Hint – Silk: Silk embroidery thread scarcely breaks and has its own singular, and probably the best sheen. Threads come in various sizes but their availability is low so they are mostly used for luxury fabrics.

When you think of embroidery, you probably think of your grandmother knitting you a pink bunny rabbit outfit for Christmas. Embroidery just might be the domain of your grandmother, but it still had plenty of people who are interested in getting started in embroidery. There is a real generation gap between today’s youth and their grandparents. Teenagers seem to be more interested in their Sony PS2 and AOL Chat than learning about hand made crafts. However, the tradition is alive and well on the internet. After all, embroidery doesn’t change every six months and embroidery has been here for years. How long has the PS2 been out again?

Hint – Commercial Embroidery Machine: Has multiple needles. Several colors can be threaded prior to starting work on the design so a lot of time is saved.

As far back as Egyptian and Hebrew times individuals decorated their clothing with rich embroidery. The 18th and 19th Centuries brought embroidery to a whole new class of people, and even today, it seems that the craft has successfully migrated to cyberspace. Unlike a lot of other industries including travel agents who have seemed have missed the boat.

The internet has allowed hobbyists and professionals from all over the world to mingle and discuss their latest embroidery projects. There are dozens of custom embroidery websites and people are always looking for free embroidery designs.

In fact, A Google search for the term “embroidery” shows more than 70 merchants advertising their embroidery related products. Bidding for competitive terms can become fierce very quickly. But clearly, at least 70 advertisers think embroidery is a term worth pursing.

Hint – Magnetic Embroidery Hoops: These hoops call for magnetic assembly. They can be utilized with or without the tabletop and are typically designed for lightweight and thin garments and fabrics.

Overall, while embroidery might not be a rock’n'roll type hobby (was it ever?), it certainly has gone the way of the Dodo. If you like embroidery, there are a lot of online resources for you to explore.

Tim Branch is a contributing author at
http://www.katesembroidery.com. Kates Embroidery has
target=”_new” href=”http://www.katesembroidery.com”>embroidery and
target=”_new” href=”http://www.katesembroidery.com”>embroidery designs.
information.

Hint – In addition to purchasing from the wide variety available in the market sewing enthusiasts can also get buttons tailor-made to suit their specific requirements. They can be custom-made to match the design and pattern of the clothes to be sewn.

What is Hardanger embroidery?

Hardanger embroidery, also known as Hardangers?m
embroidery from Hardanger), originates from the Hardanger
region of Norway. It is a cutwork embroidery, traditionally
worked in white thread on white evenweave linen fabric.
Many people come to Hardanger embroidery from a
background of cross stitch. Hardanger, like most cross
stitch, is a counted embroidery. Hardanger offers new
challenges to cross stitchers as it has a much wider range
of stitches, and a very different look. While cross stitch is
pictorial, Hardanger is not: its designs are based around
pattern, texture and areas of openwork.

Historical Hardangers?m

The history of Hardanger is unclear, but it is likely that it was
originally created as a “homemade” version of the
needlelaces that were popular in the 1600s and 1700s in
Europe.

Hint – Unlike other cabinets, Koala cabinets were constructed with the sewer in mind. Every aspect of these cabinets is geared towards making sewing more efficient and easier, while also being efficient and minimizing wasted space.

Early Hardangers?m was often worked in horizontal bands
in pieces such as aprons and ecclesiastical linen. It had
cutwork in simple shapes such as diamonds and triangles.
These were edged with satin stitch (klosters). They also
used cable stitch, often as a pulled thread stitch. There was
additional satin stitch to decorate, and eyelets (though not in
the centre of kloster block clusters). Along the edges of the
band was usually a section of needleweaving (a long drawn
thread section with hemstitched edges with threads woven
back together in patterns). The entire design usually had
four-sided stitch worked as a pulled thread stitch along the
tops and bottoms of these bands. Examples of work such
as this can be seen at Vesterheim Norwegian American
museum in Decorah, Iowa, and in a Norwegian book
entitled “Hardangersaum” by Gudrun Stuland, (Oslo:
Fabritius & Sonners Forlag, 1960).

Hint – Q-Mag Embroidery Hoops: These hoops use a combination of mechanical or magnetic attach plate at two places, desirable for larger fabrics because of its stability.

Within the parameters described above, there was a large
amount of room for creativity in design. The designs are
hugely varied, and very beautiful. The filling stitches used in
the cutwork needleweaving were very simple – often just
plain woven bars, sometimes with knotted picots, or
diagonal twisted bars.

What has changed in contemporary Hardanger?

