Thursday 20 February 2020

Embroidery Tip - Darning

At one of the vendors at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival I saw a familiar thing used in an unfamiliar way. Darning mushrooms were used for embroidery.

I just had to try this out, and after returning home I dug up granny's darning mushroom.

 I stretched the Freeform Embroidery over the head of the mushroom and stitched a line of Buttonhole Stitch.
It was easy as I didn't need to stretch the fabric in a hoop. Moving the area to be stitched so I had it in front of me all the time also went smoothly.


I had never thought of using a darning mushroom in this way, but I will use this technique in future, too.

9 comments:

jacaranda said...

A great tip, would never have thought to use a darning mushroom.

Pamela said...

We get many good ideas at the quilt shows!

Rachel said...

Now, that's an interesting thought!
Just have to find Grandmama's darning mushroom now...

carorose said...

I must dig my one out. I have been holding onto it for years. It also was my grandmothers.

Janie said...

That is such a good idea, I think it could speed up the process for sure and then no hoop smashing other stitches down.
Thanks for sharing.

crazyQstitcher said...

That is a very clever idea.

Julie Fukuda said...

I use a gourd I have had since childhood ... and still darn socks with it.

Tanya said...

I bought a darning mushroom at the Tokyo Quilt Festival!!! And I have yet to use it... It looks nice on my quilting table and I feel like I have a connection to grandmothers everywhere... but I don't know if I have anything that needs darning. Aha! I can use it for embroidery too? Never thought of it!

FlashinScissors said...

I have a darning mushroom! Had it for years. I find I’m always going through the toes in my pop socks so I’ve been darning them over the years! Never would have thought to use the mushroom in this way. I’ll try to remember the tip to use sometime.
Thanks for the idea!
Barbara xx