#the steady thread

[somediyprojects]

2023 Botanical Blackwork stitched by Suzan Put. SAL designed by Clare Bradshaw. Bee & chamomile designed by Svetlana Sichkar.

[librarychair]

I finally got around to catching up with the weekly releases of this blackwork stitch-along sampler from the steady thread. You can see the start of my color choices now! Blackwork is so quick and nice, I want to do more of it in the future I think.

[aquitainequeen]

Time for my own little rant on textile crafts and fair compensation for those who work in textiles:

BEHOLD!

A stitched bauble from a design by The Steady Thread, a miraculous glorious resource for modern blackwork embroidery (you can purchase sewing kits or just downloadable PDF charts if you already have suitable cloth and thread!).

Looks pretty simple, you might say. It's just a case of stitches.

This took me three hours to sew.

Now in fairness, I am out of practise and I was constantly having to refer to a computer screen since I wasn't able to print the pattern, if I'd had a paper copy in front of me it might have gone quicker, but this. One little design. Three hours.

Textile crafts, all crafts, are intricate and time consuming and they can take an age to complete. There is so much checking and counting and pausing to make sure you're doing it right. It's enjoyable and stressful at the same time. Making something like this is work, and if someone is making things to sell, they are the ones who get to name their price, not the customer.

[somediyprojects]

Book cover stitched by Jan Bradley. 2023 Botanical Blackwork SAL designed by Clare Bradshaw of TheSteadyThread.

I have managed to complete my padded book cover using the first 36 weeks of Clare's patterns with some modifications, my layout and border additions. The book is being used to record patterns for use away from phone. The blues and black threads are all Pearl no 12 probably all Anchor but I've lost the labels! The silver is DMC Diamant D168. There are no beads on it.

[somediyprojects]

Botanical Blackwork stitched by lauchlen. Pattern designed by Clare Bradshaw of The Steady Thread.

The square outlines and fills are by The Steady Thread. All of the fills but two are from the free botanical SAL 2022. Two fills are from this year's. Cat outlines by me, fill by The Steady Thread. Bee and ladybugs are also The Steady Thread. Snails, bunnies, and squirrels with acorns were free blackwork patterns found here. Fonts used for the Audrey Hepburn quote were free and can be found here. This is stitched over two on 32 count linen and each square is 19 stitches wide. Why yes, I do hate my eyes. Lolol. Another holiday gift complete. It's for my mom and she already has a spot picked out. :) I promised her most likely for mother's day, so it's going to be a wonderful surprise to get it for Christmas. I had fun finding the patterns and adding them. My favourite is the bunnies. Some of the fills went fairly quickly, but others took longer. The linen was very sheer so I had to be careful about traveling so the floss line didn't show through. The pink in the bottom left, I think I spent just as much time frogging as I did stitching. Lol.

[somediyprojects]

Botanical Blackwork WIP stitched by crossstitch_crazy. 2023 SAL designed by Clare Bradshaw of The Steady Thread.

“I am still absolutely loving the steady thread botanical sal, I can't recommend it highly enough. The last two pictures are a frame I'm making for it 😍 thesteadythread.”

[somediyprojects]

2023 Botanical Blackwork stitched by trunky26. SAL designed by Clare Bradshaw of TheSteadyThread.

[somediyprojects]

100 Blackwork Circles stitched by justalittlemeenah. Pattern ($15.11) designed by Clare Bradshaw of TheSteadyThread.

“100 Circles finished just in time for Christmas! Find the Globe! 🌎👀 Pattern from TheSteadyThread on Etsy ! 💕”