I picked up a few threads to use with my new canvas yesterday since shopping without buying threads for me is like taking a shower without using soap. Us threadaholics must have the threads!
Clockwise starting from the top left you'll see another skein of the lovely Gloriana Silk I am using for the Golden Rabbit. I love the Old Lacquer color and since I've used most of the skein I originally bought, I replaced it with another.
The next thread in the plastic cover is a spool of Gilt Sylke Twist in a similar gold color called Isabella. This is the new filiment silk wrapped in gold metallic that Access Commodities distributes in the U.S. I can't wait to stitch with this. Although it looks rather muted in the spool, I think this will be the perfect thread for the yellow labs in my Cape Cod Dogs canvas. On the back of the package is says to use a #24 chenille needle (or a #24 tapestry needle in a pinch) for this thread and that once you thread up, a twist of the thread tail will keep it from coming out of the eye. I'll let you know how this stitches up. I almost bought more of this as Scarlet Thread is the only shop in the area carrying it but at almost $20 a spool, I am too cheap to spend the money.
The last thread on the top row is a card of On the Surface's New Metallics. This is a thin wire-like thread in 2 plies (again, only Scarlet Thread carries this in our area) that is easy to work with and which does great metallic effects. I bought the color Matte Gold, a golden brown, thinking that one dog might be darker than the other. It also is a close match to the wooden bar color, so perhaps I'll use it there. I have a card of the pearl white and a card of a dark gray that I've used for angel wings and a wire metal chair. It's a great choice for special touches. On the Surface threads can be found in quilt shops. A friend send me a nice spool of the white from her favorite quilting shop in the NorthWest, so check at your local quilter's hangout to see if they carry it in larger sizes than this little card.
Continuing clockwise, we come to the lovely deep red #414 Rubasse spool of Bijoux, which is also from Access Commodities. Bijoux is thinner than even one ply of New Metallics. I thought it would be perfect doubled or trippled in my needle to stitch the red lettering of the border of Cape Cod Dogs. Other shops in my area carry Bijoux, but few have such a large range of colors as Scarlet Thread.
My final purchase is the pretty blue silk of Belle Soie, a 12 ply silk from Crescent Colours, which started out as an overdyed cotton floss dyer. They have moved into silks. The counted thread place that moved to WVA introduced me to this thread. I'm not wild about all the colors but when I like one, I really like it. I have a gorgeous pale lavender, a beautiful carrot color and a lovely pink in my stash already. Now that the counted thread place has moved away, I can't get this thread anywhere in the area except at Scarlet Thread.
I am really going to miss this place.
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
9 comments:
I love Bijoux! I have only used it once, in an Orna Willis piece, but it looks so lovely.
It is lovely stuff, isn't it? I've used it a few times.
What lovely threads! Making a list to look for! Says the other threadaholic!
Hey Jane, nice threads! Sorry your shop is going away. Enjoying your newsy blog!
Thank you, Madonna. It is sad to lose a shop, especially since a shop actually only 30 minutes from me closed last summer. It was XS but I could buy threads there! Still, there are three very nice shops left within 100 miles of me--I just can't get there very often since a 50 mile on-way trip takes so long going into D.C. traffic. To make it to NW East and back I have to allow 4-5 hours. Just can't do that sort of thing often!
LOL! Pat the Threadaholic speaks. Woman after my own heart....
Jane, you must come right buy me if you go to "the Scarlet thread" Im in Stafford, VA. That's ashame they are going to close. I use to go their shop in Fairfax, which was right across from where I learn I to Needlepoint - The Tapestry Room (which has been closed for 25 years. So with the Scarlet Letter Closing then that would leave only "In Stitches" and "The Point of it All" that I know of in the DC Metro Area. I know there are some shops in MD, but I can't think of any right now.
That's a shame that the Scarlet Thread is closing, didn't they just move out to Great Falls a few years ago. So Jane if you going that way, then you must go right by me. I'm in Stafford, VA
Hi, Jean. I don't know where Stafford is. There are two needlepoint shops in the same general area as Scarlet Thread--Needlewoman East in Falls Church and Waste Knot in Arlington. NW East is in the middle with the other shops each about 5-7 miles from them.
Once I figure out where Stafford is I'll wave when I pass it. But I come from the far west, Winchester way. Which is why I don't go to the shops very often. It is a three hour round trip minimum, and that is if the traffic's good!
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