[Steppes] Silk embroidery threads

[Diane Rudin]

I'll have to check them out; I, too, tire of driving to Plano, Arlington,
Lewisville, North Richland Hills, and Mineola to shop for fine needlework
supplies.  Splendour floss (by Rainbow Gallery) has long been a favorite of
needlepointers, and is of good quality, like Au Ver a Soie's Soie d'Alger. 
(And unlike Kreinik's Silk Mori.)

A word about laundering *any* floss (cotton, silk, linen, etc.):  if one is 
planning on laundering an embroidered garment, pre-wash the threads to take out
the excess dye before using them to embroider.  This is especially important
with the hand-dyed and over-dyed specialty threads that are so popular now. 
Otherwise, one runs the risk of the dye bleeding onto the rest of the work,
ruining the piece.  This is true even of some DMC cotton colors; DMC recommends
pre-washing the reds especially.

If one opts for dry-cleaning, make certain that the cleaner knows how to treat
hand embroidery.  Many don't, and the piece ends up ruined.  Ask technical
questions to get past airy assurances; if one doesn't like the answers, go
elsewhere.

I also agree that once one has stitched with silk and linen, it's hard to go
back to using cotton.  Be careful, though; silk can catch and snag easily on
rough hands, so trim & polish fingernails and use non-greasy lotion on hands.

--Serena, self-confessed silk addict


--- Ciard49 at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Greetings Good Gentles,
> 
> Only recently did I become aware of a shop in downtown Garland that 
> specializes in silk embroidery threads.
> The ladies there told me the shop had been open about a year.  
> 
> Yea! No more driving from Mesquite to North Dallas for fancy needlework 
> supplies. They also plan to add to their inventory of DMC Medici yarns like I
> used 
> in making the Comet scene from the Bayeux tapestry.
> 
> The Stitchery Shop        627 W. Main    Garland, TX  75040
> 
> I bought some of their lowest priced line called Splendor imported from 
> France. It looks like there were maybe 75-100 colors in that set.  Each color
> cost 
> about 3 dollars BUT it was twelve strands 8 yards long.


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/