Our EOFY sale is on! We have a lovely 30% off storewide; however, we are slightly sheepish - please use the code June30 for your savings.

Shop online or feel free to contact me direct.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Hi all,

Yes, needles again – I think I may have threatened that in a previous article! So much more to say about these little guys but I'll try to keep it reasonably short. They're actually quite amazing and they've helped change history.

I often wonder how someone first thought to put some kind of thread through some kind of needle and sew some pieces of something together. Maybe they watched how vines can cling together or spider webs pull foliage together and took it from there. I envisage that someone was cold because their hide wrap was too small so they pushed something threadlike, animal sinew or vines or similar, through a hole in it and a hole in another piece, using a stick or a little piece of bone to help. And, from there, sewing became a thing!

Can you imagine the competition between those first sewers as they discovered what would work and, being human or a similar species, how pretty they could make it! 

The oldest human-made needle we know of dates back to around 60,000 years ago. It was found in South Africa and made of bone, probably bird. These first needles would have probably been made by using a flint tool, cutting and trimming splinters of bone roughly into a pointed shape. Needles made of bone and ivory have been discovered in Slovenia, Liaoning, China, and Russia, dating back to between 45,000 and 30,000 years ago. 

L tto R: From Sibudu Cave, South Africa -probably the earliest needle known at about 61,000 years old (historyofinformation.com); Ancient Greek needles (commons.wikimedia.org); Early bronze needle from early Neolithic (10,000-4,500BCE) (By Jeromeyuchien - from Jerome Yuchien PhD, commons.wikimedia.org)

The needle then became the distinctive tool of the Upper Paleolithic period that began about 40,000 years ago. Earlier Paleolithic needles had grooves rather than eyes to hold sinew or fibre; however, needles with an eye can be dated as far back as the Gravettian period, around 25,000 years ago. The ability to produce warmer clothing by stitching hides together helped make possible the extension of human settlement into cooler regions after the last ice age, which lasted until roughly 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. They also were used for fashioning fishing nets and carrying bags, allowing for the necessary mobility to enable migration. There is also evidence that, by the Gravettian period, needles were used not only to stitch hides together for warmth but also for sewing and decorating textiles, becoming part of the development of humanity's conceptual skills and expressions. Fashion in and of itself as a driver of social development may have been a later notion but I would guess there was competition around style and decoration. 

A few fun facts:

8,600-year-old Neolithic needle bones were discovered at Ekşi Höyük  in present-day Denizli Province, western Anatolia. Copper sewing needles have been found at Naqada, Egypt, ranging from 4400 BC to 3000 BC. Ancient Egyptians made ceramic double-pointed needles with an eye at each end. Six bone needles were found at Troy, most of them notched but one with an eye opposite the point. Roman needles were made of bronze and iron, with the eye on top. The medical texts of the Vedas (ancient and sacred Hindu texts initially written about 3,500 years ago) prescribe straight and curved high-quality steel needles with today's familiar oval eyes and call attention to their care. Chinese blacksmiths started to make sharp, thin steel needles about 200BCE, about 100 years after Indian metal-workers began to make steel. 

L to R: Ancient sewing needles, varied materials (Google images); Bronze needles for sailmaking 400-300BCE, found in Roman ship wrecks (researchgate.net); Viking bronze needle, National Historical Museum of Sweden (photo from flickr.com)

Spain inherited the secrets of Islamic steel needle making and refugees brought these skills to England during medieval times. Needles were among a household's valuables, protected in special cases that women attached to their belts. 

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, British and French needlemakers made much progress in their craft, sadly mostly undocumented.. Needles were supplied for many trades outside of fashion and medicine, including clock making and goldsmithing. To avoid guild restrictions on machinery in the seventeenth century, many needlemakers relocated to Redditch, England, in the Midlands, where the industry has remained ever since, with ample water power and proximity to both metalworkers and crafts using needles.  

