Just pure elegance in stitches

Leah Van Horn shares photos of her work to inspire our senses today. Look at the cheerful spring-like colors and variety of interesting stitches. Leah uses Kreinik threads in her purse designs, and you can see more here: justpureelegancepurses.com or on Instagram @justpureelegance.

"One of my grandmothers was an extraordinary crocheter and did table linens, but she was not an embroiderer or a quilter," Leah shares. "I have always loved stitching, fabric, threads and antique buttons etc."  Leah combines vintage frames and embroidery to create one-of-a-kind purses. Kreinik metallic threads are a lovely contrast in texture and light to her mainstay fiber, silk ribbon. The blend creates visual interest—a beautiful mix that we find in life itself.

We asked Leah a few questions about her embroidery work:

Q: When did you start stitching?

A: I have had a sewing needle in my hands since I was about eight years old!  (I’m a young 65 now) starting out with regular embroidery, then counted cross stitch, then beginning in 1980 I began a quilting journey that lasted until the early 2000’s.  At that point I had a burning desire to go back to embroidery but wanted to focus on silk ribbon because of the beautiful dimensional aspect of it. I discovered Kreinik threads about 8 years ago and have been incorporating it into my needle work whenever I can now. 

Q: Do you have any tips on stitching with Kreinik threads?

A: I used the black glittery thread on my fish and it was very curly coming off the spool, making it not want to lay flat when I stitched. I finally ran it through my hair straightener tool (which heated it up a bit) and that took the curl out without damaging the thread.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration?

A: For me as an artist, inspiration comes from many places, nature, my gardens, Pinterest, bird watching, my photography etc. since I mostly stitch with silk ribbon I am constantly playing with new stitches or threads to see what will happen with them. I play around all the time. I have a small library of stitch books and if I am in a jam I go onto YouTube and watch tutorials regarding stitching. That helps a lot too!

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Spring silk colors in bloom

Spring is coming, along with blooms and colors galore. We celebrate nature's spring shades with a spotlight on pink colors in Kreinik Silk Threads. See below for color families you can use in samplers, embroidery, cross stitch, needlepoint, and more.

Kreinik Silk Mori® is a 6-strand spun silk with a creamy luster. Silk takes dyes deeper than cotton, so the colors are richer, deeper. Silk feels dreamy to your fingers too, soft but strong. Use Silk Mori in any stitch, combining the number of strands you need depending on the stitch or fabric. Silk Mori comes in the same colors as Kreinik Silk Serica, the filament (shiny) version, plus a group of sampler-specific tones we call "Milkpaint." 

Kreinik Silk Serica® is a 3-ply twisted filament silk most often used in needlepoint, Hardanger, embroidery, crazy quilting and samplers. The natural high sheen of a filament silk looks best in specialty stitches that show off the lustre. If you use Silk Serica as it comes, straight off the reel, it's similar in weight to a pearl cotton. You can also separate it, moisten it and use it as a flat silk for Japanese-style embroidery.

Kreinik Silk Bella™ is a super thin filament silk. Even though it is tiny, you can still see the gorgeous natural sheen of silk. It is most often used for detailed work like stitching on silk gauze, or couching thicker threads, or fine details on designs (think veins in bug wings, etc). Silk Bella comes in a smaller range of colors, but still in matching shades to Silk Mori and Silk Serica.

For more information, visit http://www.kreinik.com/shops/Silk-Threads/

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