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White Threads has a new home!

I’m trying something new. I’ve decided to put this blog into recess and continue afresh on Substack. You can find the new White Threads blog at https://yvettestanton.substack.com/

Please join me there. When you subscribe at Substack, you will receive my posts in your email inbox. How good is that?!

March 11th, 2025 | Category: Introducing... | 2 comments

Portuguese whitework tablecloth

Portuguese whitework tablecloth

One of my most favourite needlework images that I’ve ever taken.

This is the tablecloth from my book, “Portuguese Whitework”. I took this photo in my sister’s backyard, on her outdoor table. I’m still surprised that this image came from that day’s photographing. It’s far more dramatic than I ever would have expected!

Portuguese whitework is a style of needlework from the town of Guimarães in Portugal. It features drawn thread work, eyelets and lots and lots of bullions. You can learn more about it in my book, “Portuguese Whitework”. Ask your favourite needlework retailer for a copy or purchase it from my website.

March 6th, 2025 | Category: Portuguese embroidery, Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães, whitework | 2 comments

Tina’s finished silk sampler

A couple of weeks after Tina showed me (and all of us) her progress on the Frisian Whitework Silk Sampler, she has now completed it and it is magnificent!

Tina Vernor silk sampler

Here’s what Tina had to say about it:

I am sitting here looking at this finished piece and I am more than thrilled with how it turned out and everyone who has seen it has been so impressed. The colors immediately caught my eye when I saw it come across my newsfeed on Facebook last fall and I stopped what I was doing and placed my order. I had never done any Frisian Whitework but this came with your videos and I was pretty sure I would be able to figure it out. Your kit arrived quickly from Australia and I started reading directions and watching your very well produced videos. The fabric dying was a great adventure and I actually went through the tea dying process twice to get a little richer color for the beautiful Gumnut Silks. For anyone who is tempted by this piece you can assure them if they can count they won’t have any problems. Your videos covered every detail from start to finish and you always responded quickly to my email questions (which mainly had to do with my password). Thank you for designing such a stunning project and making it available to the stitching community.

Tina stitched this using the instructions and supplies from my Frisian Whitework Silk Sampler Self-Paced Video Online Course. The instructions are also available in my book Frisian Whitework and I have supplies packs with all the supplies, available on my website.

March 3rd, 2025 | Category: customer embroidery, Embroidery classes, Frisian whitework, how-to videos, teaching embroidery | 2 comments

FiberTalk chat with me, no 4

Fiber Talk

I recently had a chat with Gary and Beth at Fiber Talk. It was a chat that had been held over a long time because of my illness, so it was great to finally talk with them again! We talked about my most recent book, about online classes and about Hardanger in general.

Have a listen (or a watch) and tell me what you think!

https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/02/22/fiber-talk-with-yvette-stanton-iv/ and on FlossTube: https://youtu.be/YGd-h45n90Y

March 3rd, 2025 | Category: embroidery musings, FlossTube | Leave a comment

Tina’s silk sampler progress

Tinas silk sampler progress“I wanted to share my progress! This is about five days of progress. Tina”

Last year, Tina signed up for my “Frisian Whitework silk sampler self-paced video online course”. She has started work on the project and is doing so well! Her stitching is absolutely beautiful. Well done, Tina!

If you’d like to do this course and achieve wonderful results like Tina, you can sign up for it at https://onlinelearning.vettycreations.com.au

February 20th, 2025 | Category: customer embroidery, Embroidery classes, Ethnic embroidery, Frisian whitework, teaching embroidery, whitework | One comment

Another Hardanger Filling Stitches finish

Ruth Klein's version of my Hardanger Filling Stitches sampler

Ruth Klein has sent me photos of her beautifully stitched Hardanger Filling Stitches sampler. I so love seeing what people have done with my design. Often they are personalised with colour or other variations to the original design, which I delight in seeing.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Ruth, and congratulations on such a lovely result!

If you’d like to make this design, the pattern and instructions can be found in my book, “Hardanger Filling Stitches”. I have supplies packs available with all that is needed to make the original cream on cream design. You can find them and the book on my website.

February 19th, 2025 | Category: customer embroidery, hardanger, Hardanger Filling Stitches, whitework | 6 comments

Out of office

Out of office – change of plans: Following Christmas, I wasn’t due to be back in office until 6th January. However, the opportunity has come up for me to spend some time in January with my husband.

I’m now already back, but I’ll be out of the office from 7th to 23rd of January 2025. I will attend to enquiries and orders on my return. I apologise for any inconvenience.

Happy New Year!

January 2nd, 2025 | Category: Uncategorized | 4 comments

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers, readers and fans for their support this past year. While it hasn’t been the easiest of years, it has been so lovely to see the enthusiasm with which my latest book, “Hardanger Filling Stitches”, has been received.

Thank you all for your encouragement of me over this past year.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very happy one. I will be celebrating Jesus’ birth with my family and my church family. I hope we all find some time to rest and reflect on the things which are most important to us.

I’ll be taking some time off over Christmas and will be back in the new year. See you in 2025!

December 18th, 2024 | Category: embroidery musings, Hardanger Filling Stitches, Portuguese embroidery, Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães, whitework | 4 comments

Embroidery and AI

Today’s post comes about because of someone else’s blog post on AI and embroidery. The author has said she wants more people to read it, and I am linking to it here as I also want people to read it.
https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-embroidery-space

The author, Anne Oliver, lists a number of things that you can look for to see if something might be AI. She mentions things like deep shadows and branches that go off in odd directions. She also mentions a lot more, but these ones, I’d like to talk about.

When I photograph my whitework, I often have deep shadows, because when photographing whitework that’s how you can show the pattern and texture of the actual work. However, as it happens I haven’t really seen many whitework AI “embroideries” – though now I’ve said that, we probably all will!

Branches that go off in odd directions can very well be a sign of AI, but they can also be just a sign of stylised design or poor design! I so often see designs that have leaves and flowers thrown together in odd ways that don’t really work in terms of nature. This is particularly true in crewel embroidery and goldwork embroidery, both of which are often quite stylised. Sometimes these oddnesses work in terms of design, but often they don’t work design-wise either! When my sister, Prue Scott, and I wrote our book Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature, Prue drafted all the designs for the first edition. As well as being an embroiderer, Prue is a trained botanical artist. She knows how plants work, and how they fit together, and drew the patterns accordingly.

A number of the points Anne mentions are not always indicators that something is AI – just to be clear. However, they ARE things to check for. I would suggest that the more of the things Anne has listed that you find in any one piece, the more likely it is that it is AI.

If you haven’t already read the article from when I linked to it at the top, please go and read it now.
https://lolliandgrace.com/blogs/blog/artificial-intelligence-in-the-embroidery-space

November 21st, 2024 | Category: embroidery musings | One comment

Orders not currently going out

Frisian Whitework Rectangular Pendant

Just wanted to let you all know that I’m really unwell this week. I haven’t been well enough to do any orders. I apologise for this and will do them when I am able. It’s likely that it won’t be until next week.

The picture is completely irrelevant to this, but I wanted to provide some eye candy.

November 20th, 2024 | Category: Uncategorized | One comment
 
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Yvette Stanton White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.

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