Holiday Happenings

This week, many in the United States are traveling and preparing for the feast of food and friendship also known as Thanksgiving. We hope that all are safe, happy, and healthy—and we thank you for your business this year. The Kreinik factory and office will be closed on Thursday and Friday so that our staff can celebrate the holiday with their families and friends (no orders will be shipping after 3 p.m. Wednesday November 25). We will reopen on Monday, November 30.

Christmastime is here
Later this week our 25 Days of Free Christmas Projects begins on www.kreinik.com. Bookmark the page and check frequently as we add cute, classic, clever, and creative free projects to make for decor or gifts. We start with a few projects kids can do too; this is the perfect time of year to teach someone to stitch or craft.

Our own staff spent the last two weeks making ornaments for a Christmas tree, which will be auctioned for charity in the Parkersburg community. All the ornaments feature Kreinik threads, of course, because you can't have Christmas without some sparkle, right?! Take a look at some of the projects we made, including Bag O' Bits glass balls decorated with Kreinik Iron-on Threads, and a tree skirt decorated with the Iron-on Threads.

Christmas Schedule
Are you busy stitching holiday designs or organizing your projects for next year? For your Kreinik thread needs, place orders with your favorite online resources or visit your favorite needlework store as soon as you can. We will be closed for the Christmas break from December 24 through January 3.

TNNA Trade Show
We will be back January 4, welcoming the new year with a booth at the trade show: the TNNA Winter Show in San Diego, California, January 9-11. This is a trade show, open to retailers, designers, publishers and other needle art businesses, where companies like Kreinik debut new products. We are very excited to show what we've been working on the last few months. For info on the trade show, visit www.tnna.org.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kreinik family and staff!

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Update: Tokens and Trifles™ perforated paper

In 2005, the talented trio of Wendy White, Tricia Wilson, and Justyna Teverovsky of Redefined, Inc, brought an historical needlework medium back to life: die-cut perforated paper shapes in the Victorian era tradition. Recently the company announced they are closing.

Tricia provides some background on the product line's inspiration: "Back when perforation machines were developed, about 1860, the idea to combine die cutting and embossed paper with embroidery was hatched as part of the ephemera explosion of the Victorian Era." She recounts, "It was made from thick, luxurious paper with a smooth finish - and decorative edges that made the unstitched pieces works of art before the embroidery. They were the 'quick projects' of their time, often called trinkets."

Tricia, Wendy and Justyna recreated these wonderful shapes, first in a line of cards with elaborate borders, then with shapes featuring simpler lines called "Trinkets". Everyone who stitched on the shapes instantly adored them and began a collection. They connected us to stitchery's past and gave us something fun on which to stitch.

We have loved this product line from the beginning: quality perforated paper, beautiful edging to make finishing better/easier, potential for lovely designs and quick/satisfying projects. We have loved being their official distributor, providing shops with the lovely line and creating stitchery kits using the various shapes (see http://www.kreinik.com/shops/Ornament-Of-The-Month-Designs/ and http://www.kreinik.com/shops/Mini-Quilt-Collections/ ).

While the company will no longer make the products, Kreinik has stock of many shapes, see http://www.kreinik.com/shops/Tokens-and-Trifles/. We are stocking up on the most popular shapes as well to bring exciting limited-edition kits in the next year. So stay tuned to Kreinik and needlework stores for lovely projects to come.

In the meanwhile, here is the heartfelt message and story from the product creators: http://thistle-threads.blogspot.com/2015/11/end-of-era-tokens-and-trifles.html

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Which came first: Filament or Braid?

Stitcher Roberta recently asked us about the story behind the development of Blending Filament. "Did they come first, or did the Braids?" she asked, and "Were they meant to be used with other threads or as 'stand alone' fibers?"

Great questions, Roberta! Actually, the filaments and Braids came out at the same time. The filament was meant to be used as a blending thread, to add subtle highlights to whatever cotton or wool you use. The Braids were designed to be used as "stand alone" fibers, and were developed to be in different sizes to match (or provide perfect coverage) on common needlepoint and cross stitch fabrics or to be used in surface embroidery. Here's more detail on where Kreinik metallic threads come from, courtesy of Doug Kreinik:

In 1979, my parents, Jerry and Estelle Kreinik, loved visiting museums.  My dad spotted a 17th century sampler featuring gold work combined with silk threads and came up with an idea.  In the early 1950s, my dad worked for Naval Research.  He helped establish sizes used today for woman's clothing (during WWII it was mainly  a generic categorization of small, medium and large), invented the D ring and even created rain cap covering for officers' hats.  He also came up with the idea of using plastic metallic coated filaments to create military regalia for uniforms (the idea was nixed by the Navy at the time).  Go forward almost 30 years. He felt that the material he had seen when working for the Navy could be used for embroidery to take the place of real metal threads, which were expensive, hard to find, and could tarnish easily.

Kreinik Blending Filaments and Braids, first known as Balger (because my parents liked French sounding words) came about at the same time. My parents realized that there was a use for the filaments to give a bit of light to a blended thread, and the same material could be made into a braid to used as a separate thread or yarn. In the beginning they had Blending Filament,  #8, #16 and #32 Braids in seven colors. At the time, my mom felt that seven colors would probably be enough shades as a product line. Today there are 14+ sizes/weights and 220+ colors in the Kreinik metallic thread line.

When they began, they had a manufacturer make the Braids for them.  After a while, my dad, who loved machinery, began purchasing his own equipment.  Today we have many machines that run and run and run. We make all of our flat and round braids at our factory in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
For more information about Kreinik Manufacturing, visit www.kreinik.com and connect with us on www.Facebook.com/Kreinik.Manufacturing.Company

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