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#LRCrafts | Craft, Learn, Discover

@lrcrafts.it

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Practical tools for makers, historical research, DIY projects.
Carefully curated resources to help you along your creative journey.

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Almost done with the first color for the grass.
Next, shadows under the tree and lights all around. by @lrcrafts.it

🇬🇧 New guide: embroidery shops and needlework destinations in England! 🪡

After Milan and Tuscany, my embroidery-shop journey is crossing the Channel!
England has something rather special for embroiderers, with its centuries-old needlework traditions that are still very much alive today.

Think Royal School of Needlework, Hand & Lock, The Crewel Work Company, specialist suppliers, independent needlework shops, historic techniques, embroidery courses, workshops and some truly wonderful people keeping these traditions alive.
There are places where you can find beautiful supplies, where you can learn highly specialized techniques, and where you can simply stand there thinking, I want everything in this shop. 😅

I’ve put together a little guide to some of the must-visit places for embroiderers in England, from the big historic names to the smaller shops and specialist businesses that are so easy to miss.

This guide is part of my ever-growing global collection of recommended embroidery and needlework shops, a collaborative project built by embroiderers for embroiderers.

So… where should I go next? And which English embroidery shops, suppliers, workshops or makers have I missed?

👉 Comment to receive the direct link via DM! by @lrcrafts.it

It's been a while since I posted an update on my embroidered tree.
I am stitching the grass underneath now and it's a slow process. It will be a while before I can move to the final touches. But this is what I enjoy about #embroidery: slow focus work to move my hands and distract my mind.
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#LRCrafts #ihavethisthingwiththread by @lrcrafts.it

One of the most important Singer factories in the world: Kilbowie, Clydebank, Scotland.

After researching the Singer factory in Elizabethport, I knew I had to dig into its Scottish counterpart too. Kilbowie was enormous: at its peak, more than 14.000 people worked there, and in 1913 the factory shipped more than 1.3 million sewing machines around the world.

But what I found most fascinating wasn’t just the history of the factory. It was the evidence left behind in the machines themselves.

I’ve been documenting Kilbowie serial numbers, production batches and decals, and there’s an incredible piece of evidence that helps bring the factory to life: a 1934 film made inside Singer's Clydebank factory. It shows the entire process, from casting the iron parts and stamping serial numbers to machining, plating, applying the decorative transfers, assembling the machines, packing them into crates and loading them onto ships for export.

It’s almost like taking a tour of Kilbowie nearly 100 years ago.

In this new article, I put the factory history together with the machines and the evidence they have left behind.
Comment to receive the direct link via DM! by @lrcrafts.it

🧵 The hunt for the vintage sewing machines everyone else overlooked: meet Mike Anderson from Wolfegang’s Collectibles

When you fall down the rabbit hole of vintage sewing machines, there’s really no telling where it will take you.
For me, it was documenting historical records of serial numbers in a searcheable database.
For Mike Anderson, it led from two Singer machines bought at auction for $10 to a specialised business hunting down unusual, obscure, and sometimes incredibly rare sewing machines for collectors around the world.

In the latest Meet the Maker, I talk to Mike, the man behind Wolfegang’s Collectibles, about the thrill of finding forgotten machines, the detective work involved in identifying them, what makes a sewing machine truly collectible, and how to preserve these fascinating pieces of sewing history.

Some extraordinary machines that have passed through his hands, including a rare Williams & Orvis that found its way to the National Sewing Machine Museum of Australia, so he definitely knows something about the world of antique sewing machines!

👉 Read the interview on LRCrafts!
Comment to receive the direct link via DM! by @lrcrafts.it

I turned 40. I am proud of this, I am not the kind of person to hide my age.
Just, I started feeling like I want to be a countryside witch, a lady in a cottage living slow and natural.
Who can relate? by @lrcrafts.it

🏭 The Singer St. John’s factory: a fascinating piece of Canadian sewing machine history 🇨🇦

When we think of Singer factories, Elizabethport and Kilbowie usually get most of the attention. But Singer also operated a huge manufacturing complex at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, usually simply known as St. John’s.

The factory opened in 1906 and eventually covered about 45 acres, with more than 18 buildings, its own railway tracks, a foundry, woodworking facilities, and much more. At its peak, around 3,000 people worked there.

But there’s a catch that makes researching St. John’s machines particularly interesting: the factory’s production records have not survived as well as those of some other Singer factories.

That means we have to piece the story together from the machines themselves. 🔎

In our new article, I look at the history of the St. John’s factory, its serial-number system, the decals used on its machines, and what we can learn from surviving examples.

And this is where you can help! If you have a Singer machine that you think was made or finished at St. John’s, send us its serial number and photos. Every machine we document adds another piece to the puzzle.

👉 Read the article and help us reconstruct the history of this remarkable Canadian Singer factory.
Comment to receive the direct link via DM! by @lrcrafts.it

Discover how a simple DIY project transformed our home decor: we crafted unique stands to display embroidered hoops. We just used a metal rod and a leftover piece of wooden baseboard.
Get inspired by our creative process and find new ways to showcase your own embroidery projects.
Comment to receive the direct link via DM! by @lrcrafts.it

Started working on the ground below my apple tree. Adding grass, mud, moss, tiny mushrooms and more features.
What else would you add? by @lrcrafts.it

Finally finished the leaves on my embroidered tree!
Time to design the grass underneath. I want to add grass, moss, flowers and... a little surprise!

#lrcrafts #embroidery #ihavethisthingwiththread by @lrcrafts.it

Making fast progress on my tree #embroidery. Adding shadows to the leaves before starting the grass. by @lrcrafts.it

Now I've been working for a while on my tree, I appreciate it more. I still see how old and naive are the first stitches, but I also see my #embroidery history and progress in one same piece.

I have now ideas on how to complete it, when the leaves are done. I think about apples, grass, flowers...
And you? What would you add? by @lrcrafts.it