Thistle Threads
Frosted Silk Purl Floral Casket - Late 2025
$ 0.00
Thistle Threads
Frosted Silk Purl Floral Casket - Late 2025
$ 0.00
Details Coming Soon! If you want to get first notice that this class is registering, sign up on the interest page.
I have been imagining this casket for years but didn't have the thread yet. In the 17th century almost all silk purls had a silver strip wrapped around them so you could still see the color. The highly textural embroideries with couched or looped frosted silk purls would glitter and sparkle as you walked by. I have an original piece of this work and it is just breathtaking.
This floral casket with four classic animals (lion, leopard, stag and unicorn) will be embroidered in a mix of frosted silk purls with accents of just plain silk purls and checks as well as gold threads and spangles. The matt animals will complement the glittering flowers surrounding them.
The project will be worked on a short flat casket and will be a complete project, meaning the box and finishing materials will come with it. I only have 80 caskets to divide between this course and the Four Elements Tent Stitch casket course so interest and material availability will decide how many spots there are (between 30-50).
Progress will be followed on my YouTube Channel - Thistle Threads with Tricia Wilson Nguyen as the piece progresses.
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Thistle Threads
Martha's Silk Satin Pincushion - January 1st, 2025
$ 30.00 - $ 200.00
Visit product page →This pincushion is inspired by one made by Martha Edlin. She expertly worked counted thread techniques on non-counted silk satin fabric on her pincushion, casket and jewelry box. Originally taught in the COC course, it is being offered as a separate course for those who would like to understand the brilliance of Martha Edlin
The pincushion is worked on a silk satin fabric with the use of waste canvas and Au Ver a Soie Soie Paris threads. It is backed with pink silk velvet. The kit contains 13 full tubes of Soie Paris, silk duchesse satin fabric, pink silk velvet backing, needle, waste canvas. You will need a roller frame to mount the silk satin on tightly. I offer the same 12" rod/6" side bar set I used in the drop down as an option. If you need help finding one or checking to see if yours will work, I can give recommendations.
Installment Payments by Payment if Prefer:
3 months ($68.67/month) USA shipment
3-months ($71.37/month) Canada Shipment
3-months ($73.37/month) Rest of World
The course will be over 3 months. Kits will be shipped after Christmas.
Month 1 - setting up the frame and attaching the waste canvas to the silk fabric smoothly
Month 2 - stitching the embroidery
Month 3 - removing the waste linen for pincushion fabrication
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Thistle Threads
Silk Lacet Flower Bouquets - January 1st, 2025
$ 250.00
Visit product page →If you prefer subscription payments, click the blue link for PayPal:
3-months Silk Lacet Bouquets ($87.67/month) - USA Shipping
3-months Silk Lacet Bouquets ($90.33/month) - Canada Shipping
3-months Silk Lacet Bouquets ($93.12/month) - Rest of World Shipping
In the 17th century boarding schools, young ladies used finger braided lacet to form flower petals and construct stems and bouquets of flowers to put in their embroidered caskets or give as tokens of affection. There are many of these in museum and private collections, including a wonderful set at the Ashmolean museum. Daisies, strawberries and flowers, pansies, and other beautiful flora were all invented complete with serpentine leaves.
This 3-month course will show the basics of forming petals, leaves and berries and then assembling them into stand alone stems or little bouquets. They are appropriate for small vases, shadow boxes, boutonnieres, or surprises in drawers of your casket or for internal gardens for your casket.
The kit will include a variety of silk lacet braids in eleven colors, 12 tubes of soie gobelin silk threads, and small amounts of threads like silk facette, silk purls, and silk laid down trim which are useful for flower centers. Silk covered wire and cotton forms are included for berries and stems. Between four to five bouquets similar to the pictures can be made depending on how many flowers you make. Kits will be shipped by January 1st. On January 1st, an email will come with access to the course, user and password.
If you have taken the Four Seasons Project or Stitch Along, much of the information will be repetitive; although there will be at least two new flower types.
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Thistle Threads
Harmony with Nature Casket Online Class - Jan 1st, 2025
$ 3,520.00 - $ 3,683.00
Visit product page →Next Full Start is Jan 1st, 2025. Late registrations taken for 2024 version if paid in full
There are only 21 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 18-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 24 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
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Thistle Threads
Stumpwork - Part II Cabinet of Curiosities - January 1st, 2025
$ 750.00
Visit product page →This course is running again with 25 spots starting on January 1st, 2025
Late registrations taken for 2024 taken with full payment
For installment payments by Paypal, click the appropriate blue link:
$85.64/month for 9-months USA Shipping
$88.76/month for 9-months Canada Shipping
$90.43/month for 9-months Rest of World Shipping
This 18-month online course is a stand alone course, but complimentary to the Cabinet of Curiosities. It is intended to be a comprehensive investigation of stumpwork techniques of the 17th century. It includes:
- 20 sets of detailed instructions for detached needlelace stitches, showing how to work them in multiple thread types
- Animations for each of the stitches to aid in working
- 18-lessons in the application of low and high relief embroidery, needlelace and how to attack the typical motifs found in 17th century stumpwork. There are highly detailed sets of instructions to demystify filling animals with needlelace in multiple colors, making wired detached pieces, faces, three-dimensional shoes and other complex topics never seen in instructional materials.
- Historical information and photos to support all the lessons showing how these motifs were filled in various creative ways
- A 18-month optional project to make a stumpwork mirror. The motifs can be worked separately or the entire project by the study by purchasing the materials from the materials list. Full instructions for the entire project.
- Templates to design stumpwork mirror frames, four fully designed mirror frames and several large designs if the student wanted to go forth and do a complicated project
- Weblinks to supporting visual and historical material
The class kit will include linen and threads to enable the student to practice all the needlelace stitches. There will be samples of thread types (purls, gimps, facette, rococo, lacet, stumpwork forms, etc) to allow the student to experiment with them before embarking on a project they envision. The kit will be shipped in 1-2 parts.
The instructional material fills about three 3" binders and it is recommended that the students keep the material filed on their computer or iPad if they prefer.
Each lesson is released on the 1st of the month with an email to the student to remind them to log into the student teaching portal to download the materials. Animations can be watched on the portal at any time during the course and used over and over. Once a lesson is open, it stays open until the end of the class. A three-month period after the course is given to finish downloading. A link to an animation playlist hidden on YouTube is given to the students at the end to refer back to in the future for use in working stitches.
