NEEDLE PAINTING EMBROIDERY KITS Needle Painting also known as Thread Painting, Silk Shading, Soft Shading and Painting With a Needle is a hand embroidery technique blending long and short stitches to create realistic pictures.  For a complete explanation of the technique and relative difficulty of the embroideries Click Here! or scroll down the page. I offer Needle Painting kits in the following subjects: Animal Needle Painting Kits Field Mouse  |  Jack Rabbit (Hare)  |  Red Fox  |  Squirrel  |  Wild Rabbit Bird Needle Painting Kits Baby Burrowing Owl  |  Burrowing Owl  |  Chickadee on Blossom Branch  |  Eastern Blue Bird Pygmy Owl  |  Red Poll  |  Robin on Berry Branch  |  Robin on Blossom Branch  |  Robin in Grass Wren on Blossom Branch Flower Needle Painting Kits:    Blue Bonnet  |  Blue Flax  |  Iris  |  Maple Leaf  |  Peony Type Dahlia  |  Wild Rose Pansies:  Blue Blotch Pansy  |  Clear Purple Pansy  |  Yellow Blotch Pansy Also Needle Painting Commissions  |  Example of Instructions Free On-going Critique and Free Correspondence with all kits!  |  Gallery of Customers Embroideries of my Kits EXPLANATION OF THE NEEDLE PAINTING TECHNIQUE Needle painting also known as thread painting, silk shading, soft shading, painting with a needle and long and short stitch is a hand embroidery technique, creating realistic pictures using needle and thread, embroidering long and short straight stitches. The long and short stitches are worked in rows in a range of shades to closely represent the animal or flower that is being worked. Each new row of long and short stitches splits the stitches of the preceding row blending the long and short stitches. The blending of the stitches helps create a realistic design. This technique of needle painting takes several hours of practice to perfect but once the technique becomes familiar it is a very forgiving technique.  If there are gaps between the stitches you can go back and fill them in or you can embroider over some stitches if you make a mistake; unlike a counted technique which has to be unpicked if one stitch is counted incorrectly. I design all the needle painting kits myself, most of which I take from photographs or real life. Each needle painting kit has an instruction booklet. The instruction booklet has a actual size colour picture of the embroidery and instructions typed onto 8 1/2 by 11 (A4) sheets of paper making a booklet of 5 to 25 pages (depending on the level of the kit - It will be indicated next to the kit if the instructions are basic). And 18 to over 50 diagrams to guide you through the embroidery. The instructions are detailed, covering all the little tricks that I would teach in a class - to make the embroidery perfect. The designs comes on the fabric on so there are no worries about transferring the design and the threads come wrapped on a long floss bobbin and numbered so you know exactly which colour to use. Click Here! to see examples of diagrams used in a kit. I offer classes in Needle Painting Embroidery and other techniques on my Classes Webpage. NEEDLE PAINTING DESIGNS: Rated from Easiest to Hardest Name of Kit Level Suggested kit(s) to work before hand Additional Comments: All kits have detailed instructions with four exceptions which are all rated as advanced. Pansy(s)  Beginners Not Applicable The easiest of the needle painting designs. The pansies are great practice for the long and short stitch, for blending colours and for controlling the angle of the stitches. There is no doubt working one of the pansies prior to the other designs will give the embroiderer a good foundation for the needle painting technique. Wild Rose Beginners Pansy(s) - Not Required A good beginners design to learn stem stitch, satin stitch, long and short stitch and French knots. Maple Leaf Beginners Pansy(s) - Not Required The maple leaf is great practice for the long and short stitch for blending colours and for controlling the angle of the stitches. Baby Burrowing Owl Beginners Not Applicable If you are interested in animals and birds this is a great embroidery to begin with. The advantage when working the baby burrowing owl kit is that you can refer to work in progress photos of the owl in the A-Z of thread painting book.  