Easter Grass

Valentine's Day is in the rear-view mirror and Easter is coming up...a little later this year on April 24, 2011. One of our newest products is called Easter Grass. Just imagine a basket of Easter grass in one continuous strand and then wound on a spool. That's Kreinik's Easter Grass. Just think how much fun it will add to Easter-themed designs.

The thread is 1/8" wide and has an iridescent, mother-of-pearl look that shows a spectrum of colors depending on your viewing angle. This makes it versatile for many applications, besides Easter themes. Imagine laying a strand of Easter Grass on the surface of your fabric or canvas, then making decorative couching stitches such as Herringbone or Ladder Stitch on top with a gold, silver, or other color of Kreinik Metallic Cord - the look will be stunning.

Kreinik Easter Grass can be playful and fun, realistic in mimicking natural elements, or subtle and classy, all depending on your design and how you use it in your needlework and crafts. It can be used in needlework, crochet/knitting (as a carry-along thread), machine embroidery (couch it), jewelry, paper crafts, and more.

What can you do with Easter Grass? Use the iridescence to your advantage in Longstitch, background, and specialty stitches. For instance, use it to mimic...

• Easter Grass for an Easter project (sorry, that was too easy)
• Sea Shells
• Butterfly Wings
• Windows
• Bubbles
• Hummingbirds
• Insect Wings
• Shimmering water
• Iridescent clouds
• Jewelry
  

Got any other ideas to share? Post your ideas and comments here, and look for Kreinik's new Easter Grass in needlework stores near you.

New Gingher Sonia Scissors

Looking for a great gift idea? Gingher has just released their latest series of designer scissors. The series called "Sonia" features white flowers on a firecracker red background. These scissors are produced in very limited quantities. Each series has become instant collectors items. Once these scissors are gone, there will be no more in this series so act fast. Each pair comes with a blade sheath and reusable gift tin.

Kreinik offers the "Sonia" scissors in 4" Embroidery, 5" Knife Edge Sewing and 8" Dressmaker Shears. Click here to see these lovely new scissors.

Silk gauze and Patricia Parra

Once upon a time, a young girl stitched a sampler on gauze. It must have been meaningful gauze — the placard on the museum wall next to this framed needlework said it was gauze leftover from her family's care of a wounded Civil War solder. Romance makes me wonder if she was in love with this boy, and stitched her sampler on something that would remind her of him. Or maybe, she just wanted the medium, the finely woven canvas mesh on which she could achieve amazing detail for her palette of stitches.

If so, she wouldn't be the first or the last to stitch on gauze. Silk gauze — canvas mesh made of 100% pure silk thread — has been used in clothing, jewelry, embroideries and other textile work for centuries. Today it is common for miniaturists to use silk gauze for to-scale reproductions like rugs, miniature pillows and samplers. Silk gauze comes in different holes-per-inch sizes, so with 40-count silk gauze, for instance, you get 40 holes per inch, and a perfect 1-foot to 1-inch scale.

Other needle artists use silk gauze as an alternative medium and for creating intricate needlework. One silk gauze embroidery designer we are excited about is Patricia Parra. She has taken Kreinik silk gauze kits and added stunning specialty-stitch borders. Her particular use of decorative stitches creates more three-dimensional looks on silk gauze. When she uses Kreinik's holographic threads on silk gauze, her designs look simply magical.

A native of South America, she has had an interest in needlework since she was a child.  Her mother was a clothing designer so she has always been exposed to color and design.  Patricia opened a San Francisco needlepoint store in 2005 and started teaching and creating stitch guides. In 2007 she discovered silk gauze and fell in love with the delicate work. Her silk gauze patterns include traditional themes as well as contemporary geometrics using specialty stitches and lots of color. Patricia often loans us her silk gauze models to take to shows, and we are excited to share photos here.

Where to get more information on silk gauze:
• For more photos of the designs shown here, visit http://flickr.com/photos/kreinikgirl

• Patricia Parra, visit http://www.sfstitch.net/
• For Kreinik silk gauze, available in framed ready-to-stitch pieces or yard increments, visit http://www.kreinik.com/kshop/home.php?cat=44
• Kreinik silk gauze is available in needlework stores (visit http://www.kreinik.com/locator) or through stores in http://www.kreinikmall.com
• Check with your needlework store for other artists creating silk gauze designs. Erica Michaels Designs, for instance, has a new line of "Petites" silk gauze kits, http://www.ericamichaels.com.

Sweet Sixteen

Welcome to our brand new blog! We hope to share our thoughts, give tips and ideas, announce new stuff and just have lots of fun. For our very first posting we are announcing that the final installment of Kreinik's Holographic Threads are now in stores. Kreinik is proud to announce that the Holographic Threads will now be available in Medium (#16) Braid.

Use Medium (#16) Braid in Cross Stitch (10 & 11ct), Needlepoint (14-18ct), Plastic Canvas, Scrapbooking & Card Making.

Kreinik's Holographic Threads have been all the rage since their introduction in January 2010. The holographic threads, available in sixteen brilliant, 3-D colors, will now be available in most Kreinik thread sizes including Blending Filament, Very Fine #4, Fine #8, Tapestry #12 and Medium #16 Braids, as well as 1/16" and 1/8" Ribbons.

Visit www.kreinik.com for FREE projects and information.