Showing posts with label perle cotton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perle cotton. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Padding on the Front But Not the Back

This YouTube video shows you how to pad an area on the front of your canvas without adding bulk to the back side.  

It's a neat (and easy) technique from Bedecked and Beadazzled's resident stitching genius--Ruth Schmuff.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 12, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, July 11, 2025

How to Cut Threads to the Right Length

Lori at Waste Knot* shows you how to cut your threads to the perfect length in this short video.

I'm going to expand on what Lori says a bit.  Lots of folks want to stitch with long lengths.  If that works for you, great, but a longer length will not only rub the thread more and cause wear and loss of sheen, a longer length will often knot itself.  My godmother told me decades ago that the perfect thread length was from of your elbow to the tip of your fingers.  That is around 18 inches for most of us, which works quite well for me unless I need very long lengths for some of those Jean Hilton-type stitches or a darning background where I need to make it to the outside edge before I can end off.  

In other words, 18 inches is a good length but not always.

*Full disclosure:  Waste Knot is my "local" shop.  I highly recommend it!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 17, 2025 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Thread Exploring at Waste Knot

Lori at Waste Knot* is Instagramming about the various threads the shop carries.  It's a great way to explore various threads that are available for needlepoint, especially if you don't have a shop of your own where you can see thread options in person.

First up, size 3 perle cotton--

Secondly, size 5 perle cotton--

The third thread is Planet Earth's Essentials, a strand of silk/wool perfect for 18 count that comes on 10 yard cards.

Now Lori shows you Vineyard Merino Wool.

Followed by Vineyard Silk.  Both are lovely threads, by the way.

Lori likes Pepper Pot for 18 count but I do find it a little thick for 18 count.  If you have tight tension, you will love it on 18.

Next is Kreinik.  Lori has all the sizes and explains how/where to use them here--

Silk Road Fiber's Straw Silk comes in a huge array of colors.


Planet Earth Silk is a thicker silk for 13 count.  Very pretty colors.

Lori's right, Gloriana's 12 ply silk has the prettiest colors available. 

Lori shows off Silk n Ivory, which isn't the most wearable silk/wool blend, but it's very pretty and perfect for 13 count.

Next up is Soie d'Alger, a French 7 ply silk in beautiful colors.

Lori carries a lot of Impressions, my favorite wool/silk blend.

Boucle is a fun thread for curls, bushes and more.

Next Lori shows off Glisten, a wool with a sparkle filament woven in. It's not as shiny as Silk Lame Braid but gives a very nice subtle gleam.  Lori uses one strand on 18 count.

Floche (from DMC) is the next thread Lori shows off.  It's cotton and comes on big skeins, making it perfect for backgrounds.  It's got a nice subtle sheen to it. 

Lori has tips for when you use Very Velvet and Petite Very Velvet.

Here are the two weights of Very Velvet.

Next up is Silk Lame Petite, one of my favorites.

Silk Lame comes in four sizes now.

Entice is similar to Silk Lame but is rayon for the base thread.

Lori has some good tips for dealing with the kinks in Neon Rays that appear after it's wound around the Rainbow Gallery card.

The next thread Waste Knot carries is Caron's Watercolours, a favorite of counted thread designers.  Lori doesn't mention the drastic color changes you can get between dye lots of these cotton overdyes; it's wise to buy plenty for your project if you are using it in a large area.

With the holidays coming, Lori goes fun with Fuzzy Stuff.

ThreadworX's overdyed cotton floss is a particular favorite of mine.

Bella Lusso wool is quite pretty and easy to stitch with.

Burmilana is another fav.  Great animal fur!

Gentle Arts' Sampler Threads have lovely muted colors.  This is an overdyed cotton floss that is popular with sampler repo stitches because of the faded look you get.  Perfect for animals!

River Silks silk ribbon is lovely to work with, comes in a variety of widths and colors, and is tough as nails!

Another ribbon-like thread is Rainbow Gallery's Sparkle Rays (also available in Petite Sparkle Rays).  You get a bit of sparkle and some pretty pastel colors, plus a really white white.

Like Lori, I think Alpaca 18 is too thick for 18 count but it has some fabulous animal coat colors and might make great hair for people.

Today Lori's talking Flair, aka Barbie's Panty Hose.  This versatile thread is a delight although you might not like how the cut end unravels.  This is why God invented the Thread Zapper, folks.

I like Frosty Rays.  The colors are like sugar coated candy!  Note that Lori only carries the Petite size.

Next is Fyre Werks.  This Rainbow Gallery 1/16 inch ribbon is a quite shiny metallic.  A laying tool will help it stay flat.

Lori goes over overdyed threads carried at Waste Knot:  Gloriana silk, Gentle Arts' Sampler and Shaker  cotton threads, ThreadworX cotton, Tilli Thomas Planet Earth Pepper Pot overdye, and Caron's three ply cotton Watercolours.

Lori now stocks the new Radiance metallic in size 18.