Having the kit and the book gives you the most help you can get without a tutor. Blue Flax Beginners Pansy(s) - Not Required Although a large design only a few techniques need to be learnt and then repeated throughout the embroidery Eastern Blue Bird Intermediate Baby Burrowing Owl Pansy(s) Wild Rose The branch is worked in stem stitch, the leaves in satin stitch, the body in long and short stitch and the feathers in satin stitch and split stitch. The kit gives you a nice variety of stitches. Red Poll Intermediate Baby Burrowing Owl The branch is worked in stem stitch and the bird is worked in satin stitch and long and short stitch. The kit gives you a nice variety of stitches. Red Fox Intermediate Baby Burrowing Owl The fox is one of the freer techniques, if some of the stitches are not quite at the correct angle it does not really matter as the stitches will still look like fur. Gives you good practice in the long and short stitch. Robin in Grass Intermediate Baby Burrowing Owl Wild Rose The feathers of the robin are mostly worked in satin stitch, the body and head in long and short stitch and the grass in stem stitch. Iris Intermediate Pansy(s) Wild Rose The leaves are simple to work. The petals are worked in long and short stitch and have some interesting angles which will require some careful placement of the stitches. Field Mouse Intermediate - Advanced Blue Flax Red Poll The field mouse has satin stitch on the wheat ear and long and short stitch on the stems and the mouse. Some practice of satin stitch will be helpful to work the wheat ear. Wild Rabbit Intermediate - Advanced Baby Burrowing Owl Red Fox The body of the rabbit is worked in long and short stitch, the dandelions are worked in satin stitch and the grass is worked in split stitch. Burrowing Owl Intermediate - Advanced Baby Burrowing Owl Red Poll Rows and rows of narrow long and short stitch make up the body of the owl. Several colours are used in one row, a large diagram shows where the colours are used on the embroidery or you can change the colour sequence to make your own individual owl. Pygmy Owl Intermediate - Advanced Baby Burrowing Owl Red Poll Red Fox This owl is worked in long and short stitch, the branch in chain stitch and French knots and the green branches worked in stem stitch. This interesting mixture of stitches creates this realistic design. Robin on Berry Branch Intermediate - Advanced Blue Flax Baby Burrowing Owl Robin in Grass A nice mixture of stem stitch, satin stitch and long and short stitch makes up this realistic embroidery. Robin on Blossom Branch Intermediate - Advanced Blue Flax Baby Burrowing Owl Robin in Grass A nice mixture of stem stitch, satin stitch and long and short stitch makes up this realistic embroidery. Jack Rabbit (Hare) Advanced Baby Burrowing Owl Red Fox Wild Rabbit Different methods of long and short stitch on the body and ears create this endearing looking mammal. Squirrel Advanced Baby Burrowing Owl Wild Rose The squirrel is worked mostly in long and short stitch. The embroidery is simpler to work than the fox and field mouse but as the instructions are very basic, it is best that the embroiderer has some prior experience in long and short stitch. Blue Bonnet Advanced Blue Flax Iris Detailed and precise stitching is required to get a nice finish to the petals. There are 6 different methods of working the petals which are explained in detail with step by step diagrams. There isn't instructions for ever single petal, just general diagrams and colour location diagrams so experience in working some of my needle painting kits will help when working the Blue Bonnet. Peony Type Dahlia Advanced Pansy(s) Robin in Grass The petals are worked in satin stitch and long and short stitch. The instructions are very basic, it is best that the embroiderer has some prior experience in long and short stitch. Chickadee on Blossom Branch Advanced Blue Flax Robin on Blossom Branch A nice mixture of stem stitch, satin stitch and long and short stitch makes up this realistic embroidery. The instructions are very basic, it is best that the embroiderer has some prior experience in long and short stitch. Wren on Blossom Branch Advanced Blue Flax Robin on Blossom Branch A nice mixture of stem stitch, satin stitch and long and short stitch makes up this realistic embroidery. The instructions are very basic, it is best that the embroiderer has some prior experience in long and short stitch.

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Tanja Berlin © Berlin Embroidery Designs

Address: 1481 Hunterbrook Road NW, Calgary, Alberta T2K 4V4, Canada Telephone: (403) 274 6293  Email: tanja@berlinembroidery.com