New embroidery e-book and a freebie

Carina Envoldsen-Harris of Carina’s Craftblog has published a stitchery e-book! And she’s celebrating by sharing an autumn pattern freebie.

Small Stitches is available from Polka & Bloom, which says,

Small Stitches has 22 pages aimed at getting you started with embroidery in a fun way. It has a short introduction to the basic tools and materials you need. The beauty of embroidery is that you dont need a lot of kit, so it is a fairly economic craft to throw yourself at.
Small Stitches covers the following stitches: Straight stitch • Running stitch • Back stitch •French knot • Daisy stitch • Chain stitch • Cross stitch • Star stitch • Satin stitch • Blanket stitch • Buttonhole wheel
There are 9 patterns in the book. Most of them use just 2 or 3 stitches, progressing with the stitch directions…
The patterns range from very simple designs like a leaf or a paisley pattern to more intricate ones that use several colours and stitches.

The book costs just US $10.00, and it will be sent to you by e-mail in PDF format within 24 hours after payment. See more and get the links from Carina’s post.

And remember to download the free autumn-leaf pattern.

Most of the cross stitch projects I make are pretty small and not something I would consider heirloom quality (though I am working on a big project for my daughter that I hope to have done for her high school graduation in two years that I hope is something she’ll want to keep forever, but that’s another story).

But it is definitely possible to cross stitch projects that will stay around for generations, and one prime example of that is a cross-stitched linen tablecloth.

Linen tablecloths are classic, while stitching one can be a big project, depending on the size of your table, it doesn’t have to be really complicated.

Koekoek has a good, detailed post about figuring out how much linen you would need to make a tablecloth that you can cross stitch and/or embroider on (they also sell tablecloth linen in their shop if you don’t already have some or a linen tablecloth you already use). Of course for a project like this you’d want the best fabric you can find and afford, because you’ll be stitching it for a long time and hopefully using it for years.

The post walks through how to measure your table and determine how much fabric you’ll need including the drop you’ll want and hems. It includes the math for rectangular and square tables as well as circular tables, which helps take the guesswork out of buying fabric. It also talks about preparing the fabric and making mitered corners if you have a square or rectangular table, which will help the tablecloth sit nicely on your table.

The tutorial doesn’t include specific patterns to use for your tablecloth, but it does advise keeping it simple because this is a really big project. You can start with a motif in the center or doing borders, and this is a project you can add to through the years by, say, stitching a symbol for each family member or adding names, wedding dates, etc. and making it a real record of your family.

Would you ever cross stitch a tablecloth or have you done so? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Koekoek]

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