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Originally posted 2003-02-20 07:56:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I love Kreinik threads — both the silks and the metallic threads. As time has gone on, it has made me more and more happy that the color range available in them has become greater so it is so much easier to use them for many purposes.

To mach their outstanding threads and their wealth of knowledge about them, Kreinik has put together and outstanding website — http://www.kreinik.com. It is an outstanding and inspirational place to visit.

If metallic threads are new to you, then the site can help introduce them to you easily. The metallic section of the site describes the main types of metallic threads clearly (so you can understand the difference between high lustre, vintage, cord and basic), what you can do with metallic thread, and the history of metallic threads. There are also links where you can find each of the threads described in more detail. There are tips on using the different threads as well as information on their use in specific kinds of embroidery, fly tying and other crafts. And there is a great on-line color chart.

Kreinik also makes lovely silk threads. The home page for the silks
has outstanding information about the history of silk as well as some essential tips on stitching with silk. It even includes something I’ve never seen anywhere else — instructions to dry cleaners on how to clean pieces made with these threads! The pages on the individual threads have information and stitching tips. You can also view a color family listing of silk threads or request their color chart.

Kreinik has done an outstanding job of getting a wide variety of free patterns for many kinds of handwork from designers on their site. You can find outstanding projects for needlepoint, cross stitch, plastic canvas, hardanger, crochet, stumpwork, machine embroidery, and lots more. All are listed by technique under “freebies” Every pattern can be printed out using Adobe Acrobat.

Just looking at the needlepoint projects gives you an idea of the wide variety of material here. There are stitch guides for painted canvases, needlepoint pins, a frame, Christmas ornaments, geometrics, silk gauze and lots more. There is a real effort here to cover all the myriad of techniques where metal and silk threads can be used.

There are also sections devoted to fly tying (with free patterns) and to scrapbooking as well as information about their many stitching accessories, silk gauze and books.

I love the way this site is so clearly laid out and easy to read. The style of the pages is open and friendly. The pages load quickly and it’s always easy to find what I need to know.

I highly recommend this site if you haven’t seen it already.

See the original post:
Kreinik – Website Review

Fascinating History of Wooden Spool Making Mill

by Rachel Hobson

in General

Sally of Tinkering Times points us to this fascinating video taken during a tour of the Stott Park Victorian Bobbin Mill in Cumbria, England. It's an amazing look in to how wooden bobbins (spools) were crafted for threads of all kinds for more than a hundred years. You get to hear how the bobbins are created from different types of wood through each step of the process. The steam-powered machinery is incredible, but even more interesting is hearing about how many bobbins workers turned out each day and how the workers boring holes in the spools would work up to their waists in wood shavings. You also hear how the size and shape of the spools indicated what kind of threads would be spun on them and how the phrase "Happy Hour" had a place in the bobbin mill workplace. The video is a must-watch.

Replica of Presidential Seal Stitched by Nixon’s Daughter

by Rachel Hobson

in Uncategorized

This crewel rendition of the Presidential Seal from Katie of Under the Red Umbrella first caught my eye for its meticulous stitching, but the story behind it ended up being equally mesmerizing. She was commissioned to stitch it as a replica of crewel piece made for President Nixon by his daughter. I never knew about this little piece of stitchy history, and loved reading the story behind it. Check out her blog post to get the full scoop!

A Picture – Worth a Thousand Words, or Lost in Translation?

in Scrapbooking

Will your pictures and keepsakes mean anything to the next generation? A lifetime goes into collecting images and keepsakes that take you back, to that special day, that once in a lifetime event, that person you could never forget. So why can these precious items that tell your history, that hold cherished memories, be lost in piles, water-damaged, folded up, scattered about, or have never made there way out of the envelope?

View post:
A Picture – Worth a Thousand Words, or Lost in Translation?

Virtual Book Tour

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2007-09-01 06:55:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Throughout September, I will be visiting needlework-related blogs, on-line magazines, and shops, to visit, answer questions, and provide articles.

This is all part of the celebration of my books, Needlepoint Trade Secrets.

I hope you’ll drop by to visit on one of these dates:

September 6 Needlepoint Canvas Shop blog visit
September 9 (noon Pacific) Needleart Nut blog visit
September 13 Virtual Q&A at Caroline’s Thread and Canvas. Send in your questions to be answered
September 22 Needlepoint for Fun e-zine article published
September 18 Ribbon Embrodiery discussion at Jane W’s blog
September 24 Love to Stitch blog visit (with pictures)

New Site for Weeks Dye Works

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Image from Thread Express (http://www.threadexpress.com).

Weeks Dye Works has updated and redesigned their website.

The site features drop down menus for their products. For each type of product there are great clear pictures and a listing of links to their different color, laundry care, and order forms, all in PDF format.

