autistitch.

Hi there! I'm Avery -- they pronouns, autistic, 30. Check out my store on etsy: NeuroqueerCrafting (previously called SapphicStitches). On this embroidery sideblog I invite conversation, including constructive criticism on my stitching. Find my original embroidery, including pieces you can buy and works in progress, in my OP tag.

[angelspearlheart]

[milkweedman]

Fiber arts ranked by how easy they are to do on a bus:

Knitting: 10/10. Unless youre working with dpns. In which case, just hope you dont drop anything

Crochet: 8/10. Not bad, but if you drop the hook youre out of business

Spinning: 5/10. If youre lucky, its a grand time. If you drop your spindle, good fucking luck grabbing it before it slides under 10 rows of seats

Nalbinding: 7/10. Difficult when bumpy, but otherwise quite good as long as you have a good way to produce moisture for joins.

Weaving: 4/10. Hard part is convincing the bus driver to let you bring your loom on the bus. Results may vary according to type of loom.

Sewing: 2/10. Very easy to accidentally stab yourself when the bus hits a pothole.

Tunisian crochet: 10/10. Hook spends 99% of the time attached to the project in a way a standard crochet hook is not.

Basketry: 3/10. All my materials are liable to fly away as soon as someone walks by, and difficult to do on a bumpy road

Needle felting: 0/10.

[embroiderycrafts]

R I G A T O N I P A S T A by Acceptable-Trash8861 on reddit.

[neuroqueercrafting]

ID: hoop art embroidery of Marcus the worm with his arms spread wide, with the text "rigatoni pasta" plus little rigatoni pasta noodles around him

[museum-of-artifacts]

Parchment holes in manuscript repaired using embroidery circa 1417, currently in University Library Uppsala, Sweden

[handmadehistorypodcast]

What wait WHAT

[mydonkeyfeet]

I love seeing parchment / vellum mended with stitching! Here are some more.

[doriangrcy]

When looking at a medieval manuscript, it is often the illuminations that catch the eye—colorful figures rendered in miniature, gleaming gol

great post about this from the Morgan!!!

[sleepyjim2]

ⓘ Tip: while sewing, you can unlock scary sewing by losing your needle somewhere on your bed.

[oreramar]

Every time I'm forced by circumstance to hand-sew something, I remember a fairytale I once read. There are lead-up shenanigans as the humble protagonist helps small animals and meets the princess and all that, but in the climax, the princess rigs a contest for her hand by setting her own task: sew her a dress in a single night.

The noble suitors, who have never sewn a thing in their lives, sabotage themselves by their own ambitions: they choose difficult fabrics to work with and cut huge, elaborate patterns and select gems and pearls and beads to sew onto it, and snip such long bits of thread that they lose time detangling their stitches, and ultimately resort to pinning bits together as they run out of time, so that their offerings initially look beautiful and flashy, but when the princess tries them on they stick her with pin ends and fall apart as she moves.

The humble protagonist uses a very simple pattern without embellishments and sews using short lengths of thread (snipped off and threaded for him by little birds of course) which don't tangle and therefore save time. His dress is plain by contrast, but holds together and the princess is able to move freely in it, and so he wins the contest and her hand.

I particularly think about the bit about threading the needle with shorter lengths of thread, needing to tie off more often but avoiding tangles and thereby saving time.

I then ignore that piece of wisdom passed down through who knows how many years and proceed to cut the longest damn length of thread I can manage because I hate tying off beginning or ending knots and I will not subject myself to more of that even if it does mean more tangles along the way.

[nika-spacejunk]

I recently learned a method in cross stitching that makes starting a new thread way quicker: the loop start method. You'd typically put a thread through a needle, and if you fold it in half, have the halfway point in the eye of the needle. In this method, the middle point is your end, and you put the two tail ends through the eye. This creates a loop on the end, and you can lead your needle through it as part of your first stitch. Although it is a cross stitching method, I'm certain it can be adapted used in regular hand sewing too, and if you are worried about stability/the end breaking, you could go over the first stitch a couple times.

Here's a simple tutorial for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IMixsOq7Y4

And here is someone utilising the method for a single thread or thread that is too short to fold in half: https://youtube.com/shorts/RxzHUmIC-Vc?si=mHNcB3969BLesH6w

If you loop your double thread this also makes for neater work in my experience, because there are a lot fewer tail ends to deal with

[skullchicken]

Things I wish I had read in "beginner" sewing tutorials/people had told me before I started getting into sewing

You have to hem *everything* eventually. Hemming isn't optional. (If you don't hem your cloth, it will start to fray. There are exceptions to this, like felt, but most cloth will.)

The type of cloth you choose for your project matters very much. Your clothing won't "fall right" if it's not the kind of stretchy/heavy/stiff as the one the tutorial assumes you will use.

Some types of cloth are very chill about fraying, some are very much not. Linen doesn't really give a fuck as long as you don't, like, throw it into the washing machine unhemmed (see below), whereas brocade yearns for entropy so, so much.

On that note: if you get new cloth: 1. hem its borders (or use a ripple stitch) 2. throw it in the washing machine on the setting that you plan to wash it going forward 3. iron it. You'll regret it, if you don't do it. If you don't hem, it'll thread. If you don't wash beforehand, the finished piece might warp in the first wash. If you don't iron it, it won't be nice and flat and all of your measuring and sewing will be off.

Sewing's first virtue is diligence, followed closely by patience. Measure three times before cutting. Check the symmetry every once in a while. If you can't concentrate anymore, stop. Yes, even if you're almost done.

