I've been thinking about favorite threads today since Trish Burr posted some photos of her lovely crewel embroidery on her blog. Trish is best known for lovely needle painted birds and plants done in cotton floss, but you can see she has mastered the shading in crewel wool as well.
http://trishburr.com/2013/10/25/thanksgiving/
My first favorite thread was Appleton crewel wool. Of course I taught myself to needlepoint back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Paternayan wool was the only other choice available to me. (In a few years the very exotic Kreinik gold metallic became available.) I loved (and still love) Appleton's colors and appreciated the fine wool's look on 18 count canvas. I never managed to get such smooth stitches with Paternayan, but then I was a novice stitcher. Now we have many many choices, even in just all wool threads, but I have never forgotten how much I love Appleton crewel.
Orna Willis also posted today about her favorite threads. Of course she is in a different position than regular stitchers as she teaches and sells kits so she has to keep a stock of threads used in her designs. But she still has favorites.
http://ornadesign.blogspot.com/2013/10/fibers-and-threads-i-need-your.html
So what are your favorite threads?
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
5 comments:
My first favorite thread, also back in the dinosaur era, was Orchidee wool tapestry yarn. It was gorgeous with very long color families. This wonderful thread is no longer made. I have a lot of it, but can only use it for personal items since it is no longer made.
My current favorites, for Bargello, are Silk & Ivory, FyreWerks Soft Sheen and Watercolours. For needlepoint, it pretty much depends on the design, I don't really have a favorite. I use DMC floss for color selection, as a basis when I am designing.
I have one skein or Orchidee somewhere. It is very soft and the color is amazing. If someone turned a tub of butter into thread, it would be Orchidee. Glad you have a nice selection to play with still!
Oh, my. There are quite a few that are favorites. The first that come to mind are Watercolours & Wildflowers, Burmilana, Vineyard Silk, FyreWorks Soft Sheen, Silk Lame Braid, and the Treasure Braids.
My "first" favorite thread, from childhood doily and pillowcase stitching was the JP Coats pastel rainbow embroidery floss. I went through many skeins of it. I think Anchor makes one similar now, and some of the overdyed companies do, too. I still love multicolored threads & yarn, and am still amused at seeing the colors change as I stitch.
Cindy, I'm always thrilled when I buy a new thread. It's astounding what happiness such a little thing brings me.
I love Pepper Pot.
Nancy P.
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