Eighteenth-century needlemakers developed a system of production that is still the basis of today's automated factories. (Interestingly, surgical needles are still made by hand.) Steel was heated, shaped into a cylinder, and drawn through a number of dies to achieve the proper gauge, then cut into needle lengths. The end was hammered flat, the wire heated, and an eye punched and often grooved for easier threading. Next, the eye  was filed smooth and the other end sharpened by filing. The needles were hardened by heating and cooling, then tempered for strength and straightened with a hammer and anvil. Polishing followed with up to 15,000 needles placed in a bag with emery dust and olive oil. The bags were moved back and forth between planks under a heavy weight for up to two days, after which they were washed with hot water and soap. They were dried in a bran-filled box, then sorted and repointed manually with an emery stone. The water-powered scouring mills of Redditch produced such an excellent and sought after finish that the town attracted most of England's needlemakers.

Lto R: Varied needles including draper, dressmaker, milner, seamstress and upholstery (theswanseabay.co.uk); Tibetan needle case (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sewingneedle); various packets of sewing needles (fromsajou.fr)

At its peak in the late nineteenth century, the Redditch needle industry was producing fully 90 percent of the world's needs. This was challenged as German needlemakers built technological leadership as early as 1850, when the Schumag company of Aachen introduced a machine that stamped and eyed needles in one operation. German manufacturers continue to dominate sewing machine-needle production while, over generations, the Redditch industry has consolidated into a handful of firms producing premium hand-sewing needles for the world market. 

This is a little ramble of potted information gathered from several trips down fascinating rabbit holes all over the internet, without getting into the many books on needles and their history.  Heavy industrial sewing is a whole other story! 

I find it wonderful that our craftwork is so ancient and so modern. Stripped to the absolute basics, some kind of needle, some kind of thread and some kind of fabric, there is minimal difference between the ancients and us. Like now, I'm guessing some saw sewing as a tedious but necessary chore and some loved the making and saw pleasure and creativity in doing so. We can only guess that then, the feel of needle and thread, and fabric through the fingers was as comforting, as healing and as joyful as it can be now.

Have a good Tuesday!

Thread – for our purposes – a long, thin strand of cotton, nylon or other fibres used in sewing or weaving.

Thread – it's wonderful stuff, isn't it? So many different kinds, so tactile, all those wonderful colours, so absolutely gorgeous! It glows, gleams, shimmers and shines. It can feel so silky, soft or strong and utilitarian or even harsh and uncomfortable for rougher uses. It never fails to amaze me how even a very soft, fine thread can be so relatively strong.

There are a lot of rabbit holes about thread everywhere, and they are fascinating. Whole books, which, of course, I'm not going to do here! I just want to tell you how amazing I think this basic material and tool of sewing and its history is.

The earliest sewing threads appear to have been thin strips of animal hide, possibly also any kind of plant fibres, supple and strong enough to be used. The early Egyptians were certainly adept at making thread from plant fibres and from wool and other animal hairs. Thread was handspun using a spindle, a technique still available to us today although mostly used for artwork. We do now have more efficient methods for producing our everyday threads!

Embroidery was around between 1600 – 1100 BCE with the Assyrians and Babylonians and by around 350 BCE, the Chinese and Japanese had discovered the techniques and beauty of silk. 

Humans being inventive and curious continued to improve and develop new materials in thread. The Middle Ages brought improvements in wool production and processing and shipping and the opening of the Silk Road to Asia, paving the way for the growth of woven tapestries and needlework. Linen, cotton, silk and silver and gold threads became part of these works – their use flowed through to seamstresses and needleworkers in smaller and finer works and threads.

                            (Images from Wikipedia, Google images and Pinterest)

Machine production of thread, initially cotton, began in the Industrial Revolution in England in 1730, generating more uniform thread with fewer flaws. Stronger threads with truer dye colours and the development of a wider variety of threads for different uses has led to the absolute plethora of threads we now enjoy and use for all types of thread and yarn based activities. 

