Clover Embroidery Hoop Review

***Let me start by saying that this review was totally done on my own dime. I was sponsored by no one. (However, if you'd like to have me review something, by all means email me!)***

Okay, the Clover Embroidery Hoop. I am a huge fan of all things Clover. Blame my Japanophile tendencies. I've been checking out the Clover embroidery hoop for awhile now, picking it up and putting it back. As far as embroidery hoops go, it's very spendy. The 4.75" one runs $10.99. Compare that to the average plastic hoop, which runs around $2.99 for the same size. (Bamboo ones run about $1.29)

I decided to compare the Clover against a typical plastic 6" embroidery hoop (Susan Bates), and a 5" Bamboo hoop.
[caption id="attachment_3324" align="aligncenter" width="676" caption="Hoops in action!"][/caption]
MOUNTING:
The Clover is a little easier to adjust. It has a larger lip on the inner hoop, which makes getting the fabric to stay in place easy. Instead of the typical screw and nut fastener, the Clover has a really nice screw and nut fastener cased in plastic. At least, I'm assuming that's what's in there. The little dial is very easy to turn, and adjustments are really smooth. But it takes a lot of little spins to open and close the hoop. Actually, it kind of takes forever.
The plastic hoop had a much smaller, almost nonexistent lip. The fabric slipped around quite a bit. The fastener can be flicked open really easily- wheee! - which is fun. But your fabric is slipping around, so you probably don't want to mess with that much.
The bamboo hoop held the fabric well, despite not having any sort of lip at all. However, the screw and nut fastener is super cheap, and feels like it's going to break right off. It's tiny, and tough to adjust.

WORKING:
The fabric seems to stay in place really well with the Clover hoop. I've noticed that the bamboo and cheap plastic hoops tend to let your fabric sag the more you work with them. However, it's really fast and easy to adjust the bamboo hoop once this happens.

INDENTATION:
I left some cotton mounted in the hoops for about a week. I intended to just leave it in there overnight (You know, like you're never supposed to do, because it stretches out the fabric or something).
The Clover by far left the biggest marks. They're raised really high, and very clear.
Oddly enough, the cheapola bamboo hoop left the least amount of marks. The indentations left behind are very faint.
Ironing and a little spray of water took care of all the indentations. Poof, gone. Really not a big deal.

OTHER NOTES:
The size of the Clover hoop (4 3/4") is a little unusual, but very nice for the smallish scale stuff that I do. Also, it looks so cute.

THE WINNER?
The Clover hoop is pretty nice. But is it actually worth it? Meh. Honestly, you may be better off with the cheap bamboo ones. Weird! The bamboo is the hoop I reach for most frequently now. It's faster to adjust, and doesn't leave too much of an indentation. But by all means, pass up the cheap plastic. Those things are terrible.

In Which I Sort of Attempt to Cross Stitch

I like podcasts. I usually listen to them while I work on plushies, or when I'm driving. During a not so recent episode of JJGO, Jesse said something that really stuck with me. It was the sort of thing that should be embroidered, framed, and stuck on a wall.
Here's what he said:

"Legs of two, good for you. Legs of eight, deserves to die."
Perhaps I should back up and tell you that this is his campaign slogan for The War On Spiders. (Which was the title of one podcast, mentioned briefly in the next, and then never again. Such is pods.)
But I couldn't let it go. This simple two sentence glob sums up everything I feel about spiders. And humans. We suffer a surfeit of black widows, wolf spiders, daddy long legs, and eleventy billion other types in our home. I hate them all. Once they figure out how team up with the dust bunnies, the spider army will come after us for sure.
Clearly, there was only one answer. I had to design and make a cross stitch pattern with this slogan.

Designing it was easy. Wham, bam, photoshop. Getting it to translate into a pattern was much, much harder. I tried many online services, to no avail. I suspect that this may have had something to do with the flowery font I chose. Either that, or the fact that I know nothing about cross stitch.

Eventually, I decided to trace the pattern onto the fabric. This worked fine, but I suspect it was at this point that I drifted away from true cross stitch. Oh well. On with the stitching!

