For years, I’ve been dreaming about how nice it would be to have superior quality linen blanks available here in the US for hand embroidery.

What are “blanks”? You might hear the term more frequently in the machine embroidery world than in the hand embroidery world.

Blanks are pre-made items that are ready to be embroidered, and they are a popular part of the machine embroidery industry. Think: baby bibs, kitchen towels, aprons, blankets, table cloths, table runners, cloth napkins, tote bags, sun visors, beach towels, and a gazillion other textile items ripe for personalization via an embroidery machine.

Because machine embroidery is pretty popular in the US (and around the world), these kinds of blanks are fairly widely available. You can find them in most hobby / craft big-box stores, and you can order a wide array of them online from all kinds of sources.

Blanks range in quality, from really poor quality to high quality when made by small boutique or bespoke businesses that focus on producing quality goods with quality materials.

Unfortunately, though, when it comes to blanks made from linen, these days the majority tend to be pretty poor quality, as they are mostly imported from China where they don’t have a whole lot of oversight in production and they don’t begin with quality material. From the fabric to the finished blanks, they just aren’t all that great. If you’ve ever worked with them, laundered them, embroidered them – you know what I mean! They usually aren’t the kind of linen that wears well with time.

I’m not certain that my dream of having ready-to-stitch, high-quality linen blanks available in the US is feasible. Still, I’ve always thought it worth trying, and to that end, last year, I took the plunge.