Now made from all manner of natural and synthetic materials, threads are something I take great delight in. I hope you can too and you've enjoyed following my thread on thread!

By the way, did you know that the people who create new threads are called seam engineers?

We do have lots of thread available in our Misty Threads shop. We don't post it on our site for technical reasons; however, please contact us directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for your thread requirements, be it regular sewing thread or specialty threads, including embroidery threads, and we can either add it to a larger order or apply exact postage. At the moment, our stock includes both Scanfil and Rasant, well-priced, good quality threads for all general sewing requirements, Gutermann organic threads and invisible threads. Specialty threads include DMC stranded and perle #8 embroidery threads, Signature #40 variegated threads, Mettler machine variegated threads, silk threads and a few other various specialty threads. 

Hope you continue to enjoy your own thread journey!

Take care

Meg

Dear Reader,

I would like to ask you a simple question. 

How would you?

How would you describe  a sewing needle to an alien.......

A needle is the most integral tool used in sewing.

It is a short, thin rod, once made of bone but now mostly made of steel, usually nickel or gold-plated to resist corrosion. One end has a slot shaped hole called an eye to hold thread, the other end is tapered to a sharp point to allow the needle to draw the thread through fabric in stitching. The sewing needle can be operated either by hand or by machine. If operated by machine, the eye is located in the sharper tapered end of the needle.

How did I do? Not bad for 30 seconds, no references!

I asked several fellow sewers this question with an interesting response. Even though we all sew, all of us largely use sewing machines. Some of us do enjoy working by hand as well as machining, but most of us exclusively use a machine with only a limited amount of handwork when strictly necessary! Maybe to stitch down quilt bindings or sew in ends, buttons in mending and little more! 

When you ask a child to draw a train, they will almost always, without fail, draw a steam train.

Similarly, when I asked people to describe a needle, without exception, everyone described a hand sewing needle first. 

There are many kinds of needles for different sewing tasks. Over human time, they have been made of many materials – animal bones, antlers, tusks, wood, etc. There have been books written on the making and history of sewing needles; I have to admit I find the background and development of our common sewing tools fascinating. Just think that the use of a needle of some kind made it possible for people to live in certain areas when they could sew some kind of fabric together to make warmer clothing.

The concept of a sewing needle raises so many more questions  -  just for starters, what is this thing called sewing, why would you sew, how do you use a sewing needle, what are sewing needles made from, what is thread, what are we sewing now?

I did ask my youngest daughter what she thought of when I said "sewing needle": "Ouch – stabby things!" Well she used a stronger word than 'things', but I digress!

So, this is the briefest of starters to touch on sewing needles today but ... we'll be back with more soon. As I said, I'm nerdy enough to love this kind of utility information.

In the meantime, what are you doing with your stabby things at the moment?

I'm playing with these pretty bits with mine. No idea what the result is going to be yet but the process is fun.

Wishing you a safe and happy Easter whether it's family, sewing of any kind or both or sommething completely different.

Take care and happy stabbing… I mean Stitching!

Meg

Hi everyone,

Right now the world is a bit of a scary place, isn't it?

Lifting the last of the Covid restrictions (even though the pandemic isn't over just because you're over it!), being hit with floods in the east, bushfires in the west and the conflict in Ukraine. With so much conflict across the globe; Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestinian and now Ukraine, it is good to remember that depsite the hardship that Australia faces with natural disasters, climate change and Covid, we are lucky to live in a nation that is not at war. 

With the danger mosquitoes now meant to be coming for us, I think we can all agree the scriptwriters have gone a bit too hard, too early in season 2022!

But, at the end of the day, we are lucky to be in a position where, even for just five minutes, we can switch it all off and take a mental health break. This actually means it is a bit of a dilemma writing this, urging your attention on yet more "stuff" but, hopefully, this is a bit of eye candy to brighten your day!

