Racaire of Racaire’s Embroidery & Needlework shares photos from her recent trip to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in her hometown of Vienna, Austria, where she studied the needlework embellishments of clothing depicted in antique portraits. Beautiful. See her post.
Free cross-stitch charts
Free hand-embroidery patterns
We’ve chosen the best hand-embroidery patterns for you to attempt this week! We offer something for everyone, whether you’re a novice or a seasoned veteran. Our free cross-stitch patterns range from simple cross-stitch patterns to more complex floral and animal … Read More...
Visigoth influences on Spanish embroidery
John Hopper of The Textile Blog looks at how the already rich, primarily Islamic needlework traditions of the Iberian peninsula were further enhanced by the influence of Visigoth culture. Fascinating. See the post.
More from Elsa Mora
I know I’ve mentioned them before, but Elsa Mora‘s little brooches are so gorgeous they almost make me cry. Just look at this. No, really…go to her blog post to see different angles and enlarge the photos.
Recent stitch tutorials
(1) Striped Woven Band Stitch from big B
(2) Chain Stitch from Hugs from Helen
(3) Feather stitch video from welovefrenchknots (scroll down)
(4) Stem stitch video from welovefrenchknots (scroll down)
(5) Padded satin stitch from Judy’s Journal
Mexican birds in variegated thread
Hannah of enbrouderie shares another remarkable Mexican embroidered work from the collection of of Dr. Faegheh Shirazi of the University of Texas at Austin. Check out the photos and description at her blog post.
A wearable rabbit
At the center of this unloose award-ribbon-type brooch by Bascom Hogue is a bunny in his signature style (look closely). Get the related story and see the clickable, enlargeable photo at his blog post.
Inspiration: Eleanor Pigman
Eleanor Pigman bead-embroidered a lion fish. Like her beaded portraits, this work fills me with awe and hope. Look what can be done! Go to Eleanor’s blog post for a photo you can embiggify and study.
Video: Sampler conservation
Tricia of The Embroiderer’s Story shares a video that shows the volunteers of the Fife Sewing Circle conserving historical samplers and preparing them for exhibit. Wow! Hard job. And it would scare me to death to handle all that priceless … Read More...
Tutorial: Brain coral
Ina of Let’s Learn Embroidery shows us how to create this rockin dimensional brain coral. See her post.
Inspiration: Janet Dann
Robin of Beadlust examines Janet Dann‘s incredible bead-embroidered portrait of Ganesh. Robin says Janet achieves this level of detail by using mostly 15/0 beads. (I’d have to do all the work under a magnifying glass!) Enjoy Robin’s commentary and … Read More...
Andrew said it
OMG! I’m still laughing! If you’re a Breakfast Club fan (or even if you’re not), check out all the photos of this swap gift made by Becky for Crystal Rhew Staley at Crystal’s FIBERARTSY/craftsy blog post.
Video tutorial: Knotting threads
Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World demos her method for tying off threads on the back of embroidery. Go to her blog post to see the video tute.
Blackwork in color
Teasemade created these little (5-cm) brooches by embellishing bits of a Liberty Tana lawn print, Birdsong. I especially love that she’s worked blackwork patterns over some areas. To see biggified photos, go to her blog post.
Inspiration: MafiosaGrrl
Jacquie of MafiosaGrrl entered her embroidered rendering of the spitting gargoyle of Notre Dame in her county fair. It didn’t win. Jacquie, please don’t start embroidering geese in bonnets! Just get your art to a more suitable venue. We’ll all … Read More...
Embroider your icons
Squeee! Dana Beach of CraftyMinx created embroidered icons for her blog’s nav bar! (Sorry I couldn’t capture the whole screen for you–the blog design is most excellent.) If you’d like to make some, too, she’s sharing her secrets. See her … Read More...
August SAL at feeling stitchy
The August stitchalong at feeling stitchy takes a slightly different direction than usual. Instead of offering a pattern for participants to stitch in their favorite, idiosyncratic ways, this SAL will focus on choosing a fabric print and embellishing it with … Read More...
Free desktop calendar for August
Janet M. Davies of JMD Designs has released her free August 2011 desktop calendar. This month’s treat features padded needlelace. Go get the download.
Free design from The Noble Wife
The August issue of Jacquelynne Steves‘ e-newsletter, The Noble Wife, is available now and includes this sweet free embroidery pattern. Go to the newsletter. And maybe you should think about subscribing…