A Biscornu for You

As we approach a busy holiday week, part of a busy holiday month, we want to say thank you to every stitcher, crafter, designer, teacher, retailer, manufacturer, distributor and more — all of the wonderful people we have met and worked with this year. You inspire us with your ideas and creations, and we love making threads for you.

The Kreinik thread factory will be closed from December 22 to January 1 so that our family and staff can enjoy time with their friends and family. We will reopen January 2. In the meantime, enjoy this free Angel Biscornu patter, courtesy of the design team at Praiseworthy Stitches (http://www.praiseworthystitches.com). We haven't had time to stitch the model yet - perhaps we can get a little stitching done during our holiday break. 

Enjoy!

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Designer Profile: Meg Chobanian

One of the benefits of being a thread maker is that we get to meet creative people every day. To see what a designer, teacher, stitcher, or retailer creates out of our thread and their chosen medium…well, it excites, inspires and motivates us here at the Kreinik thread factory. 

We recently met fiber artist Meg Chobanian through a mutual friend, Pamela Armas. Pamela is an amazing, creative person herself, running a doll pattern and fabric business, Treasures of the Gypsy. The Gypsy Doll Challenge is a main, annual exhibit at International Quilt Market, and we have been a sponsor for many years. We love working with Pamela's doll artists and exhibit many of their creations in our booths. When Pamela put us in contact with Meg Chobanian, we immediately wanted to tell you about this unique fiber artist.

First, take a look at the photo galleries on the web site: http://qexpeditions.com/photo_gallery.htm where you will see playful imagination combining color with dimension. One of Meg's themes is to create designs that speak to some childlike part of each viewer, and you can see that wonder and delight in many of her creations.

“I began making doll clothes as soon as I could cut fabric and hold a needle," Meg says. Her grandmother was a turn-of-the-century couturier and her mother was an expert dressmaker. Clearly, she was bound for a creative, textile life.

"I was off and running when I found my first book about quilting. And that has led to art quilts, surface design experiments, teaching, designing and a thread oriented way of life," she adds. Currently she is focusing on using fabric and fibers to create tactile art "somewhere between painting and sculpture." That sounds exciting, and we can't wait to see what Meg creates next. 

Meg distributes her line of patterns through her web site, www.qexpeditions.com, and one of her Internet shops. She also teaches. “I get inspiration from teaching," Meg notes. "It’s rewarding to start a new quilter with the basics and see them so thrilled and caught up in this thing I can share with them.”

We are excited to show photos of these unique dimensional ornaments Meg created for our exhibit at Fall International Quilt Market. They feature Kreinik Iron-on Threads and fabric as a sculptural ornament, rather than a flat, pieced piece. Imagine the creations twirling on your Christmas tree, twinkling in reflection of the holiday lights, fun, playful, child-like. You can almost sense a blend of ages: a child's wonderment with a fiber artist's craftsmanship. 

“I believe there is an almost mystical quality in things created by hand.," Meg says in her Artist's Bio.  "A part of the maker’s spirit must remain in something that takes so many hours of work.  I want each one of my pieces to become someone’s heirloom, to continue the thread of creativity through the generations.  Art is food for the soul of humanity and from the soul of humanity.  Given scraps or hardship we can all still create beauty and goodness with what we have, and each of us can enrich our own corner of the infinite universe by the simple things we can share.”

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Conductive Thread Tips

Thread you may already have at home can make plain gloves technology ready

After 40 years of making threads, we are still learning. Just a few weeks ago, we were so excited about a new specialty item we could bring to you, Conductive Fingertip Yarn. We posted a project online, wrote a blog, shared it on Facebook and Twitter, and started using it ourselves, excitedly making our own gloves conductive. Then a smart stitcher showed us that our normal line of Kreinik Metallic Threads can actually be conductive. No need for a specialty thread - just look in your stash! No need for a drab gray fiber - pick coordinating colors! 

We started testing, and it's true. You can make gloves conductive by adding a "pad" of stitches on the fingertips using Kreinik Metallic Threads. So far in our testing, there are some colors that don't work. However, a bunch of them DO work. Now we are addicted to making gloves conductive using MATCHING thread. With 300+ colors of Kreinik Braids, there is a color to match or complement every glove design. You can be technology ready and fashionable.

Kreinik thread colors that work:
025
024L
018
001L
4205
002
001V
015L
202HL
005L
003
003L
003HL
061
031L
001J

In our testing, the holographic colors worked really well (these carry an "L" after the color number). The pearls and gourmet colors didn't work. We suggest you do some testing with your desired color first, before stitching your project. We like the Fine #8 Braid or Tapestry #12 Braid size for stitching on gloves. 

If you are crocheting/knitting gloves, we suggest overstitching the finger area to create a pad of solid surface. That connects well with the smartphone/tablet surface. If you want to use the metallic as a carry-along, work a double strand into the fingertip area, and make sure the thread appears in as much of a dense, solid surface as possible.

Here's how we made this pair of $1 gloves conductive using Kreinik Metallic Threads:
1. Insert a "darner" or object like a Sharpie pen into the finger to create a sturdy filler.
2. Using Fine #8 Braid and a #24 Tapestry needle, or Tapestry #12 Braid and a #22 Tapestry needle, knot one end of the thread. Put your needle at a starting point, and pull the knot through to the inside (you may need to wiggle the glove fibers a little bit to get the knot to the inside). Begin stitching a pad of straight stitches on the fingertip area. Use satin stitch or straight stitch. 
3. When stitching is finished, stitch a little knot and pull the thread to the inside of the glove. Trim off.

We want to emphasize the fun part here: we have so many colors in our Braids, you can match the conductive fiber to your gloves, or coordinate with your favorite knitting and crochet yarns. We are so excited about this new use of Kreinik metallics. We've just fallen in love with our threads all over again. 

P.S. We are also excited about our new Reflective Yarn, which reflects light from camera flashes and headlights The 25 Days of Free Christmas Projects calendar features a knitted hat and wresters project using the yarn. Click here to check it out.

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News direct from thread maker Kreinik Mfg. Co., Inc., located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Visit our factory outlet store when you are in the area; call for hours 1-800-537-2166.

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