New Threads – November 2002

dede’s Needleworks has come out with a couple of great new threads. Silkbee is a silk thread which comes on 65 yard spools. It is available in 44 colors. For tent stitch I used two strands on 18 mesh canvas. I found that I liked doubling the strands over in the needle better than using two strands because it seemed to control the thread better. It is really an outstanding thread for blackwork and pattern darning. The blackwork sample I did looked beautiful and I can’t wait to do more. Pattern darning covered lightly but beautifully. This would be an outstanding thread for doing pattern darning over painted canvas.

The other thread from dede is call Tinore and is a metallic with a wire core, called a Couching thread. You can’t really stitch with this thread (I tried it) because the wire kinks and it is very hard to maintain an even tension. Since the end result isn’t much different from a non-wired metallic — use this where you want the staying power of wire. Use this thread four couching, for the bottom of something like Web stitch, for pattern couching (Or Nue) or for making a curved edge to a piece.

So how would you use it? I’m going to do some or nue ornaments with it, use it to outline some pop art daisies for a purse I’m making, add it to some Christmas tree ornaments. I was so impressed with how tight I could make curves when couching and how easy it was to bend the wire into shape and then couch that I’m ready to stitch up a storm. dede suggested that you could also make twists and braid and either couch it or make trims out of it. Tinore comes in 15 yard spools and is available in 2 colors.

Six Strand Sweets is a new line of overdyed cotton flosses in colors as yummy as their names Starting with DMC floss, the colors are dyed in small batches in a wonderful assortment of softly shaded single colors and variegated shades. There are currently about 100 colors with names like Spice Drops (a good medium green), Blue Raspberry (blue turquoise — like Icees), and Cotton Candy (pastel blue pink and cream). These threads work beautifully for tent stitch and geometric stitches. Many of the colors in this line are unique and I really liked the clarity and crispness of the color changes. The company puts together special offers of color assortments which change monthly.

I just got some skeins of two wonderful new cotton threads from a company called Ty-Di Threads in Pleasanton, CA. They are hand-dyed to match each other and come in a nubby version (sort of like Wool Crepe) and a smooth version (sort of like Spring II). They come in 20 yard skeins in 35 colors. The colors are almost solid, soft and rich. There are a few color families so you can do some shading.

I stitched with the nubby thread and was delighted with the results. For tent stitch it gave a great textured result where the nubbiness of the thread almost obscured the stitches. It was wonderful in cross and diagonal stitches, but a single strand was a bit thin for straight stitches on 18 mesh. A cool way to use this thread would be to make a layered stitch, like Rice Stitch, with one layer in one texture and the second layer in the other. It seemed a bit thick for blackwork on 18 mesh, but created a wonderful dense pattern when darned. Probably the coolest effect was to use this yarn to make French knots. They get a very interesting texture.