Needle ‘n Thread and Hand Embroidery

To familiarize readers a little better with Needle ‘n Thread and the tips, tricks, and resources you’ll find on the site, here’s a little recap. I originally intended Needle ‘n Thread to be an instructional place for beginners, where they could get ideas and learn a few things as they explore the fantastic art of hand embroidery. As my little website continued to develop, I found that many readers are not necessarily newbies! So, overall, Needle ‘n Thread focuses on hand-embroidery for all levels, beginners and beyond.

What will you find on Needle ‘n Thread? Here are some of the features of the site:

A Video Library of Hand Embroidery Stitches

This is perhaps the most popular page at Needle ‘n Thread. I began the library because I realize that people have different learning modalities, and many people are “visual” learners – they need to see a thing worked out to really get it! The library will continue to grow. After all, there are over 500 documented embroidery stitches! Right now, you’ll find over 50 videos that demonstrate stitches or techniques.

Tips and Tricks for Hand Embroidery

This is an index of specific tutorial articles you’ll find on Needle ‘n Thread. I’m constantly updating this list! Here, you’ll find specific instructions for the beginner in hand embroidery, as well as more advanced techniques for those who wish to try something new. There are heaps of articles with photo tutorials.

In addition to brief articles highlighting a specific tip or detailing a short tutorial, you’ll find specific series of complete tutorials on techniques, like my series on long and short stitch shading, or my series on hand embroidered lettering.

Pattern Resources

If you’re looking for embroidery patterns, you’ll find three categories on Needle ‘n Thread: 1. The ones hosted here: general hand-embroidery patterns that you’ll find useful and fun, including a growing library of monograms for hand embroidery; 2. Ecclesiastical embroidery patters; 3. A list of free embroidery patterns available online.

Embroidery Resources

A list of places where you can find embroidery supplies or designs – these are reputable shops or the webpages of reputable designers. I’ve ordered from most of the shops on the list, or I’ve read about the designers and seen their work. I don’t want to recommend shops or designers that could give readers a bad experience, so I make sure my list is limited to those shops or resources that I’m sure are good.

Among the daily blog posts, you’ll also find articles featuring great shops, needlework sales, and needlework news about products (and product reviews), to help keep you informed about your options for purchasing needlework supplies.

List of Online Embroidery Books

As I become aware of whole embroidery books hosted online, I post them here. Usually, I’ll write a review of the book first, so that you can see what’s in it.

Gallery

This is where I post pictures of embroidered works. Sometimes, these are my own pieces, but not always. Every needleworker needs inspiration! So if I post an article with pictures about a work of embroidery (whether mine or someone else’s), I’ll add this to the Gallery list.

Reviews of Needlework Books

These are books that I own and have found useful for learning different techniques. I won’t review a book and recommend it unless I actually own it and have used it! Occasionally, I might review a book I don’t like, just so you know what you’re getting into before you make the investment.

Webfeed & Daily E-mail Newsletter

So that you can stay up-to-date with new posts with ease, sign up for the feed, and you’ll get notified every time there’s something new on the site! If you don’t have a feedreader, no worries – you can sign up for daily e-mail notification. Both sign-up areas are available in the right hand column.

You can find the major features of Needle ‘n Thread under “Editor’s Floss” in the left-hand column. You can also click on the labels at the end of each post to find other articles with similar content.

Just want to browse? In the lower right column, you’ll find the Archives list for over 3.5 years of articles on Needle ‘n Thread. Pick a month, and browse away! Alternately, you can visit the Topic Index on Needle ‘n Thread (also located under “Editor’s Floss” in the right hand column), where you’ll find a list of the topic tags used on the website. Just click a topic, and all the posts tagged with that word will show up.

To go to the current posts on Needle ‘n Thread, just click “Home” in the top menu below the header.

Suggestions, requests, and comments are always welcome! If you’re looking for something in particular or would like to hear about some particular aspect of embroidery, please don’t hesitate to contact me! If I can accommodate your request, I will.

I hope you enjoy Needle ‘n Thread!