Karen

Production line

Having spent most of this week winding thread, I thought a behind-the-scenes glimpse might be interesting.

I dye thread in hanks, then wash and rinse it, letting it dry outside on a sunny day. When it’s all dry it comes in to be sorted into groups.

I then wind each hank into smaller skeins. Hanks will yield anything from four to ten skeins, depending on the thread type. Pictured below is a new fine cotton boucle yarn that I’m trying. I can no longer get the chunkier cotton boucle that I’ve had previously.

When each hank has been turned into skeins, each skein is twisted. This helps to prevent tangling and keeps them neat and easy to pack for shipping. I use a miniaturist’s drill with half a large paperclip glued where the drill bit should be.

Then I label each skein with the thread type and yardage. I print, cut and hand write each label. Shown below is the new batch of silk perle 8.

Once each batch has been labelled, the skeins are sorted by colour ready to be counted, numbered, named, photographed, described and listed in the shop.

skeins ready to be counted, numbered, and named

This entire process has to be repeated nine times, since I currently stock nine different types of thread (four silk and five cotton). I can only wind for half a day at a time, to avoid repetitive strain injury, so it does take a few weeks to get all of it into the shop.

The best bit about the whole process is that there is no waste. Any part-skeins go into Randoms, to be gathered into mini-collections, and anything shorter than a yard goes into the ends pot to be used as ties for tags or in daily stitching.

Did I say that was the best bit? I meant it’s the second-best bit. This is the best bit:

I only take a few yards for myself, and only in the colours that really appeal to me. These threads are wrapped round paper tubes, made very simply by rolling a 3″ square piece of copy paper and cutting a little notch in one end.

So there it is – the process from start to end. Threads should be available from around mid-September, if all goes to plan. In the meantime there are still some very pretty threads in the shop here.

For me, back to the daily grind. I mean daily wind.

August 2025

And here we are again, another month down. Time, in thread on linen.

In the old Celtic calendar, the beginning of Autumn is Lammas on 1st August, signifying first harvest (grain). Second harvest (fruit) is around the autumn equinox in mid-September, and third harvest (nuts and seeds) is the end of October, at the start of winter. There is always much exasperated hilarity in our house when the Met Office refers to ‘false autumn’ on its weather reports as the leaves are starting to fall. That’s because it’s real autumn, we cry in unison. It may be still warm and sunny, but weather is not season. You only have to look at the changes in the light, in the air, in nature itself, to see and feel the signs of early autumn. This is my usual northern hemisphere bias, of course, because this is where I live. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, you’ll be enjoying the beginning of spring.

Probably enough meteorological ranting.

You can probably see the change in the colour palette. More muted golds/browns/reds/purples.

The light isn’t great this morning in my north-facing work room. The morning sun is no longer quite reaching me – another clear sign of the turning season.

I’m enjoying the occasional ovals and cross-quarters on this year’s template.

As always, it looks far more complex than it really is. It’s mostly variations on straight stitch and running stitch, with a bit of blanket stitch, chain stitch, fly stitch and herringbone stitch thrown in. The edges of each daily section are mostly couched, usually silk boucle yarn or other textured yarns. Nothing very difficult here at all.

So on we go into September. I’m currently working on a sample to road-test the new template for 2026 – so far so good, I think, and I’m already quite excited about stitching it for real next year. The template will be available (probably) from early November; more on that later. Stay tuned 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed your own August daily stitching, if this is your thing. Have a lovely Sunday.

Thread

A successful week’s dyeing: over 150 hanks of cotton and silk thread ready for winding into skeins.

But I’m not starting any of that until next week. I’ve discussed it with the boss (that’s me) and she’s reluctantly letting me have the bank holiday weekend off.

In the meantime as a special bank holiday treat, there’s about 20% off selected hand-dyed cotton thread in my shop this weekend only – offer ends around tea-time (UK time) on Monday. Pick yourself a bargain if you like hand-dyed DMC stranded floss, perle cotton (size 5 and 8) and finer cotton. I’ll aim to post weekend orders out on Tuesday next week. I’m so sorry but I can’t currently post items to Europe, Northern Ireland or USA.

Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend!

A pot of tea

Tea-drinking is a national sport here in the UK, but I like it best for dyeing fabric scraps and trimmings.

I thought while I was about it, I might as well dye some thread for the shop as well. I’m often asked for tea-dyed thread, and my usual answer is ‘dip some white thread in a pot of tea’ – it (almost) is that simple. But if you want the convenience of having it done for you, I now have a few tea-dyed threads in the shop. The silk threads have come out particularly nicely, a lovely golden dark cream. The cottons are much paler – in fact that’s how I like them, very subtly coloured – but if you want them darker, just let them steep in some black tea for a while until you get the colour you want.

I have some lovely space-dyed DMC threads still available, in most of the specified colourways:

And still a fair bit of cotton perle 5 too:

Some of the other lines are becoming a little depleted, so I’m in the process of preparing more thread for another dye session, probably later this month. Good job I haven’t got time to sit on this chair, it’s piled high with thread.

Very sadly, shipping to the US is suspended for now – I hope temporarily, but we will have to wait and see what options become available. Royal Mail has issued some rules about collecting the necessary tariffs, but with no clear instructions on how to do that. They also make no mention of the $80 admin/customs/processing fee, which to me is much more of a worry than the 10% tariff. If you’re in the US (or anywhere else, for that matter) and you have friends or family here in the UK, there’s nothing stopping them ordering threads for you as a gift to be sent initially to their UK address. Something to bear in mind for birthdays and Christmas, perhaps.

In the meantime, more thread-winding for me. Have a lovely weekend.

US update (and happier things)

Thank you so much to my wonderful US customers for your recent orders; parcels are winging their way to you and hopefully – keeping all fingers and toes crossed – they should arrive in the US before August 29th. The Royal Mail target for international tracked mail is 5-7 working days, so we should be ok unless there’s some kind of international air disaster, but let’s try not to think about that.

I had intended to suspend all further US orders from Wednesday, but I’ve decided to bring that forward to today. The dates are causing me too much anxiety, and all I can think about is what if international post gets delayed and you all get hit with an $80 charge. It’s unlikely, but I’d prefer to play this as safe as I can, so today is my last day for posting to you. I’m sorry if you’ve missed out; do contact me if you have any questions.

In the meantime, US customers can still support me by taking my online classes – the White House machine isn’t tariffing digital products (yet!)

On to happier things. When I can, I’m continuing to work on this long cloth, Tabula Rasa.

It’s about 6″ wide and several feet long. Part autobiography, part therapy, part self portrait. Lots of sheer and semi-sheer layers, with stitching beneath and on top of the surface.

It’s rare for me to make something I like, or something I feel proud of, but this is it, happening right here. It’s a joyous feeling.

It’s also rare for me to use a limited colour palette in such a sustained way, but I’m finding that I like that too.

Progress is slow, because there are Many Other Things I need to attend to right now (more on that later) (and it’s nowhere near as exciting or intriguing as I’m making it sound!) But a few quiet moments on this cloth in between the general busyness is proving to be very calming and grounding.

I’m so sad to be losing my lovely US community. I hope the day we can reconnect through tangible thread is not too far away.

US tariffs

Bad news for my US customers, I’m afraid, and bad news for me too.

The White House has issued an executive order that suspends the de minimis duty-free exemption for low-value items entering the US. Previously, any goods worth less than $800 were exempt from additional tariffs and charges, avoiding Customs altogether.

From 29th August, US customers will now pay a tariff on all international items, regardless of the value. Currently the tariff for goods from the UK is 10%, but the Executive Order (section 3) states that anything shipped through the international post system will be subject to a duty equal to the tariff rate applied to that country (10%) AND/OR a specific duty ranging from $80 to $200 per package.

You can read more about this here and here.

I have no control over what happens to your package once it leaves me, but it sounds as if every US purchase from me will be subject to these new rules from 29th of this month.