There is also information about their history, a FAQ, and a listing of retail shops. I love their designer section of the site. There you can find a list (with thumbnail pictures) of free patterns from different designers featuring Weeks products. There is also a listing of designers using their products, information about their designer program and more.

For retailers there is a link to a credit application and a password-protected area for customers.

All in all, this would be close to a perfect thread site if they would make on-line color cards and switch from white-on-black to the more traditional black-on-white.

The rest is here:
New Site for Weeks Dye Works

Learn Bargello – Virtual Book Tour Stop

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-06-28 06:40:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Today’s Virtual Book Tour Stop is atNeedlepoint for Fun, a delightful, free, on-line and email magazine about needlepoint.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn Bargello, here a quick and easy instructions to get you started. Take some blank canvas, draw on a rectangle, pick your threads, and get stitching!

Continued here:
Learn Bargello – Virtual Book Tour Stop

Scrapbook Album

in Scrapbooking

Many keep scrapbook albums as mementos of days gone past and keep the past alive in their memorabilia. Thus this activity is called scrapbooking and the article discusses the history as well as tools and techniques for use to keep the cherish the memories for all time.

View post:
Scrapbook Album

Book Review – The Best Bargello Book

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-01-15 08:06:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

June McKnight, self-published, 2008.

I learned to stitch Bargello, as did many others, from Elsa William’s wonderful book. It’s long been out of print and I have never found a beginner’s book on Bargello to match it. That is until now.

June has created the perfect Bargello book for beginners. It’s small enough to fit into your project bag, has incredibly clear charts and diagrams, lots of good instruction, and, best of all, leaves you to exercise your own creativity.

The book begins with a preface, which covers the basics of Bargello. Canvas, colors, theads are covered along with useful hints for coverage and calculating yarn needs.
She also covers how to make the stitch for Bargello, the history and some explanation of the names.

The heart of the book is the many patterns. There are 40 in the book, all named. The patterns are divided into four groups. The first is “Easy Tracking Row Patterns.” These are single row patterns, simple to establish, but still very lovely.

Next are “Complex Tracking Row Patterns.” These patterns are also single row patterns, but they are more difficult. Some, like Frantic, have lots of movement. Others, like Marvelous, have stitches of different lengths.

Next come “Medallions.” These patterns are not in rows, but create shapes which are then filled in. This chapter begins with a short introduction describing medallions and how to stitch them. Some of these patterns are classic ones, like Pomegranite. Others, like Pink Diamond, are a fresh take on Bargello.

The final chapter is “Advanced Variations.” The patterns in this section are more difficult. Some, like Baby Scallops, are small. Others, like Alligater Teeth, are quite large. Both line and medallion patterns are included in this section.

A good beginner’s book on Bargello should get you started on Bargello (which is unbelievably easy) but have enough meat in it that you find inspiration for projects long after you stop being a beginner. June’s book fulfills this goal superbly.

Now where’s some blank canvas?

See the rest here:
Book Review – The Best Bargello Book

Stretching Old Canvas

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

A few weeks ago a reader wrote to me with a question. She had found some vintage needlepoint and had taken it to a shop to be stretched and mounted onto stretcher bars. It wasn’t done very tightly and she wondered about the quality of the canvas and if low quality had anything to do with the problems.

Since I work on painted canvases this old all the time, I knew age wasn’t entirely the problem. However older canvases do have some differences. This is what I told her:

There are many factors that affect the quality of a needlepoint canvas. The three biggest ones are: weave, fiber length, and age. I suspect all three were working in the canvases you brought in.

1. Weave: Interlock canvas is always of lower quality than mono or penelope canvas, If you took one piece of each and examined it, you would see that the Interlock had thinner threads and weighed less than the mono. Even the best quality of interlock won’t be as high quality as mono. All interlock canvas is woven with shorter fibers than mono canvas and that contributes to its lower quality.

2. Fiber length: The technical term for this in cotton is staple length. In all cotton cloth, the longer the fibers, the higher quality the cloth. If you look at Zweigart orange line (their deluxe mono) you can see that the threads are thick and smooth. For this canvas they use a fairly long staple cotton.

But there are lower quality mono canvases (though I don’t see them often anymore) which have thinner threads and are lighter in weight. They are also kind of frizzy if you look at the holes, a sure sign of shorter fibers.

3. Age: The sizing that makes canvas stiff softens with age, being stretched, and with stitching. If your canvas was old, or had been stretched before, it will be softer.

HOWEVER, none of this should have made it impossible to stretch to a workable tightness, it’s just a bit harder to do. I regularly stitch vintage (20+ years) canvas and have no problems. Interlock will not stretch as tight as mono, especially if it is old, but you could mitigate this somewhat by using Evertite stretcher bars, where you can increase the tension.

If a person isn’t willing to stretch the canvas properly (diagonally opposite, starting at the center of each side), you will get a bad result with any canvas, old or new, no matter the quality.

See original here:
Stretching Old Canvas

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