The buttonhole edge so common in contemporary
Hardanger did not develop until much later, and it is one of
the main things that has changed hardanger designing.
According to information collected by Lucy Lyons Willis, early
Hardangers?m stitchers never used a stitch like this
because it would have used up too much precious thread.
The buttonhole edge has meant that now Hardanger pieces
can be pretty much any shape you care to have! This is a
large difference from the original bands.

Colour of both thread and fabric is also a major difference
between old and contemporary Hardanger. Historical
Hardanger embroidery was traditionally a whitework
embroidery – using white thread on white fabric.
Contemporary designs sometimes use fabric which is
coloured or thread which is coloured. Often they incorporate
metallic threads, overdyed threads, and beading. The
palette of colours is limited only by one’s imagination and
the threads and fabric available. Contemporary Hardanger
sometimes is worked in combination with other techniques
such as cross stitch.

Hint – Of course the best way to experience the art of sewing is to actually do it. Having an experienced teacher is also a big advantage as there is not a book out there that can top experiencing hands on training.

Contemporary Hardanger embroidery is often less intricate
than older pieces, but is used for a much wider range of
applications. Ornaments, cushions, tablecloths,
bookmarks, framed pieces, needlebooks and doilies are all
common applications for contemporary Hardanger.

Learning Hardanger embroidery

The best way to start learning Hardanger embroidery is by
enrolling in a class at a local shop, community college, or
embroiderers’ guild, or by using a step-by-step instruction
book such as “Hardanger Basics and Beyond” by Janice
Love, or “Elegant Hardanger Embroidery” by Yvette Stanton.
There are also basic instructions to be found at some
Hardanger focussed websites.

Hardanger is a great way to move further into embroidery,
such as from an introduction of cross stitch, which is where
many people first encounter the wonderful world of
embroidery. With its elegant cutwork designs, Hardanger is
a beautiful style of embroidery for stitchers to explore. Why
not try it today?

Hint – Digitizing is ordinarily mentioned as a one time charge for converting your design into a format usable with embroidery machines. Most shops charge a fee once per design for this conversion.

Yvette Stanton

http://www.hardanger.how.to

Author of “Elegant Hardanger Embroidery” and
“Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature”

Yvette Stanton is passionate about historical styles of
embroidery, particularly whitework. She enjoys doing
embroidery, learning about embroidery, teaching
embroidery and writing about embroidery. Hardanger has
always been a particular favourite. To learn more about
Yvette’s books, designs, classes, products and her
embroidery tips, sign up for her newsletter “NeedleNews” at
her website.

Hint – To judge the idea of the whole picture, in the present market, the majority of the concepts of pictures are similar, so we can tell creative embroidery form ordinary ones.

You can use embroidery thread for many different arts and crafts projects. Using embroidery thread in your scrapbook is a fun, inexpensive way to adding a special touch to a page. This can be a great project for older children.

Entering a scrapbook store can be intimidating if you are new to the art. There are tons of scrapbooking accessories on the market today and its easy to be overwhelmed with creative ideas. The embroidery technique will not require a large amount out of your pocketbook; in fact, thread is not expensive at all. You can buy embroidery thread at Wal-Mart or any discount fabric store. Pick out colors that complement your photos. For example, use summer colors like bright yellows, blues and pinks for those pictures of the kids a the pool. The embroidery thread can add texture, depth, value, and color to your scrapbook.

Hint – Clothing Embroidery Designs: These are the most well liked and highly available embroidery designs. They can be purchased from local embroidery shops and the internet.

Begin the project by choosing a page in your scrapbook. Set the page in front of you, so you can look at it from a visual layout standpoint. Does the page have a specific theme, for example, a page dedicated to Valentine’s Day with x’s and o’s along the edges? You will be embroidering the sheet with your thread, so think in terms of “connecting the dots”. You can connect the center of each X with the same color of thread, or you could completely outline every O in a different color. Poke the holes with your needle, and connect the dots. Make sure you do not have the holes to close to one another, so you avoid ripping the scrapbook sheet.

Hint – Magnetic Embroidery Hoops: These hoops call for magnetic assembly. They can be utilized with or without the tabletop and are typically designed for lightweight and thin garments and fabrics.

The page is your canvas and the embroidery thread ideas are limitless. Think about embellishing your scrapbook with embroidered boarders, or around photographs to hold them in place. Use your new embroidering skill to create colorful thread connections between captions. Put small (or large) decorative patterns on each corner. Embroider dotted lines around each picture. Have fun and enjoy giving your scrapbook a new edge to your regular embellishing techniques.

This new technique is an inexpensive way to add color and pizazz to any scrapbooking project and is a great way to spend a day with teenagers!

Margarette Tustle writes ideas for home and family. Find resources for Embroidery Thread at dbthread.com