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April Threads

Hello, hope everyone had a good Easter break.

Some good news: there will be new threads in the shop later this week. 1,451 skeins of it, to be precise – yes, I counted – all wound and labelled by (my) hand.

At present when you visit the shop you will see all the thread listings are labelled ‘coming soon’ but that will change once the threads go live, probably midweek or so depending on how I get on. And I’ve just realised that midweek is tomorrow. The week has almost gone before it’s started.

Along with the good news, I’m afraid there’s some bad news. Royal Mail has increased their prices from today, and overseas shipping costs have increased by quite a lot. When I reviewed my shipping costs, I realised that I hadn’t been including the cost of packaging or the currency conversion fee, so in fact I’ve been undercharging for a few years on international postage. I’ve now rectified that, so you will notice the increase. As always, if the automated checkout overestimates your shipping cost, I will refund any overpayment. US customers, unfortunately your shipping is always going to be slightly higher than everyone else’s because it includes the 10% tariff.

It’s much more cost-effective to buy as much as you can at once, as you only pay the shipping cost once per order. Because postage costs are calculated by weight, up to 100g of thread costs the same to post as a single skein.

While we’re on the bad news I’m afraid there’s a bit more of it, for some. A few thread types are now discontinued so when the current batch is gone, they’re gone forever. The discontinued threads are fine cotton boucle, DMC stranded floss, and cotton perle 5.

Fabric packs are also discontinued and most are on sale, but there are still a few of those left so we’ll see how long they last.

Thank you, as always, for your kind support.

The sun is shining this morning, the buds are unfurling into new leaves, the birds are singing, and all is well.

Wishing everyone a lovely week ahead.

Threads update

A (very) small update this week with a few extra threads for the shop.

Limited quantity of Random threads collections

What’s currently in the shop is all I have until later in the spring, so when it’s gone it’s gone.

silk threads, limited quantities remaining

I hope to have a dyeing day next month – or even later this month, if we get lucky with the weather. I need good light and a couple of decent drying days, so let’s see what the weather gods bring us. After dyeing it’ll be a few weeks of winding and labelling skeins, so I’m aiming for new thread in the shop by late March/early April.

In the meantime I’m finding time for a few quilting/couching/stitching lines on the quilt.

Hope your week is going well.

Shop news

After a very busy few weeks, the shop is about as full as it can be.

I’ve re-stocked a limited quantity of hand-painted chiffon scraps:

There are still some other lovely fabric packs too.

I’ve made some new half-skein Randoms thread collections – these are (broadly) colour-coordinated half skeins from my current thread range, in sets of 8-10. Good for small projects, and good for expanding your thread collection. Because we all need more thread, right?

I’ve curated some cotton threads collections, one of each from my current range of cotton threads:

And I’ve made some really pretty mini-collections of silk threads, one each of silk perle 8, silk perle 12, and fine silk:

Good for secret Santas and stocking fillers, because we probably have to start talking about Christmas.

I’ll be closing my shop around 10th December-ish, only for the holidays and only for tangible items that need posting; PDFs will continue to be available throughout the holiday period. It seems early to be closing, but I really can’t do the whole panic-last-minute rush thing, spending entire afternoons in a queue at the post office, worrying about whether post is going to arrive in time etc. Last date for overseas orders (that’s outside UK) will be around 2nd December – so if you’re not in the UK, you’ve got about three weeks to buy what you need 😱

Three weeks? Better start writing a few lists myself…

Happy shopping! Get in touch if you have any questions about any of the products, and thank you as always for your valued support. I know I couldn’t do any of this without you.

More thread

I have given myself too much to do, as usual. It started as an experiment to see whether I could produce enough hand-dyed thread to sustain a stand at Knit and Stitch in Harrogate next year. It was an idle thought, which I have tested and unfortunately found wanting. The crucial points I hadn’t factored in are that I only have one pair of hands, and there are only twenty-four hours in a day. I haven’t completely given up on the idea, but it will involve a little more rigorous planning and pacing if it’s going to work.

Hey ho. More thread for the shop, then, in the meantime.

There’s a big pile of hanks awaiting winding into skeins:

cotton and silk thread ready for winding

There’s a growing pile of threads that have been wound into skeins and are waiting for labels:

Apologies for the light, by the way – my north-facing room doesn’t get any sun, and the view from my window is mostly trees. Definitely not complaining about any of that, but the light is decidedly blueish at my desk at this time of year.