I would suggest that if you’re in the US and you think you might want to order some of my threads and/or fabrics, then now would be a good time. The new rules apply to anything arriving after 29th August, so as long as your parcel arrives before then, everything should remain as it currently is and parcels with a value of under $800 should just go through the system without issue. I always send overseas orders via international tracked post, which normally takes a week or two to reach the US. Unfortunately I can’t guarantee that any order placed now will arrive before then, but in normal circumstances it probably would.

Of course all of the above only applies to physical goods; digital products like my PDF templates and online courses (for now!) are unaffected.

I am sorry to be the bearer of such unhappy news, and I want to say an enormous thank you to my dear US customers (and many of you have become friends) for your valued support over the last few years. Let’s hope the current tariff/cost situation changes some time…

July 2025

I say it every month, but where does it go? Blink and you miss it. Time just escapes, scampering out through a door that can’t be shut.

Today is just herringbone stitch, which looks deceptively complicated (it isn’t) when worked in close rows like this:

As always, the stitching is very simple: mostly running stitch and straight stitch in various combinations.

There is a seam where I had to join two strips of linen. I like the fact that it’s visible but not too obvious. One year (not next year, that’s already planned) I will work the daily stitching on lots of patched and joined pieces.

As always, it’s a kind of map. Setting out, hoping for the best and finding a path through each day.

There is never a plan for the stitching. Choose a colour, thread a needle, and begin. See where it goes.

August ahead:

The blue thing you can see in the top left corner is the simple bag I keep it in. I made a sample of the template when I first designed it and then I stitched it to the front of a hand-dyed cotton drawstring bag.

The back has a single motif:

If you want to begin a similar daily practice, take a look at my online course here – you can watch as many times as you like, you can download the videos, and you get lifetime access (lifetime effectively means as long as I’m alive, or as long as I stay with Teachable, the platform that hosts my classes).

Happy stitching!

Tabula Rasa

I started some new work. It was a bit of a surprise; I didn’t see it coming.

Sometimes it just happens that way. Your hands know what they need to do and the brain is a bit slow to catch up.

It’s partly inspired by these words, by Pierre Janet:

“Every life is a piece of art, put together with all means available.”

It will be rolled up on a wooden bobbin, eventually, as a life that unfurls.

Much of the stitching is beneath the surface but still visible through the translucent layers.

Tabula Rasa, stitches beneath silk chiffon

Tabula Rasa, buried threads and stitches

At this point I don’t want to say too much more about it. For now, I’m listening to what it has to say and thinking about where it might be going.

And back again

After a few days in lovely Rosedale, North Yorkshire, I’m about ready to get back to work. We walked many miles in clean air, had lots of good food, and stayed in a quiet B & B with a garden shared with a barn owl, tawny owl and pipistrelle bats.

Of course there was time for a little on-location sketching and painting too.

The colour palette at this time of year is beautiful.

I do like a dry stone wall.

We came across a stone cross on the moors, originally marking a barrow, I think. It had some really interesting marks carved into it:

It had to be done in collage and stitch when we got home:

stitched sample, black cotton thread on eco-printed cotton

I have more images and colours to explore from the photos I took, and I’m looking forward to getting on with that this week.

It’s amazing how refreshing a few days away from it all can be. A bit of time and space to find yourself again.

The shop is open for fabrics, threads, daily stitching templates and collage papers, and you can find my online courses here for daily stitching, hand stitching, and mixed media sketchbook classes.

Not here

I’m taking a break for a week or so to recharge.

I won’t be checking emails or social media comments/DMs, so if you’re trying to message me please don’t expect a response until 21st July at the earliest.

My Big Cartel shop will be closed for a week or so; my Teachable school (for online courses and PDFs) doesn’t appear to have a holiday mode so that will stay open and accessible.

See you on the other side 🙂

Author: Karen

Production line

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August 2025

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Thread

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A pot of tea

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US update (and happier things)

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US tariffs

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July 2025

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Tabula Rasa

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And back again

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Not here

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