Monday, October 11, 2010

Snowflakes and metallic floss

I am busy stitching up a snowflake border:and a single snowflake with the word snow under it: I am bravely stitching these using...metallic floss!So far so goodwith the silver:The blue, however, is giving me a little trouble! I am attempting lazy daisies with this so maybe that is to be expected! I just can't resist the beautiful look of the metallic floss! The blue is dmc Jewel Effects E3843 and the silver is Precious Metals Effects E168

12 comments:

Annie said...

Hi Kim!..What I have found is that the silver and gold sew pretty nice, whereas some of the other colors are more fussy and I haven't been able to figure out why!...Sometimes running the floss through the wax helps though...I also went to my local Michael's to get some of that beautiful wintery blue and they were out!...the #3845 #3846 and the #996 bins were empty :( Needless to say I was disappointed!...Love the silver on the snowflakes!...Annie

Libby said...

That silver looks wonderful!!! Funny, after seeing your last post I stopped by Joann's and got some #3844 #3845 #3846 and some white! DMC should pay you!!

Annie said...

I wish we had a local Joann's!...I would be happily sewing away with those wonderful colors too!...

Wendy said...

I recently bought some of this floss... I haven't used it yet, is it going to be a nightmare?

MomWaldsPlace said...

They are turning out very nicely. Definitely worth the extra hassle of the metallic thread. What exactly is the problem with the thread, twisting, snagging?

Kim said...

Annie - I know just what you mean, I didn't have nearly the same trouble with the silver. It seems like the blue metallic floss is more fragile. The coating gets cut easier by my needle eye and fabric and starts rolling up and won't go through the fabric as easily. I wish you had a Joanns too - they are having a buy 3 get 1 free sale on DMC floss this weekend!
Libby - that is so funny! I am glad you got those colors - isn't the 3846 beautiful? I just got two new skeins so I can finish my snowman!
Wendy - It is a little difficult to use, but I think worth it for the beautiful result. You just have to go slowly. It helps to use a smaller length of floss than usual so you are not as prone to knots, and it helps to not move your needle eye up and down over the floss too much either.

Kim said...

Hi Mom Wald - Thank you! Yes - the metallic thread, especially the colored, is easy to snag and break and if you do that the color can flake away a bit. But it is definitely worth the extra hassle!

Vanessa said...

Oh I love it !!! Love snowmen and love the metallic floss! Now I wanna make one!!!

Kim said...

Thank you Vanessa! This has been fun to stitch so far!

Lakshmi said...

Silver colour floss looks lovely..i too had problem with metallic floss. combining one strand of silk thread to one strand of metallic thread made me easy to stitch

Noelle said...

I've been using silver red and green on a felt Christmas stockings project lately. It is a challenge, but it makes such a bright effect. :)
Also...just wondering if anyone knows the best way to draw an embroidery pattern (as well as words) onto wool felt?? I'm aching to use this metallic floss for some wording and small details, but it's really hard to write on felt.

Love all your patterns, Kim!

Kim said...

Lakshmi - Thank you! That is a good tip to add a strand of silk - it would make the floss go through the fabric a little easier.
Noelle - Thanks! Those Christmas stockings sound beautiful! To transfer a pattern onto felt - I think you could lay the pattern faceup onto the felt and stitch along the pattern lines through the paper and felt. There was a discussion thread in the embroidery group on flickr about this - here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/embroideredstuff/discuss/72157622757402443/ looks like some really good ideas!