And finally there’s a smaller pile of threads being labelled:

These are ‘spares’ that will go into Randoms, which will be in the shop (I hope) some time next month. I’m trialling a new labelling system which so far is working quite well. The swing tags get a bit cumbersome in a set of threads, and it can be fiddly to get them all to lie flat when packaging them for posting. These are smaller and flatter and I hope might work a bit better. I sourced some plastic-free sellotape so the labels and tape will be compostable.

I estimate there’s probably another hundred hours or so of winding/labelling/sorting into groups, so this will keep me busy for another couple of weeks at least.

I’ll be back at the end of the month with October’s daily stitching.

Fabric heaven

It’s been a busy week of curating and creating some lovely new fabric scrap packs.

There’s a new selection of black/white/neutral sheer and semi-sheer fabrics for you to layer and/or paint:

This one contains scraps of very sheer nylon chiffon, unusual textured tulles, dress nets and plain tulle, two-tone voile, and black and white printed chiffon that takes paints and inks beautifully. These are synthetic fabrics so they won’t take fibre-reactive dye. I’ve had great success using diluted acrylic inks on these fabrics – the inks are semi-translucent so they don’t interfere with the sheerness of the fabrics, and they’re pretty much colourfast when dry.

There’s a collection of hand-painted fabrics (and I’m especially pleased with this one):

hand-painted chiffon, tulle and other scraps

This one contains paint-dyed synthetic chiffon, painted textured tulle, fine nylon chiffon, hand-dyed cotton scrim and a few snippets of hand-dyed cotton organdie and other tiny scraps. Fabulous for layering, and good for my Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks course, and my Stitch a Little Landscape course too.

And finally, if you like a little luxury in your layered stitching, there’s a collection of hand-dyed silk organza and silk chiffon:

The silk chiffon is ultra-soft and floaty; the organza is stiffer and semi-transparent. This one comes with a couple of yards of hand-dyed/tea-dyed silk ribbon.

hand-dyed silk organza and chiffon scraps

I even made new labels and sourced some compostable cellophane bags to package them in.

These collections are available now while existing stocks last; I don’t plan to restock before Christmas so when they’re gone they’re gone. Still lots of choice in threads too. Just saying.

Overseas news: I’ve now sent a couple of trial packages to the US, one of which has been delivered (it took about a week) and the other is well on its way. The system appears to be working fairly smoothly.

Unfortunately for anyone in Canada, Royal Mail is not currently delivering there due to the postal strike. You can still place an order if you want to, and I will post it when the current troubles have been resolved.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

Paint-dyeing

I paint-dyed some chiffon fabric this week.

It’s the same technique demonstrated in my Stitch a Little Landscape course, very easy and very effective. Any fabric paints will work; acrylic inks will work too.

If you let the fabric partly dry while it’s scrunched up, you get these really attractive watermark effects where the colour settles into the creases:

An unexpected extra – I laid the fabric strips to dry on some packaging paper and now I have free collage paper too:

Some of the chiffon will end up in sheer fabric scrap packs next month. I’m pretty pleased with these, which is always a good way to end the working week.

Have a lovely weekend.

Shop update

I think we’re nearly about there with the threads update. First I’m taking a couple of days off, so the new batch of threads will be live from Wednesday, ish.

Here’s my dyer’s perks collection, just some of my favourites from the new batch – silk boucle, fine cotton boucle, silk perle 12, silk perle 8, fine silk and cotton perle 8:

I still can’t post anything to Europe or USA, I’m afraid. If you live in one of these areas and have family or friends in the UK, they can order for you as a gift using their UK address.

I have some very pretty silk thread collections, if anyone is thinking about (whisper it) Christmas yet. Just saying.

Silk thread collection: silk boucle, silk perle 3/8/12, fine silk

I’ve also got round to making some better labels for the thread tasters:

I increased the number of Randoms, since these are always the first thing to sell out.

Randoms – 10 mini-skeins, roughly colour-coordinated, various types of thread

You can preview the new threads here; when they’re live they’ll be available to purchase.

Happy Monday!

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.

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.

Category: supplies

April Threads

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Threads update

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Shop news

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More thread

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Fabric heaven

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Paint-dyeing

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Shop update

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Production line

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Thread

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A pot of tea

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