Blackwork Journey ELIZABETH ALMOND, designer and embroiderer www.blackworkjourney.co.uk A conversation with Christine at Empress Mills, Colne led to the following; “You are interested in all aspects of needlework would you be interested in writing something for our Blog?” Since I am more than happy to talk about any aspect of embroidery I willingly agreed. Where

With a break from the tradition of focusing specifically on Threads this edition is an introduction to the world of Vilene Interfacings. Also unlike past articles this article is to be used along side a host of extra information just added to the Non Woven Interfacings of the Vilene Range. Extra Information on each interfacing

Woolly Nylon Thread was developed purely for industry. Overlockers were at one time only available in the ‘rag trade’ and this thread took away the problem of both raw edges and contrast edges in one go. It is not a needle thread. It throws a loop around the edge of the fabric – a Looper

HT Polyester is truly representative of Empress Mills long textile history. It has a purely industrial background and yet is ‘peppered’ all over the place in our sewing thread ranges because of its innate properties. We first began manufacturing it as a weaving yarn. Modern looms produce fabric so quickly that at the point of

Design & Creation This edition is a continuation from the last which discussed General Purpose Spun Poly Thread. 120s Polycore was a further development step and is ideal an ideal General Purpose & Machine Quilting Thread. It was originally designed for industry after ‘conventional’ polyester thread no longer stood up to the demands of high

We may have run ahead of ourselves up to now in dealing with specific, specialist purpose threads so this edition is going to look at perhaps the most common thread we all know and seek out some of its distinctive qualities. The most commonly used i.e. quite unknowingly by most of the population, is T120s

To really understand the evolution of the Machine Embroidery Threads we use today, it is necessary to look back at the development of machine embroidery in general. You probably all have a few hand embroidered pieces stashed away – table covers, runners, mats etc worked by hand from many years ago (you know the sort

Bonded Nylon is a very, very, very resilient thread yet, to say how strong it is, it is relatively fine. To achieve the same strength in a 100% cotton or even a polyester/cotton, the thread would be as thick as string! This means that you will only have to use a ‘jeans’ needle and nothing