French Knots!!!

French Knots are one of my favorite embroidery stitches. I love the texture and the many ways they can be used and it is a rare piece that I don't find a way to add them in.

I usually use embroidery floss and French Knots can be made with anywhere from one to all six strands of floss. The number of strands used will help determine how large the knots are. Another factor is how many times the thread is wrapped around the needle. One of the most helpful things I have done is make a grid of French Knots using from 1 to 6 strands of floss and one to four wraps. This little grid is helpful when deciding what size knot I want to fill in an area or create a round counter point. You might consider making one for yourself to keep as a handy reference. I can't tell you how often I use it - but a lot! Here is what it looks like.

Here are some of my favorite ways to use French Knots.

To fill in areas like the sheep and treetops.

To fill in for texture in a background or border.

To enhance other stitches and create the center of flowers.

Another example of adding them to a set of stitches.

If you have not tried French Knots, they can be a little tricky but here is an excellent video as well as some stitching tips from the fabulous Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com.  

I thought I'd end with bright pink French Knots exploding out the ends of this flower. Happy knotting! 

Free Hand Embroidery Projects

My first embroidery with a few supplies

Sometimes I like to play around with stitch patterns and designs, other times I like someone else to provide the inspiration. The other day I stumbled upon some free embroidery projects and decided to do some further exploration and share my finds with you. 











Mary Corbet's Needle n' Thread

The first comes from one of my favorite embroidery sites, Mary Corbet's Needle n' Thread. Mary has a whole page of patterns that can be printed and used for stitching. Some would make excellent applique designs as well. She, generally speaking, gets her patterns from vintage embroidery books. She then cleans them up with her graphics program and puts them up for all of us to use. After you are inspired by the free designs, check out the rest of her site. It's a world of great information!

Dillmont Rose Hand Embroidery Pattern
I opened my messages this morning and found that Mary Corbet just put a new free pattern on her blog! It is a pretty symetrical medallion flower pattern. It isn't posted on her free embroidery pattern page yet so I couldn't let the opportunity to share her newest pattern with you!

The Embroiderer's Guild of America
Not only is this a good organization but, they have some free stuff even if you're not a member! While there are a few patterns on the page there are several instructional booklets that can be downloaded that give good information on stitching. The topics include Technique Basics of Surface Stitchery, Counted Cross Stitch, Blackwork and Stumpwork.

Embroidered Owl and Flowers
On Instructables I found this darling owl idea from craftknowitall.


Sewn Up Teresa Down Under
I was going to choose just one project from this site to show you but there are so many adorable ones I decided to post a page with links to all of her projects. I especially adore the napkins with a French poem embroidered on them and creating an embroidery from designer fabric. You'll have fun roaming through her projects, I think.