Lori talks very briefly about Au Ver a Soie's metallic, which she stocks in sizes 12 and 16.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 16, 2024 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, October 13, 2023

All About Weeks Dye Works

The latest video from Needlepoint.com talks about Weeks Dye Works' solid and overdyed cotton flosses.  This is a six ply cotton floss that is a favorite of cross stitchers.  I didn't know that they were based in North Carolina (which is the Needlepoint.com headquarters).  I think that the plies are a tiny bit thinner in diameter than DMC's cotton flosses but there isn't much of a difference.

If you want to see more of the Weeks Dye Works colors, here is their website.  They also sell perle cotton and crewel wool as well as fabrics and sewing thread.  I think their colors are often gently faded looking, which suits their primary customer base of reproduction sampler stitchers.

If you want to try some of the Weeks Dye Works products but your local shop doesn't carry this, you can shop for cotton floss here-

They also carry the crewel wool...

...and the size 5 perle cotton.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 30, 2023 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Make Your Own Perle Type Threads

Ever not be able to find the silk perle or perle cotton in the color you need?  Not to worry, Linda K. Reinmiller has a tutorial on how to make your own perle cotton from cotton floss (or silks) in any diameter you need.  And you can even make a metallic!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 10, 2022 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Threadaholic Alert: Mary's Favorite Threads Video

If you love threads, you'll want to watch the latest video by FiberTalk.  Yes, I know FiberTalk normally does podcasts, but this week they interviewed Mary McGuire on camera to learn about her favorite threads.  You will see Mary's projects and hear her explain what thread was used where. Very interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUGuTvFVEuE&feature=youtu.be

By the way, I'm guessing that these are the Wubbers flat-nosed pliers Mary mentions at the end of the video.
http://www.wubbers.com/babyflat.php

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright January 10, 2018 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, December 19, 2016

A Source for Finca Perle Cotton (and More!)

I'm told this is a great place to find size 8 Finca perle cotton from Prescencia, as well as a lot more.  Check out the beautiful fabrics!
https://shiboridragon.com

Five enabling points to Pat who told me about this.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 3, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, November 4, 2016

A New DMC Storage Cabinet

DMC has a new white storage cabinet for sale.   Just in case you've been good and want to tell Santa....
http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=76a30fd01cfc20abba91a789c&id=2ee08bde08&e=f7c1b12c64

http://commonthread.us/dmc-storage-cabinet-white.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 4, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Finca Perle Cotton Sources UPDATED

Perle Cottons and Cotton Flosses for Bitch
I've gotten my threads together to stitch Bitch.  As you can see I have perle cotton from Finca and cotton floss skeins from DMC.  The colors are not all good matches to the lettering, but I am hoping to mix and match shades of lavender and lilac on the design.  The Finca perle cotton colors and sizes are (top to bottom):  2720 (size 16), 2711 (size 16), 2699 (size 8), and 2687 (size 12).  The DMC cotton flosses are (left to right):  240, 210 and 211.  In person the best match to the lilac paint on the painted canvas is the Finca 2699.

For those who aren't familiar with Finca perle cotton, it is Egyptian cotton from Prescencia SA in Spain that is available in five sizes-- 3, 5, 8, 12 and 16.  (The larger the number, the smaller the diameter of the thread).  Currently there are 122 solid colors and 33 variegated color sets for the perle.  Finca's Mouline Embroidery Floss is available in the same colors if you need a combination of perle and floss style threads.  Note that Mouline Embroidery Floss has over 300 colors, though.  So not every floss is available as perle cotton.   This thread is distributed in the USA by Colonial Needle.
http://colonialneedle.com/Perle-Cotton/

Although you can order straight from the Colonial Needle website, quite a few shops carry Finca perles.  Among the shops stocking Finca needlepointers are familiar with are Amy's Golden Strand, Come to the Point, KC Needlepoint, Needle in a Haystack (the one in Alameda, California) and Needlepoint Land.  Here are their websites (in alpha order).  If you know of other shops that carry Finca perle cottons, please let me know so I can add the shop to this listing.
http://www.amybunger.com/home.html

http://www.cometothepoint.com

https://www.kcneedlepoint.com

http://www.needlestack.com

https://needlepoint.land

Many thanks to the King of Threadaholics--Michael Boren--for help assembling the shop list above.  And now, I need to start thinking background and embellishments....

UPDATE:  Blog's readers have come up with additional good sources for Finca's perle cottons and flosses (and their metallics and more).  If you are Canadian, Erica says you can stock up using Sew Fancy.
http://www.sewfancy.com/threads-finca.htm

If you live close to Northern Virginia, Sara Leigh recommends a visit to Web Fabrics.  They carry all the colors of size 8 and 12 Finca perle cottons and she says their Cosmo embroidery floss is really silky and comes in 422 colors.
http://www.webfabrics.net/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?.s0&lastmenu=&menu=submenu-1100.html

Kathleen says Silk Road Needle Arts carries Finca. too.
http://www.silkroadneedle.com

Thanks folks!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright August 31, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Threadaholic Alert: Artfabrik Threads

Mary Corbet has done it again--she is tempting us with photos and links to a line of overdyed perle cotton threads from Artfabrik. These come in sizes 3, 5, 8 and 12, which means you can use this on any size needlepoint canvas or mix thread sizes for a special effect (light coverage in the background, normal coverage for a focal point, etc.).
http://www.needlenthread.com/2016/05/thread-talk-get-your-southwest-color-fix.html

Scroll down to see the colors.  No drooling on your keyboard!

