Threadmania!

My parcel from Tandem Cottage came yesterday containing 37 skeins of Marlitt thread and 16 of Coton à Broder. There are 21 more skeins to come, 20 of one and one of t'other! Looking forward to that too.....

I've been thinking about uses for these thread types. Coton à Broder is quite thick - like 4 strands of regular cotton floss tightly twisted together and is not devisable, so that has less possibilities than some types of thread. I think it will be great for needleweaving and certain surface work that requires a thicker, slightly twisted appearance - perhaps a little like the twisted threads Helen M Stevens uses on her buildings and fields etc, although they're silk and will be somewhat thinner. Well, we shall see what we can come up with there. Could even work well in cross stitch on low count fabrics as well as doing surface work on counted designs/hardanger things.

Marlitt has a lot going for it. It's 4 ply and devisable to single strands so can be used in place of six stranded floss for all manner of things, both surface and counted. It's very shiny and both it and the Coton à Broder are washable and colour fast to 95oC! Very useful as that means both can be used for things that need washing like clothing and soft furnishings. Some of the most delicious threads have limited uses owing to their not being colourfast and you can really only use them in pictures.=(