The Stitchscape Shop

 

After a lot of late night slogging to choose products, compare prices, place orders, unpack and check in, cut fabrics to size and fold them neatly, photograph all products, load the products onto my website, work out prices, write descriptions, and start advertising it .... my Stitchscape shop is open!! 

But, I hear you say, you've had a shop for ages, why is this so special? Well! This is a branched out, extended shop which will now also have tools to help with your embroidery, not just Stitchscape kits and printed Stitchscape products. I am asked all the time to recommend needles, or overhear comments about people's struggles to find pretty things or specific tools so I am hoping to fill that void a little bit with my selections. 

A big discussion I have with people is about being able to see the needle and thread it. At every workshop or event someone will say that they have had to stop embroidering because they can't see to thread the needles or have trouble keeping their hands steady enough to poke the thread through. 

I have found these really nifty little beetle gadgets which will hopefully help a little bit with that. They are essentially a common needle threader with that little bit of wire that you poke the thread through, but the pretty casing means that the wire is protected (because you can easily damage a cheap threader), and it also houses an LED light which lights up as you push up the wire so the needle is illuminated! Plus it looks really sweet. Baby F is very taken with these, presumably because of their bright colours, and I have to keep reminding him that he can't have one. 

For smaller threads and needles I also have these hummingbird threaders. They have a protective cap, and the threader is more like a little crochet hook which you can fold the thread over to draw it back through the eye of the needle. It isn't a one size fits all threader as it won't help with anything chunky but for single strand work it's ideal!

I saw these gorgeous little parrot pouch scissors whilst I was 'shop' shopping and they popped into my basket as well. The blades are only small but would be fine for snipping threads and small bits of fabric - a great little travel pouch to keep your scissors secure if you're stitching on the bus (like me) or on the go. I just think they are super cute and I hadn't seen anything like them before. Available in two colours too!

Baby F is very intrigued by the whole photography process - I spent several evenings taking over the whole dining table with my light box trying to get the right angles of everything. I snapped a picture of him too and it's very exciting actually because he's only just started to pull himself up to standing and wanting to stand up - he's been a bottom shuffler all this time and not at all fussed with walking. Now he's just discovering a whole new level of things and our baby proofing is moving upwards like a tide line. Look at those gorgeous baby blues. 

These beads are really pretty too. I've got a matching set of either little flowers, which are so sweet, I might pilfer some for my own stash, or the bigger individual 'pebble' beads, which I think are actually called petal beads but I tend to use them as rocks so I've compromised on the name. What's nice is that you get two different colours (one opaque and one slightly clear) per tube so it's a nice variety. 

Similarly with the candy cane bead tubes. The beads are all glass but there are different sizes, some are lined, some seed bead, some bugle beads all mixed in together. I've picked out colours which I commonly reach for in my bead box, the greens, blues, autumn tones and bright yellows for flower centres. Rather than spending lots of money on one pack of a single bead, these are a great option to build up a little collection quickly. The tubes can be recycled afterwards as storage for your other beads too!

I tend to buy in lots of different trimmings and laces which might work for kits (tricky buying online as you'll appreciate!), but they don't always pan out for my intended design so I've added them to my shop. There are some french cotton guipure laces, lovely floral detailed ones, picot edged ones... I've got other trims too, all of which can be used as they are, deconstructed into other things or layered on top of each other. Have a play, see what you can create. 

All of the things in my shop are either useful, used or just really pretty, and one thing I knew I wanted to offer was little bundles of felt. I use felt a lot in my pieces, either as part of the design like tree trunks or flower stems or buildings, or to pad out areas (filling in shells), or to create stuffed rocks which can then be further embellished. 

These rolled wool mix felt bundles have also been chosen for their colour themes. I've gone for autumn (tree trunks), coastal (rocks or fluffy waves), moorland (heather) and more of an urban one which could have houses with red rooftops. 

I have got more practical things; a selection of needles, which isn't the full range of ones I'd like to offer but lean more towards the bigger eyed needles like crewel and tapestry. Personally I prefer smaller needles like sharps or betweens so I'd like to have those too as an alternative eventually. Having a variety of needles is a good idea because it can depend what you are stitching through, or stitching with, or even what embroidery stitches you are making, all of which might need a different needle.

Previously I've always only sold hoops with kits (apart from in 2020 during the lockdown where I put them in my Etsy shop as people were taking up new hobbies and they went bonkers and got posted out to all sorts of countries! 

Eventually I took them off again, as the hoops were selling by the bucketload and I couldn't keep up, but it seems about time that I offer hoops on their own - this time with a bigger range of sizes, from 7.5cm to 20cm. They are my favourite brand, a UK make called Elbesee, with screw top fasteners which make the hoops really easy to tighten, and a nice quality finish. (Apart from the smallest hoop which is an interloper and a different brand - but still very nice!)

I've also decided to clear through my stash of fabric bolts. I'm a terrible fabric hoarder, especially of batik fabrics, and my eyes are bigger than the size of my storage space. I had more bolts of fabric sitting unused waiting for a moment in the sun than I realised and they are no good going unappreciated. Quite a lot of them are my soul colours, blues and greens with the odd purple and orange for contrast. 

I just love the variety of them! 

Anyway, they are available in fat quarter sizes, most of them folded up into pretty samosas. Some are longer and thinner than others because the fabric width varies but it's about the same square meterage for each. 

I'm very excited and pleased about my little collection of goodies. They are all available on my website, and I'm going to keep it on my website (dottytextiles.com) rather than share it to Etsy. I will also have a little travel pack of items to take with me to talks and events as well so interested persons can build up a whole pack of goodies to complement a kit perhaps...

Obviously it's all very new and shiny with only a small selection of items. If there are any items you think I should consider adding to the shop please do let me know, and I would really love it if you would have a gander through my online shelves and see what's on offer. Link here!