Five enabling points to Mary....

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 26, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Cure for Streaky Perle Cotton Stitches

Mary Agnes at Needle Nicely has a great tip for avoiding the streaky look you sometimes get with perle cotton threads.
http://needlenicely.blogspot.com/2016/03/streaky-perle-cotton-stitches.html

Very clever, MA!  I think you just won today's Smart Cookie Award.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright March 20, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

A Thread Garden and Presencia Perle Cotton

Ruth gives us a peek at her stitching and her use of Presencia's perle cotton.  I happen to really like the colors and the sheen of this lovely perle cotton and I also like the variety of diameters it is available in.  Very useful stuff!
http://ruthsneedlework.blogspot.com/2015/09/back-in-ventura.html

In case you want to try Presencia and your local shop doesn't carry it, here is A Thread Garden's website.  Don't buy it all, ok?  The rest of us need some!
http://www.athreadgarden.com/athreadgarden.com/Home.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 12, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Lorraine's Cats

Colour Complements just posted photographs of an original design (intended for the lid of a Sudberry box) created by Barb using the Colour Complements overdyed perle cotton. It's wonderful and fun and looks easy, too! 
http://colourcomplements.com/2014/12/hand-dyed-perle-cotton.html

Congratulations to Barb for creating such a wonderful present.  And congratulations to Lorraine of Colour Complements for making such pretty inspirational threads.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright December 17, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Colour Complements Does Rainforest Crunch

Colour Complements is a Canadian company that offers hand dyed threads, ranging from perle cottons to silks to rayons. Recently Lorraine the owner has been stitching Needle Delight's "Rainforest Crunch" using her own line of threads.  I think she mostly used perle cottons.  Here is the finished piece.  Isn't it wonderful!?
http://colourcomplements.com/2014/10/rainforest-crunch-needlepoint.html

Many thanks to Lorraine for stitching blogging her progress using her own thread lines.  I really enjoyed seeing what color combinations she would use each month.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 24, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

A Tribute to Perle Cotton

Whether you call it perle cotton or pearl cotton, many of us look down on perle cotton. But not Gay Ann Rogers! Read her tribute to the versatility, beauty and strength of perle cotton on her website. 
http://www.gayannrogers.com/index.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Bunny Ears

Designer's Desk has their newsletter available on the Internet. Don't miss their "bunny ears" tip for cutting and opening skeins of perle cotton.
http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102470515590-125/Newsletter12014.pdf

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Painless Pearl Cotton

Whether you call it perle cotton like I do or pearl cotton like DMC does, skeins of their thread can be a challenge to untangle.  So DMC has posted tips on how to attain tangle free lengths of this thread.
http://dmc-threads.com/cutting-perfect-lengths-pearl-cotton/

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.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Perle Cotton Explained

Colonial Needle's blog is all about perle cotton (also known as pearl cotton) today.  There is a about about the name and the various sizes and what they are used for.  Colonial distributes the Presencia brand of perle cotton which I have tried. It's great stuff!
http://needlemenow.blogspot.com/2012/10/perles-of-wisdom.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Anchor Update

I posted a message to the ANG list about Anchor discontinuing some colors in their line of pearl cottons and received some information from various folks there I should mention. Elizabeth from Dames of the Needle mentioned that "Presencia will be coming out with pearl cottons in their line that will match the colors being discontinued. While there may be dye lot differences these colors will be around, but produced by another company. They were announcing the addition to the pearl cotton line at the San Diego TNNA show."

Here is the Presencia website. This is a Spanish thread under the brand name Finca, but it's available in the U.S. and you can order directly from their website.
http://www.presenciausa.com/

Eileen from Ridgewood Needlepoint mentioned Anchor is basically dropping their #3 pearl weight threads, which is the fattest perle cotton. Some colors from the other sizes of their perle cottons are being discontinued but the real impact is on those who need the #3 Anchor perle cottons. So check your stash and any projects you plan on stitching in the future to see if this impacts you.

Many thanks to Eileen, Elizabeth and of course Denise for bringing this up in the first place. Our shop owners and designers are THE BEST!

Denise owns Threadneedle Street.
http://www.threadneedlestreet.com/

Eileen owns Ridgewood Needlepoint.
http://www.ridgewoodneedlepoint.com/

Elizabeth owns Dames of the Needle. Visit them all and have fun browsing!
http://www.damesoftheneedle.com/

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow