Sunday 21 April 2013

my needlework kit


&Stitches tool kit competition

The fab &stitches blog are having a blog link-up on the theme of embroidery toolkits. Such a great idea for a link-up because I am rather nosy so am enjoying the opportunity to peep into other peoples embroidery stuff ;)
Before I share my toolkit let me tell you one thing, it is NEVER usually this organised. I am constantly searching for scissors, my needlebook, the correct hoop. My kit is strewn about the house on shelves, in a wooden box in my bedroom, in the cupboard under the stairs and stashed in drawers. I know there are a lot of other chaotic crafters out there and plenty of neat freaks too- which are you?
 Here we go then, the mantis needlebook was made for me in a craftster swap- It is beautiful, regular readers will know I love insects and this guy really makes me smile. the big sampler,style needlebook was made by me in Primary school. I have lots of embroidery scissors I especially like these two pairs. There is also a disappearing marker and a transfer pencil. I also use sulky transfer pens if it's a project where I can get away with a thick line but my most common transfer method is using my lightbox and a pencil.
 Hoops and a handy project bag I received in another craftster swap- this is full of goldwork threads right now


My most essential bit of kit is my daylight lamp. I tend to work on a small scale and often stitch in the evening  so it gets loads of use . I love this lamp- it may not be pretty but it is saving my eyesight! It also means the you see colours properly, before I had it I made the occasional 'interesting' colour choice when stitching in the evening. 

I hope you enjoyed this little look at my kit- I'm off to check out a few more of the posts in the link up. Good evening x

7 comments:

  1. Ah ha! I need one of those lamps! lol. Great to see your working kit. b.x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting. Yes I had to switch to an Ott daylight lamp as well when working on one cross stitch with almost 100 colours - many of which had to be blended. Love seeing into other people's worlds!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the useful lamp along with the fab kit - I'm a fan of bug stuff too! I've been debating buying a light box. Do you use yours a lot? I find the sunshine-window combo isn't always as accurate as I'd like, but a light box can be an investment...
    Anyway, thanks for listing your kit and providing some inspiration with your beautiful work! Chrissie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My light box is a small cheap one from amazon. I'll be honest if its a sunny day I still use the window as it's quicker than getting the light box out but the light box is good for detailed designs. Also I sometimes enlarge images to use as patterns and if it's a fuzzy line I find it easier to trace with the light box .
      I wish I'd invested in a bigger, better light box and will definitely buy a better one at some point. I find myself having to keep repostion the image as the light is only bright enough in the centre of the box which is annoying!

      Delete
  4. Definitely, the lamp. I also need one like it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I need a lamp or light source of some sort. But, I haven't yet found one that meets my needs and works in my space.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks everyone! The light is from amazon and was one of the cheaper ones but has been so brilliant. There's no way I could stitch teeny tiny things without it. It is the white version of this one:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daylight-Silver-Twist-portable-D33707/dp/B002UPMM0O/ref=sr_1_10?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1366701025&sr=1-10

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you