I learned some things right off the bat. One, that cheap off-brand embroidery floss is horrid. It'll sliver and unravel and just generally be a pain to work with. Don't bother. Two, this sort of detail work will give me crazy rib pain. And three, I kind of hate cross stitch. If that is indeed what I was doing.
For some reason, I had the hardest time getting started, despite all the online tutorials in the world. I blame pregnancy brain. (What is this blog going to be like when I can't blame hormones for everything?) Once I finally did, pulling the (cheap, off brand) embroidery floss through was a nightmare. Things did not flow smoothly.
However, I was determined to persevere. I had to show those spiders who's boss! (Me.) It took HOURS. And then more hours. The piece I was working on was about 6" x 8".
Things really started to fall apart when it was time to stitch those letters. The font that I had chosen did NOT translate well to the simple pixelated look I was going for. (You could point out how obvious this was from the get go. At which point I would point out to you BABY BRAIN. And then I would win.) I had to abandon the tiny x's entirely, and just fudge my way along.

You know how the back of embroidery is supposed to look as pretty as the front? I don't know if cross stitchers play by the same rule, but if they do, I most certainly failed:

Oh well. Who's going to see it? (Besides the whole internet, now.)
Eventually, I was done. DONE! There's nothing like the satisfaction of forcing your will on an unsuspecting, unwilling piece of cloth.

And here it is, framed and hung high enough on the wall so the mistakes aren't quite so evident:


Should you decide "Hey, this is just the sort of thing I would like to embroider/cross stitch! I could make that awesome!", here's a .pdf of the image I used.
Legs of 2 Download
Download it, fix it, use it, make it awesome. And if you do, let me know! I'd love to see what you come up with.

Crafty Book Review - Embroidery Companion

Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living

I've been a fan of Ms. Paulson's adorable blog for years. (How could I not? Corgis! Crafts! Cakes!) So I was thrilled to see that she had a new book out, and about one of my favorite topics, no less.

The photography is simply gorgeous, and the pages are a lovely weight. Seriously. If you're into that sort of thing, you'll notice that this book just feels dreamy to hold. It is, quite frankly, a beautiful book. If you enjoy the art of embroidery, you should probably just get it. It's gorgeous to look at, and would be very much at home on a coffee table.
There aren't a ton of projects, but what's there is top notch, and full of illustrated directions to help you along. There's a good variety among the projects too. A little something for everyone. It's not just traditional embroidery, but counted cross stitch and crewelwork as well.
But, can I confess something? The country time quilt is what won me over. Good grief, that is some cute stuff. (Page 31. Prepare to have your farmy socks knocked clean off.)

Check it out in detail here: Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living

(and why yes, that is an amazon associates link. i have to support my habit somehow. ^_^ )

10 Great Embroidery Project Tutorials

Man, do I love embroidery. It's not that I'm particularly *ahem* skilled at it. There's just something fantastic about taking a bland object, a few hours, and some gorgeously colored thread and making something wonderful.

That said, I can't always think of what to embroider next. Other crafters to the rescue! Here are 10 of my favorite embroidery tutorials from around the internets.

1. For learning the basics, The Purl Bee has wonderful step by step tutorials.



(photo by Aimee Ray)

2. Mini Bunny Quilt by Aimee Ray, the author of Doodle Stitching. (Which is a wonderful book, by the way!) Check out her blog Little Dear Tracks for more tutorials.

3. Queen Anne's Lace Pillowcase by Alicia Paulson (http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/) I especially love the clean modern look of this project.

4. Boy and Girl Pocket Pillows by Goody-Goody (http://goodygoody.typepad.com/goody_goody/)

5. The Party's Over pattern by Tamie Snow (of Roxycraft fame)

6. Already have a great image on your computer that you'd like to embroider? Wondering how to get it from here to there? Instructables to the rescue! Embroidery From Digital Artwork

7. Super-adorable My Favorite Things pattern by Peptogirl (http://peptogirl.blogspot.com/)

8. Yarn scrap embroidery sounds like kitschy fun. Thanks Craftzine!

9. Simple Embroidered Gift Labels, again via Instructables.

10. The secret to embroidering on stretchy fabric, plus a cute pattern! Thank you, Craftstylish! (Word of warning, this page unfortunately has a talking ad box. Blerg. Adjust volume on your computer accordingly.)



(photo by Erika Kern)

Do you have any embroidery tutorials you'd like to share? Post them in the comments! I'd love to see them.