that page you can also sign up to my Vetty Creations mailing list to receive notifications about Vetty Creations, but particularly information about the book as it nears publication. I will notify list members of new developments, such as when the book is ready for pre-publication ordering, and when it is finally available. (There will be much rejoicing around here that day!)

My husband and I were talking to a friend the other day, and the friend asked if I was working on another book. “Yes, it’s nearly finished.” My husband likened the process to giving birth to a child, except that the gestation period for a book is much, much longer for a book than for the only 9 month gestation of a child! And as you may know, the final part of the pregnancy is often the hardest, because you’re just sick of it all, and want to finally meet the child! Well, that’s how it feels like with my books, too!

I’m so ready to finally get this book off to the printers and move on to promoting it, and doing other things! I have lots of plans that I’d love to get going on.

Soon. Soon.