Monday, October 29, 2018

Embroidery designs and supplies

I have done a little bit of hand embroidery over the years.  My skills are pretty basic, I have to admit.  I can do daisy chains, back-stitch, French knots and a few other combinations of those.  So, in order to come up with some new ideas, I turned to Pinterest.  I really like being able to quickly find ideas on that site, don't you?

Some of my quilting friends are avid embroiderers and have taken classes from Sue Spargo, who is well known for her wool applique.  And others have taken classes at Crab Apple Hill from the owner Meg Hawkey, who is well known for her colored and embroidered patterns.  My friends own expensive and beautiful embroidery supplies such as hand dyed pearl cotton, embroidery threads, ribbons and beads.  Nice hoops, white color crayons, and a whole bunch of stuff I don't even know about.  Don't you find that each hobby comes along with its own set of supplies and once you get into it, you are blown away by how much stuff there is to tempt you?

I just use my old-fashioned DMC embroidery floss.   You can buy it just about anywhere and it comes in tons of colors.  I have an old metal spring hoop.  It seems to be working for me.  Here's what my set up looks like:



I hope you have a few basic skills in embroidery too.  It's a skill that used to be in every young woman's repertoire a couple of generations ago.  Back then most women also had to know how to can fruit and vegetables, make butter, milk the cows, feed the chickens, take care of 10 kids, cook 3 meals a day, bake bread, make soap, do laundry by hand, sew clothes, darn socks... you get the picture.   So glad life has gotten easier for all of us.  Aren't you?

1 comment:

  1. Sometimes a little handwork is just the ticket to spice up a project. It seems handwork is on the resurgence. It makes me smile to see how what was old makes a comeback to being cool and vibe again! I too am glad for lots of technological improvements. While I made butter, I didn't make soap or do laundry by hand. I rather like this "cushy" life!

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