The order in which you sew your garment's parts matters very much. Stick to the plan, but think ahead.

You'll probably be fine if you sew something on wrong - you can undo it with a seam ripper (get a seam ripper, they're cheap!)

You can use chalk to draw and write on the cloth.

Pick something made out of rectangles for your first project.

I recommend making something out of linen as a beginner project. It's nearly indestructible, barely threads and folds very neatly.

Collars are going to suck.

The sewing machine can't hurt you (probably). There is a guard for a reason and while the needle is very scary at first, if you do it right, your hands will be away from it at least 5 cm at any given time. Also the spoils of learning machine sewing are not to be underestimated. You will be SO fast.

I believe that's all - feel free to add unto it.

[genesis-draws]

the rats dance

[vulcanette-deactivated20260506]

[thekijs]

I'm sorry, is this... Is this implying there's no DYE in that rug? All raw wool in its natural colours? She fucking bred the sheep to get the colours she wanted over the course of ten years!? Holy shit.

[pseudomantis]

[friendlyfrankenstein]

needle/pin sharpener.

no really, squeeze it. Does it feel like it’s got sand in it? is’s sharpening sand. Stab the tip of your needle into it back and forth and it’ll help put a sharp edge back on a pin or needle that’s been blunted by use, or has a little bit of rust on it. It can’t fix anything worse then a little of either, and won’t work on something REALLY blunted, but its a lifesaver.

[anais-ninja-bitch]

also it is a pepper

[vinceaddams]

It's not a pepper and it's not for sharpening!!

It may seem like it should be a pepper, since that would go better with the flavour of a tomato (and the mass produced modern ones are admittedly more pepper shaped), but it is and has always been a strawberry. Here are some antique emery strawberries, which are much more strawberry shaped, and some of them have seeds.

(source)

(source)

(Home Needlework Magazine, 1899)

And it's for cleaning needles, not sharpening them. I can't imagine how jamming a blunt needle point around in a bunch of loose grit could possibly sharpen it in any significant way, and all the historical sources I've seen only talk about cleaning.

"Every sewer's work basket or work box should contain an emery bag, as shown in Fig. 2, through which to push a needle when it becomes rough, squeaks, or sticks in the material. An emery bag is usually shaped like a strawberry and consists of a rough denim bag filled with emery powder, which is a very hard material used for polishing metals. Such a bag may be purchased for 5 or 10 cents in any store that sells sewing materials. Needles often become rusted from the perspiration of the hands or from being left in damp places. The beginner may use a small emery bag to remove rust; or, a small piece of emery paper may be used instead."

-Woman's Institute Reference Library, 1916.

"Use an emery whenever your needle does not slip through the cloth easily."

-The Improvement of Educational Administration in Massachusetts, 1916.

"An emery bag is inexpensive and is useful to keep needles polished and smooth. If the hands perspire and it is difficult to push the needle through the cloth, running the needle through the emery will relieve the condition."

-Boys' and Girls' Clothing Club, 1915.

"It was very hot to sit and sew. The needle would get sticky in spite of all the little emery strawberry could give it, and Beth's fingers had never felt so clumsy and uncomfortable."

-The Unitarian Register, 1908.

"She polished her needles to nothing, pushing them in and out of the emery strawberry, but they always squeaked."

-Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1910.

This patent from 1873 mentions an emery slab for sharpening pins, which is quite different from a cushion, and which sounds like it actually would work for sharpening.

"C is a slab of emery or other sharp and fine grit, for sharpening needles or pins"

Then later down the page it also says

"E is an emery cushion, secured in the body of the holder A, and is used for polishing needles and keeping them smooth."

So. Strawberry for cleaning. Not pepper for sharpening.

[elodieunderglass]

Gentle reminder - modern sewing tools are made from treated or plated metal, or stainless steel. In terms of human civilisation, this is a wild advance of technology. Needles are some of our oldest tools; rust was formerly ubiquitous, and attacked every form of everyday metal. A rusty needle tears fabric, or worse, stains it. The luxury and technology of rustproof needles and pins - forgotten in a few generations of human memory - and yet it is remembered in the strawberry. Memory is stored in the strawberry!

[hollyevolving]

memory is stored in the emery

[crochethub]

My latest Fidget Hedgehog by Important-Elk9538

[crochethub]

A little something for a friend birthday, finger crossed she likes it 😊 by SprintSapphire

[crochethub]

created this for my mom ❤️ by kizzbaerriess

[fright-designs]

“You entered the foyer of my mind and stumbled down the hall of my beginnings.” 🔪🩸🍴🦌 (buy it here)

[the-enchanted-little-star]

[floralprintsharks]

[ID: a photograph of black fabric embroidered with the solar system. The planets hang from the orbit lines that surround the sun by thin golden threads. End ID]

[pumpkinpaix]

kinda wish I had taken a photo of these before, but I’ve been doing some visible mending on my clothes recently :) the fashionable distressing had turned into slightly less fashionable gaping holes lol

thought it would be fun to try and continue the tree print onto the pants themselves to make it look like they were growing out—I’m not terribly good at embroidery bc I don’t do it very often but I think it turned out well!! yay :) I left some of the frayed edges in bc I liked the look, and I’m pretty happy with that decision \o/

[elodieunderglass]

You're amazing! They're beautiful!

[artificersarchive]

Needle felting, traditional and stumpwork embroidery, about 1/3 of Van Gogh's "Irises." The needle felted Monet I did didn't make it into the show, but this one did. "They Were Violet."