Category Archives: Web

Sites worth bookmarking: Scanned Images, Engravings and Pictures From Old Books

  By sharonb | May 17, 2013 - 5:32 am | , , ,
2 Comments

screenshot of siteScanned Images, Engravings and Pictures From Old Books is definitely worth browsing and bookmarking so make a cuppa and take a look there are some real gems to be discovered.

These images are not only a wonderful design source but they will be of interest to anyone who prints images on fabric, are interested in the book and paper arts or do mixed media collage pieces.

The site houses over 3,000 high-resolution free images which have been scanned from old out of copyright books. Images are tagged and described so it makes for interesting browsing. Take a look particularly at the decorative initials and borders as I am sure many stitchers will find these great inspiration and sources for designs.

Friday freebies is a regular series in which I highlight free resources online, free patterns and links that are of interest to fiber folks.  All posts in the series are in the  Friday Freebie category I hope you enjoy them.

The Historic Tale Construction Kit

  By sharonb | February 15, 2013 - 5:53 am | , ,
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screenshot of siteI have no idea how people might use The Historic Tale Construction Kit but it has a fun connection to the history of textiles so I thought I would share. The Historic Tale Construction Kit is an interactive site where you can build you own story based on the embroidery found in the Bayeux Tapestry. Its a story cloth of another kind!
Elements from this historic piece have been digitised so that you can rearrange them to tell your own story. You can add graphic elements to the main area and save images to create you own historical textile comic strip. There are a variety of people, warriors, animals, buildings and other things that you can use.

It’s fun and since you can keep the image you could easily send them to friends.

Originally the Historic Tale Construction Kit was a Flash application created by Karnebogen and Jungbluth but it does not exist online anymore. So Johannes Jander rebuilt is in HTML and JavaScript.

Friday freebies is a regular series in which I highlight free resources online, free patterns and links that are of interest to fiber folks.  All posts in the series are in the  Friday Freebie category I hope you enjoy them.


Friday Freebies

  By sharonb | February 1, 2013 - 5:56 am | , , ,
1 Comment

screenshot This week I want to point to 3 sites that have recently published free embroidery designs and indirectly introduce you to sites you may not already know.

The first is a french site Broiderie d’Antan  houses many traditional patterns. Poke around and explore the site as you will be rewarded with many embroidery patterns. The site is in French but you can easily use Google translate to help you.

screenshot of tutorial The next site is the work of a New Zealander Janet Davis, JMD Designs.

This week Janet published a tutorial on how to make a fabric bowl,  but if you take some time out over a coffee break and venture further into her site you will discover lots of tutorials, projects and resources for needleworkers.

The next site I am sure everyone knows as it is extremely popular. If you are not already aware of Mary Corbet’s Needle n’ Thread  it would be a crime that I did not tell you of it.

screenshot This week Mary published a free embroidery pattern in a Jacobean style.

Once again if you have not investigated her site much you are missing out  as there are numerous video tutorials on various stitches, advice on techniques, tips to make a stitchers life easier. If you have not encountered Mary’s site before it really is treasure trove to explore.

Friday freebies is a regular series in which I highlight free resources online, free patterns and links that are of interest to fiber folks.  All posts in the series are in the  Friday Freebie category I hope you enjoy them.


Friday Freebie – Cross stitch font

  By sharonb | October 19, 2012 - 6:50 am | , ,
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I was poking around Font Squirrel and found Costura a free cross stitch font which I could not resist sharing with my regular readers. If you are making digital Christmas cards or delving into the paper crafts you might want to download this as it is very appropriate for anyone who embroiders.

screenshot of font

This is part of a series where I post either free patterns or links to resources online that are useful for stitchers. All posts in the series are in the  Friday Freebie category I hope you enjoy them.