Category Archives: Resources

Free Hand Embroidery Patterns in Old French Design Book

  By | | ,
11 Comments

Free pattern sample 1As regular readers know I often highlight free books, patterns and resources that I discover online. On the archive.org site I discovered and French design book  the Directoire designs for textiles which has been digitised by the Internet archive. The Directoire designs for textiles is an out of copyright pattern book that was published in 1793. The patterns are French and the book is catalogued as containing over 100 drawings.

Free pattern sample 2I have a few of the patterns here so you can get a taster of what is on offer in this old French design book. Many are half the pattern so you have to trace them off on tracing paper – flip it and then you have 2 sides of the pattern. They look great for biscorno pin cushion patterns or any project where you want a medallion.   I was very tempted to clean up some of them in Illustrator and present them whole but life got in the way.

You can download the file in a number of formats PDF which is the file format I think most people use, but you can also get a full Test download and formats such as EPUB and Kindle.

Free pattern sample 3If you are new hand to embroidery here is 12 Surface Stitches for Beginners a PDF file I wrote a while back. These surface embroidery stitches can be used with these types of patterns. Also check out the first few weeks on the TAST list of challenge stitches, for links to tutorials to the basic stitches.

a tangle of pinsFollow Pintangle and have it delivered to your inbox

You can have Pintangle delivered to your inbox by using the follow feature in the sidebar. Just enter your email address, and when you get the confirmation email make sure you say yes and you are all set!
If you are on a mobile or tablet you will need to scroll to the bottom to find the follow feature.




Crazy Quilt Quarterly Spring Issue is out

  By | | ,
Leave a comment

The Crazy Quilt Quarterly Spring Issue coverThe Crazy Quilt Quarterly Spring Issue is out so it’s time to curl up with a cuppa and indulge in a bit of eye candy and reading. Birds and birdlife is the theme for this issue with the cover artist being Allison Aller. As a quilter, teacher and author Allison Aller is well known and active in the CQ community. Allison Aller had a great knack of bringing modern techniques to contemporary crazy quilting.

The cover features a robbin sitting on a nest. Inside Allison Aller has generously described in text and photos how she made it covering what quilting traditions and techniques she  drew upon to create the bird and its environment.

Inspiration, tutorials and tips are throughout the magazine. Linda Hopkins has shared information on printing on silk. A Bead and Feather Butterfly project by Nina Burnsides looks fun to do and Linda Hopkins shares her process to create a Beaded Bird. For something different and crazy quilting with a modern twist Kathleen Klein shares how she made a steampunk peacock.

For a great piece of contemporary crazy quilting Angela Blackledge has shared an inspirational piece with her Heart Art Quilt. Pam Peugh shares another inspirational 12 block crazy quilt “ Bird Crazy” which was made as a round robbin project. There are some delightful birds on these blocks and I enjoyed ogling them.

Brenda Sandusky shows us how she tackled her Crazy Quilt Journal project of 2015 in Proud as a Peacock. Betty Pillsbury has shared images of her embroidered birds

Kathy Shaw has provided a free pattern and illustrated how it can be realised using different techniques. Throughout the magazine Pamela Kellog has sprinkled cross stitch designs that with the aid of waste canvas you can use in your crazy quilting. There are also vintage embroidery patterns with a bird theme.

The Crazy Quilt Quarterly Spring 2017 is a Magcloud publication and you can get it here. As a printed version which retails for 14.95 US and a digital version for $6.95.

I am not compensated for this review but I do have a professional relationship as I accept advertising for Crazy Quilt Quarterly in my side bar. In other words I get no kick back for this review.

Follow Pintangle and have it delivered to your inbox
You can have Pintangle delivered to your inbox by using the follow feature in the sidebar. Just enter your email address, and when you get the confirmation email make sure you say yes and you are all set!
If you are on a mobile or tablet you will need to scroll to the bottom to find the follow feature.




Stitch Dictionary now online

  By | |
27 Comments

Just a quick heads up to let people know that I have been busy behind the scenes moving updating and revamping the stitch dictionary. If you look along the top tabs on the site you will see a new one which will take you to an alphabetical listing of all the stitch tutorials I have here.

Regular readers might remember that I said I was going to move it here. The old stitch dictionary will be retired soon. It has taken some time and I still have some stitches to add which over the next few months will be published here on pintangle. As a stitch spotter I have collected many stitches and their varieties so I plan to build the dictionary into an online resource.

Take a look at the new stitch dictionary. Stitches are listed alphabetically and if they are known by more than one name I have cross indexed them. Hopefully people will find it useful so spread the word, share, link or tap into what ever groups and social networks you are part of.

Oh and if you spot errors such as links that don’t go to the right place etc let me know as its easy to make mistakes.