Tutorial: Sampler Motif Needle Minders with a Beaded Edge

Before we dive into this week's tutorial, I want to remind you to sign up for my upcoming in-person embroidery workshop at the Cathedral Treasury in Halberstadt. This is your unique opportunity to stitch in the grounds of a medieval Cathedral with its beautiful cloisters, a location steeped in history and beauty. Enjoy in-depth discussions of the embroidered pieces on display with the curator, myself, and your fellow students. Getting to the beautiful historic town of Halberstadt is easy as it has its own train station. Internet platforms such as Booking.com provide booking travel arrangements and lodging in your own language. The past 14 years have shown me that organizing financially successful embroidery workshops in Germany or the Netherlands is almost impossible. Yes, the Halberstadt workshop has four attendants, which means that it does not cost me anything to teach. However, I am not earning anything either. As I am a business and not a charity, I do need to draw an income from my work. Therefore, I will not organize further in-person workshops if the count remains at four. Instead, I will concentrate on my partnership with Creative Experiences and my own online classes.

Now, on to this week's tutorial: beaded needle minders with historical motifs. I have always been fascinated by historical samplers! When I lived near Rotterdam many years ago, I became a textile volunteer at a local museum in Maasland. They had a stunning collection of beautiful historical samplers. I had permission to reproduce them when life took me in a different direction. Since then, I have been captivated by the beauty of these old samplers and often wondered how I could use those motifs that I liked without stitching a whole sampler. Two weeks ago, I had an idea. Why not use individual motifs to decorate a needle minder? This could all have gone by without you knowing about my now somewhat sizeable production of needle minders. Alas, I am Gary and Jennifer's trusted side-kick on the Tour de Broderie, and the needle minders have gained quite some traction. So, let me show you how to construct these beaded beauties!

Tutorial: Beaded needle minders with historical sampler motifs

For my needle minders I used: 40ct natural linen by Zweigart, variegated silks by Caron, Glissen Gloss, Gloriana and Flower Silk, thick template plastic, thin wadding, double-sided tape, polyester sewing thread, round 2 cm nyodem magnet and beads 11/0 and 15/0. However, you can use whatever you like. Solid colours in stranded cotton on aida would work just as nice. As I don't have a stack of reproduction sampler patterns at home, I did the next best thing: visit the Antique Pattern Library. Scroll down a little for 'Kreuzstich und Filetmustern aus Graubünden'. This is a collection of Austrian folk patterns published in 1927. Square patterns of about 30 x 30 stitches seem to work best for a 4 x 4 cm needle minder. But again, anything goes! And, when you are not too precious about your finished masterpiece, you can also use the larger motifs to make coasters. Just saying :).

Tutorial: Beaded needle minders with historical sampler motifs

Cut two identical squares of the thick template plastic. They should be a bit bigger than your sampler motif. Cover one with the thin wadding. Either glue it on or use a piece of double-sided tape. You are going to cover this piece with your finished embroidery.

Have your finished embroidery face down. Center the plastic+wadding on it. You can either lace it on or stick it on with double sided tape (my preferred method). Make sure you follow the grain of the fabric as best you can.

I then simply folded the corners over. However, you can also mitre the corners when you prefer. Personally, I don’t cut any of the ‘folding bulk’ away. I like my needle minders chunky and not too fiddly to make :). Cover the bare piece of thick template plastic with a piece of linen in the same manner. Stick a magnet on the back. You can either buy magnets with a sticky side or you can use a piece of double sided tape with a regular magnet.
 
Put both halves of your needle minder together. Use your polyester sewing thread and hide your knot between the two halves. Now slip (ladder) stitch both halves together. As this is a rather three-dimensional step, I have made a short video for you.
 
You can stop here. You have a perfectly working needle minder.

Tutorial: Beaded needle minders with historical sampler motifs

If you want to bling up your needle minder, add a beaded edge. It is worked in two stages. The larger beads are sewn on in such a way that they lay flat with their holes facing up. During the second stage, you will add picots by weaving through the beaded edge created in the first stage. This very three-dimensional work is also best explained in a short video (I call beads pearls sometimes, sorry!). Enjoy your needle minders!

Downloadable PDF-Instructions are available to my Journeyman and Master Patrons.