We'd like to make a cheerful spot for you with some of the great bits and pieces (mostly other than quilts) we have made or seen made with our beautiful Australian Aboriginal fabrics.

So....

Some beautiful lampshades to lift a room at night:

Elegant placemats and table runners:

Gorgeous little knot bags, slouchy bags, tote bags and we haven't left your laptops behind either: 

Shirts and skirts (many and varied of these) and pretty and practical aprons: 

Comfy cushions and a lovely lama:

A friend and I have had fun with several of GE Designs QALs over the last year. These are just two we made with AAD fabrics:

These are all handmade locally from pure AAD cotton fabrics. They look great, they're sturdy and easy to wash and take care of. They're fun to make and to customise – what's not to like here!

We do have a few of these currently online at Misty Threads (not all in AAD fabrics) – easy to make but we're happy to do the work for you if you don't want to lose precious quilting time! While you're there, check out our other locally handmade bits and pieces. Practical plus good looking and great gifts. We do include recycled materials wherever they fit – we love the extra character they add to a made item and we don't like tossing things unnecessarily.

Take care.

Hi everyone,

Playing tetris today, trying to tidy up a ton of sewing stuff – no, I did not intend that line of alliteration but we'll let it stand!

Over the last few years, it's been interesting (and good) to see a greater acknowledgement and place for aboriginal art in all manner of design.   

Misty Threads' signature fabric range for many years has been  AAD or Australian Aboriginal Designs. AAD fabrics are produced by an Australian company, established in the early 1990s to showcase and sell fabrics designed by Aboriginal artists and now the world's largest manufacturer of Australian Aboriginal designer fabrics. 

Aboriginal art is one of the more ancient traditional arts in the world with some examples of rock art believed to be up to 50,000 years or older, portraying the dreamtime through cave painting, rock painting and sand or ground painting. Today, Aboriginal artists continue to draw from the dreamtime, honouring their ancestors and the land through a variety of media, including these wonderful fabric designs. 

Art has always been a medium to express, communicate and empathise with others. The art in the fabrics shows us the colours and landscapes of our country just as the dreamtime stories tell us its history. 

From a quilter's point of view, the wonderful colours and design lines are a joy to work with. We've made a lot of quilts with our Aboriginal fabrics over the last five years, both for the shop and for customers. These are just a few of them below.

 L to R: Australian Dreaming, this example a bit faded but an effective design and very popular; AAD Stripes, a play with scraps; AAD Circles, flows beautifully, a quilt by Chris Timmons; AAD Diamonds, a lovely, sparkly design from a Michelle Marvig pattern called Left and Right; AAD Stepping Stones, a kit but would also be good to use up scraps, also designed by Chris T.

In this next photo, you can also see the quilting, (kindly and beautifully done by Nick and Anne McGee), which keeps in theme and really enhances the quilts.

We do have the kits for some of the quilts, which can be found on the website here and, of course, our great AAD fabrics are also available here. We can make up custom kits on request – just contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Please do consider these fabrics for your quilts and general sewing; they are fun to play with and work equally well with many other fabrics. The fabrics themselves are good to work with. Next time, we'll show you some of the lovely non-quilt bits and pieces we've made with them.

Stay safe.

Meg

Hi again everyone,

We're almost at the end of January 2022 (but I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not!)

For the end of the month, I wanted to share with you two of my favourite older ranges by the designer Shannon Newlyn. 

The first one is Waterfall. I've not previously been a massive fan of floral fabrics. With flower related trauma thanks to one too many devout private girls school textiles projects in the 1970s, I am now haunted by nightmares of dry as dust, prissy or conversely overdone, blowsy florals that, either way, resulted in an incoherent mess! However, Waterfall is simply lovely, with stunning designs in exquisite colours, which have definitely changed my personal view of florals.

This second group of fabrics are from Vibrant Blooms with the same strong designs in beautiful colours. I do also love the two 'keyhole' designs in lilac and black!

We have various lengths of somel of these fabrics left. If you would like to add some vibrant loveliness to your stash, please go to the website or feel free to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Don't forget – it's almost our last day for our January discount so until the end of 31 January, please use HAPPY10 for a 10% discount!

Take care and we'll see you in February!

Meg and the MT Back-up Dancers.

Hello again!

In case you hadn't heard, we currently have a discount on all shop products, just use the code HAPPY10 for 10% off store wide, until the 31st of January.

An older but very much loved range I wanted to share with you is Passionflower from 2018 (I think!). It was designed by the incredibly talented American designer Anna Marie Horner. 

I've included a small selection of my personal favourites from Passionflower below. Isn't her design work just beautiful?

We have a few lengths left in the archives available for purchase, sadly though, none of the beautiful striped piece. It was lovely and worked so well with many fabrics.

I'll remind you of the gorgeous flower print from my news post a few weeks ago, used as a wide border for this quilt made with Monika Forsberg fabrics. 

Have a look at our remaining AMH fabrics online here or feel free to contact me directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Anna Marie Horner and Monika Forsberg have also collaborated on the wonderful ranges which make up Conservatory. Conservatory is presented as a series of 'Chapters', a collaboration between Horner and other designers sharing the same fine art approach to fabric design. The results are amazing, complementary fabrics that form each Chapter range and showcase the talent and unique work of the individual designers.

My favourite is Chapter Three: Wild, comprised of One Mile Radiant by Anna Marie Horner, Endless Summer by Monika Forsberg and After the Rain by Bookhou.

This very popular range flew out the door, but I have found a few pieces hiding out the back if you need that last bit to finish a sidelined project! Aren't these just so beautiful and so tempting to just go and sew with?

Again, please look online here or contact me directly through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information.

I know life is still chaotic for a lot of us at the moment but I hope you can find a bit of space for some peaceful sewing and that these beautiful fabrics remind us why we love doing it.

And don't forget, code HAPPY10 for 10% off store wide!

Talk soon,

Misty Threads and the working hard or hardly working MT backup dancers.

Hi all,

It's still January – frankly, I'm surprised it's still January with the speed weeks and months seem to move on these days! However, since it is still January, don't forget to use the code HAPPY10 for a discount on your purchases.

 This week, I've been looking back at another favourite designer of mine, Marcia Derse and her range from 2018, Art history 101. Love, love, love this range. Inspired by art movements, artists and materials used throughout history, these gorgeous fabrics show Marcia Derse's hand dyed and stamped techniques.

Sadly, we no longer have any of the marvellous feature fabrics, Timeline: Lecture and Timeline: Notes (top right below) left but we do have various amounts of many of the other SKUs available.

Bottom right above is the beginning stages of an Art History quilt. It started out as a vaguely abstract churn dash but morphed into hashtags, probably more appropriate for current times! I am planning to actually finish it in 2022 but I'll let you know how it goes.

Not only are these Art History fabrics some of the most interesting fabrics I've worked with, they are a lovely quality to sew as well.

You can find the remaining SKUs here at mistythreads.com.au to purchase online or feel free to contact me directly through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If purchasing through our online shop, don't forget your discount code HAPPY10.

Take care everyone

Happy summer sewing

Meg X

Hi again, everyone, as we start our next trip around the sun.

I hope you had a good Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2022. And, of course, I wish you lots of lovely summer sewing!

 While we have a sale running this month (please use discount code HAPPY10), I've been updating our website and tidying the fabric. It's been fun revisiting the tail end of some beautiful older ranges and remembering what we and our customers made with them.

 As much as I like most of our fabric, there are really only a few that stand out as long term joys. These fabrics below are from the Moon Rabbit range and are probably some of my all time favourites. An odd favourite perhaps; I grew up on a sheep property and rabbits were definitely not popular! However, there you go; I absolutely love this fabric and also the cot-sized quilt I made from it.

