FiberTalk

05/10/2025

Suzanne Connors of Aya Fiber Studio joins us this week to talk about her career practicing a variety of Japanese dyeing techniques. While Shibori and indigo dyeing is her go-to technique, she also practices Katazome, Rozome, Natural dyeing, and Eco printing among others. Suzanne also weaves and does beautiful Sashiko stitching. She conducts an extensive schedule of classes in her beautiful, fully equipped Florida studio and produces some amazing dyed fabrics. Make some time to visit her website to learn more.--Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/10/05/indigo-dyeing-and-sashiko-with-suzanne-connors/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ujm_vmf-6Ug

03/10/2025

Edna Sanabia wanted to know whether the Vikki Clayton Perf Linen can be soaked/washed. For this week’s Fiber Talk Patreon Friday Five video, we filled a bowl with water and answered the question. To watch the video and enjoy much more needlework content, become a Patreon member at patreon.com/FiberTalk.

01/10/2025

Stitch Hour tonight. Join us at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Bring your stitching, favorite beverage, and comments/questions. It’s always fun and we hope you can participate.

30/09/2025

This one is for .a.baldwin, and anyone else who loves stitching with orange floss this time of year. This is the upcoming range of Rust Orange threads from Colour & Cotton. Left to right: Rust Orange Pale, Rust Orange Soft, Rust Orange Medium, Rust Orange Bold, and Rust Orange Dark. The range of threads will be available in a week or so from .

28/09/2025

Embroidery artist Hilary Leslie, of HLeslie Design, joins us this week. Hilary combined her drawing addiction, a small bag of embroidery materials she picked up at a yard sale, and extra time during the pandemic to develop an embroidery design business that now offers a huge number of patterns, videos, and classes. In the five years she's been designing embroidery art, she has also written a book, Unofficial Bridgerton Embroidery, that contains several projects inspired by the TV show. If you want to give embroidery a try and/or are looking for attractive smaller projects, visit Hilary's website. You'll likely find something you want to stitch.--Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/28/regency-embroidery-with-hilary-leslie/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/NDz8TZZNfro

24/09/2025

We return in the middle of the week to converse about needlework. Our topics include new Patreon videos, Beth's Pour ta Fete finish (work on a project 15 min. a day and you make significant progress), the Phoenix Band Sampler, taking a social-media break, and our sampler short lists. We each chose five-ish and ended up overlapping with two. If you're looking for interesting samplers, particularly challenging ones, you might find them in our collection. We also ask the question: Now that we've listed our top projects, why aren't we stitching any of them? Sunday's guest: Hilary Leslie, HLeslie Design.--Beth and Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/24/fiber-talk-midweek-chat-9-24-25/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/DDexU6Ph_X4

21/09/2025

Our topic this week is Opus Anglicanum and our artist is Tanya Bentham. In our conversation, we learn how Tanya became attached to the art form/technique and why, the difference between pre-Black Death and post-Black Death techniques, and how she approaches color. Tanya reproduces original pieces and creates many of her own designs. Her own designs are a lot of fun so take time to explore them and enjoy Tanya's sense of humor. Tanya also dyes all of her own wool for her kits so she can get the colors she wants. Tanya has authored three books on Opus Anglicanum that will help you develop your own skills. Check them out, along with her designs/kits, at opusanglicanumembroidery.com. You can learn more about Tanya's work and what others are doing by joining her Facebook group. Also, consider supporting Fiber Talk by becoming a Patreon member at patreon.com/FiberTalk. --Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/21/opus-anglicanum-with-tanya-bentham/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/qAjJhB176TQ

14/09/2025

Kirstie Macleod, creator of the Red Dress, returns this week to talk about the mechanics of creating the dress and growing the project. This week’s show is sponsored by the Embroiderers’ Guild of America at egausa.org. In our first conversation with Kirstie, we talked about how the project started, how it evolved, and the impact it had on people around the world, including Kirstie. You can see/hear that July 19, 2025 conversation at https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/07/19/fiber-talk-with-kirstie-macleod-the-red-dress/. This week we talk about making the actual dress; the many ramifications of caring for, preserving, and traveling with the dress; and Kirstie’s experiences arranging for, receiving, and incorporating contributions from needleworkers all over the world. To learn even more about the Red Dress project, you can buy the book, The Red Dress, Conversations in Stitch. Though the dress itself is completed, the project is still very much alive and active. Today’s focus is the upcoming book signing and traveling around the world to share the dress. To support this effort, you can contribute by going to the Red Dress website at reddressembroidery.com. You’re also invited to support Fiber Talk by becoming a Patreon subscriber at patreon.com/FiberTalk.–Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/13/making-the-red-dress-with-kirstie-macleod/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/VYHlVXnpGf0

10/09/2025

The second Wednesday of the month arrived so we decided to get together and talk about stitching. For topics, we dreamed up Gary’s Needlework Galleria trip, the St. Louis Stitchers Facebook group, Boomerang Stitches, what’s happening with Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor, Cindy’s version of Kurdy Biggs’ Tequila Sunrise, and buying from European companies. This week it was Cindy’s turn to list her 10 keeper projects. She cheated at a very high level and we only got through half of them. We’ll cover the rest the next time. List the 10 projects in your stash that you would keep no matter what. We want to see what you have in the works. Want to support Fiber Talk? Become a Patreon subscriber at patreon.com/FiberTalk. Sunday: Kirstie Macleod and the Red Dress, part II.–Cindy and Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/09/fiber-talk-midweek-chat-9-10-25/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ANf8Epq4Xeo

07/09/2025

Cindy Baldwin, Robin Rossignol, and Ruth Topp had a successful 2025 Iowa State Fair, winning several ribbons. This week we take a look at their winning entries, talk about stitching each of them, and hear what the judges had to say about many of the entries. This is a chance to see several excellent needlework pieces and maybe gain some inspiration that will help you advance your stitching and/or start a new project. If you have questions, be sure to ask them in the comments section so Cindy, Robin, and Ruth can help you. For audio-only folks, there is a slide show of the entries we discussed on the Fiber Talk website page for this show. This is the link to the 2025 Iowa State Fair Fabric and Threads page: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=705081965902437&id=100092019203694&rdid=ePj1gssC9Reqev7H We also invite you to support Fiber Talk by becoming a Patreon member at Patreon.com/FiberTalk. –Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/09/06/fiber-talk-winning-at-the-state-fair/
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/a8rZJt2QS4s

Cindy Baldwin, Robin Rossignol, and Ruth Topp had a successful 2025 Iowa State Fair, winning several ribbons. This week we take a look at their winning entri...

03/09/2025

It's Stitch Hour week. Join us Wednesday evening, Sept. 3, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Bring your stitching, favorite beverage, and comments/questions. It's always fun and we hope you can join us.

31/08/2025

Maker Dana Jones, of Selah Creative Company, is our guest this week. Dana and her laser cutter/engraver are a rather creative duo that produces a wide variety of items designed to enhance your hobbies. For needleworkers, those products are her animal thread bobbins. In addition to those bobbins, Dana has created a very useful travel bobbin and a unique sampler you stitch on wood. Our conversation also touches on Dana’s experience with counterfeiters (she won), and her Selah Retreats, which sound like terrific, relaxing, craft-oriented getaways. After hearing Dana’s story, visit her website to see what she and her laser have produced. –Gary
https://wetalkfiber.com/2025/08/30/bunny-bobbins-make-stitching-fun/
Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yoSxA1UYRrk