Online University

3-months $171.84/month USA Shipping

3-months $178.05/month Canada Shipping

3-months $186.62/month Rest of World Shipping

Course starts July 1st with user/passwords to access the first of three lessons.

This 3-month course has two approximately 5" x 5"  flower basket projects that can either be hung together or used to line the inside doors of a double casket/flat casket with doors.  The projects use silk purls in multiple sizes, scallop trim, gilt 1 1/2 twist, and chardon coupe and bouclette on a 40ct closely woven white linen.   The kit includes all fibers, needles, linen piece and slate frame to work the pieces.  There will be one kit shipment.

If you already have a slate frame, there is an option without slate frame - but note this can not be done in a hoop or hand.

Subscriptions have been shortened to allow late students to register now.  There are only 54 spots available out of 250.

Paying in full is also a ~5% discount from installment plans.  

There are two ways to pay.  Either in full or on a 24-month payment plan using PayPal.  The links in blue below are for payment plans and take you to a PayPal page to complete the order.  Shipping is included, so please choose your correct region.  If your preferred email or shipping address is not the same as entered for PayPal, please email me with the correct info.  Husbands have a tendency to unsubscribe your class emails.

The installment plans have changed to have a total of seven shipments vs 2-3 shipments when paying in full.  That is why there is a discount for paying in full.

18-months USA Shipping ($205.33/month)

18-months Canada Shipping ($210.33/month)

18-months Rest of World Shipping ($215.85/month)

• The course will be an 'all-in-one' course with over 230 packages of silk and metal threads, silk purls, stumpwork glass eyes, stumpwork wire, stumpwork fruit forms, linen fabric, slate frame, casket box and lid inserts, and finishing materials (silk lining, lining papers, gilt edge papers, gilt woven edging ribbons (2 types), hardware, silk ribbon, mirror, glue, etc) for the entire project including 560 pages of instructions that are printed from pdf pages online, 7 stitch animations and 9 hours of detailed finishing videos (21 videos). 

• The course only assumes the most basic of knowledge - threading a needle, doing a basic satin stitch.  Full instructions for couching, needlelace, using the thread types, framing up your linen, tracing pattern, etc. are included.  The stitching is divided about 50% couching down unusual threads, 25% satin stitch/french knots, and 25% needlelace.  The emphasis is on using the unusual threads custom made for the project, learning the needlelace and doing the finishing - things that are new to the typical stitcher.   I have posted a blog with comments about taking the course from previous students for their perspective.

• Casket is: 11.5" wide x 8" deep x 6" high with feet

• It is designed to be worked over a 24-month period.  There are only 54 out of 250 spots for this course left and it is not planned on being run again after the spots are gone as some threads will not be available and the cabinet maker is retiring next year and these are all the boxes I will get.  100 people have already taken the project with several of the caskets finished and looking lovely!  (see a finished student casket here) 

• The course starts on January 1st with user names/passwords for the online materials sent that day.  Shipments of the threads/fabrics will avoid Christmas to reduce the impact of Christmas issues at post offices, theft on porches, and customs back-ups for international students.

• There will be between 2-3 shipments for the course if paid in full.  The installment payment shipments will be 7 shipments.  The linen, slate frame and half the threads will be shipped first.  (For installment payments, this first shipment is divided into 5 boxes vs 1 box).  A second shipment will include the box and more threads.  The third shipment will be the finishing papers, glues, tapes, etc.  Box sizes are different and not all items can be shipped in one box.   The shipments are timed to correspond with payment milestones.

• The instructions are released one lesson a month online.  All previous lessons remain open after a new lesson is released.  An email is sent on the 1st each month to remind you to log in.

• You stitch at your own pace.  There is an online forum (NING) which all students past and present in Thistle Threads courses use as a discussion and Q&A forum.  Pictures can be posted.

• Orders paid in full will have access to all lessons and materials shipped earlier, taking into account issues with near-holiday shipping.  Materials are only shipped after students have been given fair warning with an email so they can be on the look-out for boxes and give notice of vacation holds. 

• US shipping is priority mail.  Overseas shipping is first class mail except for the wooden box which will come priority mail. Customs duties are the responsibilities of the student.  I can not ship marked 'gift' or 'educational materials'.

• Please do not email me with requests for box only, patterns-only, box building instructions, or to reprice the class without items you already have.  The answer is no.  Why is the answer no?

If you are interested in taking the course or finding out more, email me at tricia@alum.mit.edu  

9-month installment payments ($77.50/month) USA Shipping

9-month installment payments ($80/month) Canada Shipping

9-month installment payments ($83/month) Rest of World Shipping

20 spots left for registration

This 18-month course is going to take a very deep dive into the whitework/cutwork found on English band samplers of the 17th century. While we are attracted to the large geometry patterns, often called reticella, there are several other techniques which are characteristic and found on most samplers of the period in concert with these complex bands. Over 1/2 of the course will be devoted to the reticella techniques.

The course is a mix of learning techniques, projects and designing your own whitework band sampler. You are being given enough materials to work one to three small pieces of linen with trial stitches so you can feel confident with techniques and material choices. Then there are two sampler projects, each with one band of reticella to explore a mixed colored counted work band sampler with the cutwork. One is based on a sampler from the Winterthur Museum collection and the second is inspired from a favorite piece of mine in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. This piece is a unique example of colored silk threads being used for reticella and I think it is a unique project that combines ease of sight because of the colored threads but also technical challenges to hide the color changes and thus it provides a master class in this reticella technique on the whole.

