London Embroidery School

Central London Embroidery School

technique

June’s Student of the Month

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As we go striding into July, it is time to annouce that June’s Student of the Month is….. @craftswithadz !

Tambour sequins practise By Craftsbyadz

 

They took a Tambour beading class with us back when we had classes in the studio (seems like forever ago now!), taught by one of our wonderful tutors Amy Burt. You can see the practise that has gone into these skills as the work is looking very even.

‘Belle’ from the live action Disney Film costume By Craftsbyadz

We look forward to seeing where these skills will be put to use as they are a keen Disney and Broadway lover, recreating minature costumes for their collection of OOAK dolls.

 

Tambour embroidery By Craftsbyadz

Working on a minature scale can be challenging at the best of times so seeing these pieces coming together is really astounding. Especially trying to scale down the embroidery which can already be pretty fiddly at real scale!

If you would like to be the July’s #studentofthemonth, use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool or tag us when sharing your photos from your London Embroidery School class or the things you have gone onto make following one of our class.

All Images courtesy of @craftsbyadz

 

Day 3 of our 10k Celebrations

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We have had a competition, day 1. We have had a giveaway, Day 2. Therefore on Day 3 of our 10k celebrations we have a Discount to offer you.

Did you pick up on our hint at the launch? We will be knocking 10% off the Beginners Monogramming Class on 11th Sept 2019 until Friday 6th Sept or while places last. You can access this using the discount code TYINSTADAY3

 

For another opportunity to be a winner, tag us in your images on instagram from the class or what you have learnt to be entered into our student of the month competition, use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool 😉

Not your thing? Don’t worry there are still plenty more exciting offers coming up that are sure to be right up your street. Check in next week to see what we reveal for Day 4.

It’s the BIG one (or is it the BUG one…?)

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We are so looking forward to having a new group of you lovely people into the studio for the 5 day Goldwork Course at the start of February. It is always such as treat to see how the beetles grow as the students learn more of the techniques used in the artwork.

Taking place between Monday 4th and Friday 8th February, the course will take place each day from 10am-4pm where we will be working on a variety of traditional goldwork techniques whilst creating a lovely golden beetle.

This 25 hour course is available at a Beginners or Intermediate level to suit your stithing experience.


We have a couple of places still available if you would like to join us. You can book through the link here the booking pages, places are £555.00.

We hope to see you next month with your beetle!

Pro Tips: Threading the Needle

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I know you have threaded a needle before, you know you can do it, but sometimes when you sit down to start and sewing project do you feel like you spend more time threading the needle than actually stitching? If so, don’t worry perhaps you haven’t found your threading style just yet.

”Threading style!” I hear you say, ‘There isn’t more than one way to thread a needle!’

There absolutely is, so we have complied our favourite four for you to try and see what works best for you or that particular thread/needle combination.

  • Stick it through the eye

Technically all of them stick it through the eye, but this one is the 101:

  1. Taking the raw end of the thread
  2. Line it up with the eye
  3. Push it through the eye enough to be able to catch it on the other side and pull it through cleanly.

This is probably the one you have already been trying to do, the difficulty with this being that it can be hard to see the eye of the needle so you miss the target or you only get part of the thread through and then the other part gets all ravelled up when you try and pull the thread through so you have to start again.

 

  • Fold and Conquer

A popular method with professional embroiderers, this one is a good alternative if splitting the thread is you most common problem as you are threading the body of the thread through the eye not the end, therefore there is nothing to split:

  1. Take the end of your thread in a loop and use your needle to pull the loop into a tight fold
  2. Hold the fold firmly in one hand and place the fold into the eye of the needle
  3. When a little of the fold is through the eye, pull it through until the loose end from the loop is entirely clear of the eye

The problem with this one can be that if you have a small eye to your needle, or a fluffy thread, this method means you have double width of thread to pass through the eye in order to thread it which can make it tricky.

 

  • Rub-a-dub-dub

An interesting method, but pretty simple once you get the hang of it:

  1. Lay the thread across your palm
  2. Position it so that some of the thread is lying across a firm part (I like to use the joint of my forefinger)
  3. Place the eye of the needle over the thread, press down firmly and rub back and forth steadily
  4. When a little loop of thread forms through the eye of the needle, catch it and pull it through cleanly

Fun right?! This one can be a bit of a revelation when it works, the only problem being that works better with some threads than others. The smoother the thread the better for this method, so silks or cotton work well but other threads may not form the loop in order to pull it through easily.

 

  • Thread blooming

You may not have come across this method in other guides, but I personally swear by this one for small needles (goldwork 10’s and 12’s especially):

  1. Take your thread by the freshly, cut raw end right between the pads of your forefinger and thumb
  2. Squeeze your fingers closed (almost like you are rolling them shut over the raw end, like the thread was a tightly closed flower bud)
  3. Place the eye of the needle where the raw thread just disappeared between your fingers
  4. Roll your fingers back, allowing the tip of the thread to expand and ‘bloom’ into the eye of the needle
  5. Give it a little wiggle to get enough through the eye and pull it through cleanly

This one is not to everyone’s liking but it can get you out of some fluffy situations.

 

So there are some methods for you to try and see how you get along with them. Feel free to share your progress with us, using the #londonembroideryschool or if you have your own method you think we need to know about, let us know about it.

Happy threading!

September’s Student of the Month

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Today we have a new student of the month…Robin Schweitzer (aka. @robinzahood)!

Have a look at the beautiful black work she has been working on in and following her Private Tuition session with the London Embroidery School’s Amy Burt.

This kind of counted stitches work can be very time consuming but the intricacy of the patterns used to create these shading effects is oh so satifying.

If you would like to be our student of the month, next month, use the hashtag #londonembroideryschool when posting the images of your work from class on instagram so we can see your progress and hand out some more discount vouchers!

Beginners Blackwork Day Class

(Image: Amy Burt)

Should this have sparked your interest in Blackwork, our next class is now booking for Saturday 2nd March 2019 10am-4pm…

 

New Class Alert! Introduction to Embroidery

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London Embroidery School is thrilled to announce a brand new class!

Introduction to Embroidery, is the perfect class for beginners, for those of you who haven’t had any embroidery experience before, and would love to give it a go.

The class will take you through all the basics, from how to correctly frame up your fabric to some classic embroidery stitches.

You will get to work on this very charming diver design!

Take a look at some other inspiring hand embroidery projects,  which use these classic embroidery stitches.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhnXYjlhPDk/?taken-by=longdawgstitcher

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhoFqwTH4p_/?taken-by=hatchlingmakes

Find out more about our new class here!