White Threads

snail kit

Stitch this snail for storage!

Some time back I told you of Trish Nguyen’s project of stitching a reproduction snail from an old pair of embroidered gloves to raise money to house a collection of gloves. I ordered the kit just before Christmas and then promptly forgot about it, in the Christmas busyness.

A few weeks ago, I had a lovely surprise in the mail when it turned up! I pulled the envelope out of the mailbox, noticed the unfamiliar US address, was a little confused, and then a light went on. “Oh yes, I know what this is!”

I thought you might like to see what is in the kit. I bought it to help with the fundraising, but mostly because I wanted to see some of these threads I’d heard of but never seen.

The kit includes:
6″ x 6″ piece of 34 ct Oaten Scone linen from Lakeside Linens
Silk fabric, blue checks
Silk gimp, light blue
Silk wrapped purl, gray blue
DMC stranded cotton, #931
Au Ver a Soie de Paris, 3226 dark gray
Au Ver a Soie Soie Ovale: cream, 2623 rust orange, 4622 pink, 2541 yellow (this one already twisted into cord)
Silver plated No 6 Wire Check, by Benton and Johnson
Tire silk, #86
Beading needle
No 8 embroidery needle
No 22 crewel sinking needle

If you’re interested in purchasing a kit, I’ve just checked Trish’s blog to see if she’s put an update to say that they’re all sold. She hasn’t given any update like that, but so she may still have stock, but maybe not. You can purchase one here (and seeing the link is still up, I assume she must have them still available).

caring when serious illness strikes

As many of you probably know, in 2008 I became sick with what is known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). I personally believe that CFS is a label given to illness when the medical professionals treating the sufferer can’t find the real cause of the mysterious illness. It is diagnosed simply by ruling other things out. So if you haven’t got A, B, C, D,…. X, Y or Z, but you’ve had symptoms 1, 2 and 3 for more than six months, then we’ll call it CFS.

Due to the prayers of my church and family, and the treatment of my doctor who is also a traditional Chinese medicine practioner, I eventually became well again after 9 months. Some people think this is a very long time to be sick, but I consider it to be blissfully short for an illness that can afflict some people for years and years.

I tend to do my thinking through writing. Towards the end of my illness, I had a big think, and wrote an article called Caring when serious or chronic illness strikes. I’ve put it up on my website in the hope that others might find it useful.

Handbag competition

I’ve been toying with the idea of submitting my Night at the Opera hardanger bag to a handbag design competition that is currently being promoted on BurdaStyle: the 2011 Independent Handbag Designer Awards presented by InStyle and Handbag Designer 101. I popped on over to the competition website to learn about it all.

There is indeed a category into which I could enter my bag, and it does not seem that it is ineligible because it has already been published in a magazine (or two…!). My biggest fear would be that if I was a finalist (fat chance!) I’d be obliged to attend the prize giving in New York. That’s not really in my budget at the moment… But still, its right near my birthday, and that would be a lovely birthday present to myself (she says, dreaming, and noticing how itchy her feet are).

While I was there I decided to register myself as a handbag designer in their registry. By doing this, you can be featured as their handbag designer of the day. I don’t design handbags for a living, but I do design some as embroidery projects for my books and in magazines. I did it really just to see if anything would come of it. Anyway, I got an email from them last night asking for more details. So watch this space!

Cyclone Yasi

I’m writing this on Wednesday night, and the Far North Queensland coast is about to be severely and ferociously lashed by Cyclone Yasi. Following the floods that devastated Queensland in only the last few weeks, this is another huge blow (and I don’t mean that to be a pun at all).

Many of my mail-order customers are in Queensland. I wrote to a few of my regular customers in the projected path of the cyclone this morning to let them know that I would be praying for them as they faced this enormous storm. I heard from two this afternoon. One, who is a member of the CWA (Country Women’s Association) said that she was waiting it out, but had gotten bored, so turned on the oven and baked 20 dozen biscuits (AKA cookies for some of you!) and 5 large fruitcakes to help feed the cleanup crews when they arrive after the storm. There’s no stopping some people! I guess using the electricity while you still have it is a sensible thing to do and a useful way to pass the time.

The other lady said that she is right in the path of the storm, being just south of Cairns, where they expect Yasi will make landfall. She sounded hopeful, and cheekily suggested that she won’t be doing any Mountmellick embroidery in the next 24 hours!

I am praying that these lovely ladies and everyone else will be safe. I suppose that though the storm will hit in its full ferocity tonight, it will take some time for information to filter out due to the likelihood of telecommunications going down. I don’t expect any of them to read this at any time in the near future, but when you do, know that we were so worried for you, and sincerely hoping and praying that you would be ok. It sounds so very weak given the enormity of the likely devastation, but it is very heartfelt.

Published designs

I got an email yesterday from Julie, who told me that because she was on holidays she’d had the chance to browse in a newsagents and found some designs of mine in a “new” magazine called “Hardanger & Drawn Thread Embroidery” published by Express Publications. She wondered if it would be possible for me to announce here on my blog whenever any new designs of mine are published.

Julie, that’s a great idea, and usually I do announce them. I didn’t with this one, because its a slightly different case. You see, this magazine is a reprint of one that was first published a year or two ago. They’ve probably just updated the advertising and reprinted it. And the other important thing about this magazine is that all the designs that are in it have been previously published in earlier issues Express Publications magazines, such as Embroidery and Cross Stitch. So many people possibly have already collected these designs, and wouldn’t want to buy a new magazine just to get designs they already have elsewhere.

If any others of you are interested in checking whether you have these designs already or whether you’ll need to get them, there are two designs of mine in this magazine: Night at the Opera, and Hardanger Bellpull.

Night at the Opera is my maroon/blood red little handbag, with Hardanger embroidery on a red chiffon overlay. It was on the cover of Embroidery and Cross Stitch a few years back.

Hardanger Bellpull is a pretty hardanger band design in white on white. It was also featured in Embroidery and Cross Stitch in the past. If you want to do this project and find that you need some help, please contact me. When you decide to do it, you’ll understand why. 😉

I do endeavour to let you know when new designs are published in magazines. I know that I have one or two coming up in Inspirations, but I have no idea when they might be published! There’s a new issue out just now, and I’m pretty sure there’s no design of mine in it, though I’m still waiting to find out if I have any articles in it! Hopefully they’ll send me a contributor’s copy soon if I do have something in it.

Brisbane Portuguese whitework class

All systems are go for my Brisbane Portuguese whitework class in February. I’ll be teaching the project shown right, at AllThreads Embroidery on the weekend of February 26 and 27. (My flights are booked!) There are still spaces in the class if you would like to join us.

I’m really excited about teaching this style of embroidery. It is just simply so gorgeous – and that’s not of my doing, its just a gorgeous style!

Please contact AllThreads Embroidery for details and to book.

If you’re a Brisbanian (what do you call yourselves?), I’ll be arriving about midday on Friday, so I’ll have an afternoon to fill. I would have gone to the art galleries but they’re still closed after the devastating floods. Can anyone suggest anything typically Brisbane or non-typically-Brisbane-but-still-interesting that I can occupy myself with that afternoon?

photographing needlework

Today will be a busy day photographing needlework and either sending the photos off, or sending the needlework off. All the projects are for upcoming classes, some soon and some more than a year away! Some of the photos will need to be styled shots, some not. Some will be closeups of detail, to go in student class notes.

Before I start photographing though, I have to first finish off two of the projects. One is a Mountmellick cushion, and the other is a Hardanger bookmark. Fortunately the embroidery is done for both, so I really only have to construct them. The cushion will need a zip inserted, the cushion made, and then the fringe attached. The bookmark will be hand sewn but relatively quick. I’m looking forward to crossing off a number of projects from my mental list!

Its going to be stinking hot today – and worse tomorrow – so I’ll be holed up here in as much coolness and darkness as possible.

stretch sewing tips: needles

Yesterday Suzy asked if the type of needle you use when sewing with stretch fabrics makes a difference. Yes, it does.

The type of needle you should use is a ball point needle. This has a slightly rounded point, meaning it slips more easily between the fibres of the fabric, rather than piercing them. Sharp point needles tend to catch on the fibres in knit fabrics, and because of the stretch, that can muck up your lovely seams!

If the needle pierces the fibres, it could break them, and depending on the type of knit you are using, it might cause a run like you can get in your pantyhose.

As with other fabrics, you should always prewash your knit fabric before working with it, as they do tend to shrink a bit. After you’ve washed, you can cut the pattern pieces out, but you’ll need to make sure the fabric doesn’t stretch as you are cutting, as this will lead to inaccurate pattern shapes.

To make sure your fabric doesn’t stretch while you’re cutting, rather than cutting on the table, I do it on the floor. I find that if I have my fabric on the dining room table, the whole thing rarely fits, meaning that some has to hang off the edge. This will cause it to stretch, which is exactly what we don’t want at this time! I realise though that not everyone is as physically able as me to crawl around on the floor pinning pattern pieces and cutting. So maybe you’ll just have to use a very large table.

It is just as important with knit fabrics to line up pattern pieces with the grain, as it is with regular fabrics. This is because if you don’t, when you make up your garment, the stretch will happen in the wrong places.

Enjoy your stretch sewing with knit fabrics. If you missed yesterday’s tips on sewing stretch fabrics, check them out too. As it happens, today I’m going to get my first chance to wear my little red dress – very excited about that! 😉

stretch sewing tips

Recently I received an email from Carole (to which I did reply, Carole, but it bounced. Sorry!):

Thanks for letting us see the finished dress. We have been involved from the start and what fun! Making the leotards sounds difficult. I’m not sure I know how to sew on stretchy fabric. I have some cotton knit Tees that I would like to change the necklines. Any secrets?

Well Carole, sewing with stretch fabrics is not all that difficult, and you don’t need an overlocker/serger to be able to do it successfully. I don’t own one, and I expect that I never will!

The important thing about stretch fabric is that it stretches! (amazing!) This means that if you just feed it through the sewing machine as you would normally, the part where it has been machine sewn will no longer stretch. This means that when you wear the garment or use the thing (whatever it is that you are sewing) the sewing will break to allow it to stretch, which is not what you want!

To counteract this, when working with a normal straight stitch, you stretch the fabric as you sew. I normally put the seam in the machine, sew one or two stitches, then hang onto the thread tails coming out the back, and pull the part of the seam I am about to feed in, and stretch them apart. It means that as I sew, it sews the whole distance of the stretched fabric. When the seam comes back to rest (when I remove my self-imposed stretch) the stitches will look shorter, but the seam will still be able to be stretched.

When working with a zigzag stitch you don’t need to stretch, as the extra width of a zigzag can stretch out to become length. But sometimes you don’t want a seam or overstitching in zigzag – which is where the technique of stretching as you stitch with a straight stitch comes in instead.

I use a Jalie pattern for the leotards that I make (and I HIGHLY recommend the pattern: 2792). From the pattern, I learned of their fabulous way to sew stretch fabrics without a serger/overlocker.

For the first step for each seam, you use a large zigzag on the edge of the fabric, to enclose the raw edge. You do this without stretching.

For the second step for the seam, you use a straight stitch using the correct seam allowance away from the edge of the fabric. This time you DO stretch as you sew.

I used a similar technique for my little red dress in that I stretched each seam as I sewed them, including the darts and tucks. When the side seams were sewn, I trimmed them back to 6mm and worked a wide zigzag over the edge. It worked just fine, and there’s been no problem with seams breaking etc.

For those of you who have never sewn stretchy fabric before, I hope this gives you a place to start. If you’ve got more questions, please ask, and I just may be able to answer them. If not, I’m sure I’ll find someone who does know the answer!

random collection of thoughts

Yesterday was Australia Day here. We celebrated two birthdays with a lunch in the backyard in the sweltering heat. My dairy-free, gluten-free and egg-free cake worked well – rising, which was one of the most important aspects of it – and tasting great. A swim in the afternoon completed the day, then home for leftovers for dinner.

I have been working on the proposed Hardanger class projects for Beating Around the Bush 2012, and wanted to make a bookmark that could be worked in simple stitches for beginners, and more difficult stitches for intermediate Hardangerers, all able to be learnt and mostly completed within a 6 hour/1 day lesson. I had designed the intermediate level one some time back, but was a bit stuck on the beginners version of it. I took my daughters to the beach on Tuesday, and we went by public transport. I knew this would mean I’d have a lot of stitching time, so I quickly designed a simplified version early in the morning before we left. I took it with me and was able to get a lot done. It has since been completed. While it looks a lot less interesting than the intermediate one, it will be a good introduction to Hardanger techniques for beginners, and should be achievable in the one day.

I’ve been wondering if anyone would be interested in some tips about machine sewing on stretch fabrics? I had a question or two about this because of my recent “little red dress” project, and the mention of sewing leotards. Would anyone else like to ask any questions?

All my book sales are going well, with a reprint of The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion recently arriving. I also will need to reprint The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion very soon, which is so pleasing. And this is a book that some people didn’t think needed to be published…! If you received a copy of any of my books during the recent Christmas season, I’d love to hear what you think of it/them. Better still, why not write a review for your blog, or on your favourite online bookseller’s website, such as Amazon?

Today we’re doing more last minute things before school goes back next week. I was hoping to get lots of work done today, but then realised we have an appointment to go to, so there goes that idea! I hope that you have a great day.