The third project is a punta-in-aria length of lace.  A fourth project can be worked, a band sampler of your own design based on all the materials we will be looking at, provided patterns, and the real 16th-17th century pattern books.  In order to do this, the course is taking on the unique challenge that presented the 17th century teacher/embroiderer - the geometry and math of this type of work. When looking at band samplers, we will find that often the pattern didn’t quite fit the chosen width of the sampler the person had chosen to make and that had consequences that had to be filled in or not. It could make for awkward spots in an otherwise stunning piece. I wanted to solve that and answer the questions of how to scale the patterns, how wide to work the bands, over what count and if you were working all these bands with disparate scales of withdrawn threads, how to make them all fit exactly in the boundaries of the sampler without excess room left over in the band.

The course will include detailed photographs of at least five samplers to illustrate techniques. This will be augmented by Pintrest boards to go with the course as both a general reference and specific references in the course text to illustrate points.  

Each technique will be accompanied by many patterns which can be cut and arranged and used directly as patterns for your personal sampler. I will also be giving guidance on how to convert many of the patterns found in the 16th-17th century pattern books to the correct scale so you can use them as well as how to look at a pattern and determine the best stitch choices and progression of working the pattern.

Choices of materials is a big part of this course. You have three linen counts that the course has been designed to use. A 30ct, 40ct, and a 53/55ct linen have been provided with enough of each to be used for two projects - the one I intended and your choice of which for the personal sampler. So the ambitious will have extra linen for other projects of this type or can repurpose it.  Both silk and linen threads will be used for the samplers matching the thread to the original pieces.

The kits will include all three linens mentioned, silk threads, linen threads, needles, and special blue contact paper.

4 are left

THIS COURSE IS OPEN TO ANYONE 

Because my cabinet maker is retiring in 2020, this course is being offered as a bundle because I would not be able to supply a casket later:

- a Double Casket

- all finishing materials needed to assemble the casket

- threads to complete the Four Seasons design (see B&W diagram) for the casket in stumpwork as well as the lid insert and the inner doors (see silk purl floral baskets).  Pictures of 12 finished panels are shown.

- mirror, inkwells, and bottles

All you need is to provide the labor to make your dream casket.  This is the last opportunity for a double casket.  My cabinet maker has committed to the last numbers of pieces he is making and our last hardware has been cast and locks made and delivered.  

NOTE:  The video is of a different casket and not the one for this course - it is only an example of what a finished casket looks like.  The black and white drawing is the design for the course.  It will be embroidered in stumpwork.

If you want installments - click the BLUE text not the drop down menu. 

$30/month for 24-months instructions only (Instructions will be posted over 36 months, PayPal can't do subscriptions longer than 24-months)

THIS COURSE IS ONLY OPEN TO THOSE COC STUDENTS WHO ALREADY OWN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CASKETS:

• Double casket
• Flat Casket with Doors
• Flat Casket

There will be a version of this course for new people - after the piece is stitched and so the price is known.  If you want to be on the wait list for this - email tricia@alum.mit.edu

This 36-month online course is open for reservations - instructions start Feb 1st, 2020.  This will be run exactly like the stitch-along for the Harmony casket.  Students will pay for monthly instructions for the sides and will provide all threads and materials.  It is assumed that the student has the required casket already as there are no more to sell.

The design is shown in the black and white diagram.  It will be worked in stumpwork in a variety of COC threads with an emphasis on raised work - dresses, detached flowers, feet peaking out, etc. Thread bundles will be periodically offered for those who want to 'kit' the class as they go.  If you are thinking of 'kitting' the project with the thread bundles I will offer - please let me know (tricia@alum.mit.edu) so I can put the correct numbers aside.  This isn't a commitment, it just helps me choose threads for the project as I go so I don't choose one so rare that it can't be supplied in those approximate numbers.  

Design drawings will be available for those who own a flat casket or flat casket with doors.  People are encouraged to mix their own elements in or just use a few panels for their casket to make it more their own.  

There will be an insert for the tray and a set of panels for the inside of the doors that are embroidered.  The pictures of the flowers in the baskets are the inside of the doors already finished.  This pattern, instructions and thread kit will be made available soon separately for those COC students who are already working on a design of their own and want to incorporate these inner doors into their design.  The instructions and thread kit for the insert will also be available separately for those who aren't doing this casket design.

Please email me at tricia@alum.mit.edu for any questions.

 NOTE:  The video is of a different casket and not the one for this course - it is only an example of what a finished casket looks like.  The black and white drawing is the design for the course.  It will be embroidered in stumpwork.

If you have always wanted an embroidered casket but are not sure of taking on such an enormous project, this kit was designed to allow people to make a sweet little trinket box, modeled off smaller boxes of the 17th century.  The box can fit a number of small needlework accessories like scissors and needles.  

• This kit has everything needed to work a 3" deep x 5" long x 3" high trinket box in tent stitch over one on a 20-count linen.  
• The kit includes the wood trinket box, handmade archival covering papers, gilded edging paper, pink silk lining, brass escutcheon, gilt thread woven tape for the edges, linen, 32 tubes of Soie Paris and 6 tubes of a striped gimp thread.  
• Detailed Instructions for full assembly of the box as well as glue and a brush are included as well as links to a video of the paper covering assembly.  
• Gold acrylic paint for wood feet is not included in the kit, but is available at your local craft stores.