The quilt pattern is Step Down by Sarah Fielke add link in her book Quilting From Little Things. It was originally a miniature size which I doubled and is a gorgeous pattern to make up. I doubled it again to make a lapquilt with another standout range, from Monika Forsberg, who has become one of my most admired designers with fresh and delightful artwork and fabrics. Must also mention here, the border for this version was a stunning Anna Marie Horner fabric, whose fabrics I'll look at next time.

We still have small amounts of many of these fabrics left so, if you would like a piece to add a special touch to that special quilt, please either order through the website add link (don't forget your discount code HAPPY10) or contact us directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We'll show you a few more all time favourites next time. Until then, take care and stay as safe as you can.

Meg

Hello everyone on a very mild Canberra day,

I hope your Christmas was as peaceful and happy as ours. It was lovely to have everyone together again finally, especially the first Christmas with the new grandchild who either slept or tried to eat the wrapping paper!

All set up for some relaxing summer sewing, whatever your style? Don't forget to help, we have a 10% discount on all fabric, notions, etc until 31 January. Just use the code HAPPY10. I know many of us are trying to be more careful just how much more "stuff" we add to our lives but a few careful choices here and there will definitely add to your sewing pleasure and success.

This week I've been looking at our batik fabrics.For a long time, I was ambivalent about batiks - the way they were mostly used often seemed a bit ho-hum and there didn't appear to be much variation between designs.However, over the last few years, I've rediscovered these gems, helped by a friend who has spent a lot of time in Bali, choosing wonderful local batiks for her personal use. Batiks fit in so many places - in backgrounds and foregrounds, amazing blenders and links between stronger fabrics and, of course, as great feature fabrics by themselves.They always seem particularly perfect for summer sewing to me, very evocative of long sumer days! 

These are a few of our many batiks, all just waiting to be that right piece in someone's lovely quilt! 

As well, we have some beautiful wide batiks (275cm):

Not only do they work equally well as quilt backings or as fabrics in your design, they also look fabulous in these great one fabric patterns, designed by Batik Australia just for this use. (Although it would be fun to try these patterns with other fabrics as well!)

Our lovely batiks can found on our website here and  the patterns are available here. Don't forget to use your discount code HAPPY10.

Happy sewing,

Cheers

Meg 

Hello everyone,

Every time I start an article this year, I feel that it is a bit "rinse and repeat" but nevertheless we shall persist! I hope you are staying well and safe in these interesting times.

Misty Threads has been relatively quiet these last few months thanks to a few personal changes and a few *gestures in current events*. In May, we moved back to Canberra temporarily to sort out some overhanging bits of life there and I think it's worth a mention that Canberra is definitely colder than Dorrigo! Recently, I have been caught up in Sydney's lockdown visiting a daughter to help out with a grandchild (yes, absolutely gorgeous) – and now Canberra is also in lockdown. But never fear, Misty Threads is very much open and our wonderful Mr. Misty has volunteered to send out orders for me.

On a serious note, we do sincerely apologise for any delays; as you are all probably aware covid restrictions have slowed things down a little.

Since a lot of us are stuck back inside and needing something to pass the time, I just wanted to remind you of some of the great new fabrics that have just come in!

 These lovely new authentic Aboriginal fabrics can be found on the website here.

 These amazing fabrics can be found here and the AtoZoo panel here.

 See here for Incognito and those, Merci Paris and Mystical Mushrooms, in the following two photos.

Lots of ideas for things to make at the moment, doing my best to make this a useful lockdown! Although I brought several projects to work on, while I am away from Canberra, I don't have access to the shop's full range of wonderful fabrics. However, on the bright side, it does mean thinking creatively to work with what I do have here – it's fun and I've found simplifying things often takes away the overload of too many choices and the general worry of life at the moment.

 If you are also in lockdown or just staying in one place, I hope you too can have some fun just making things for the sheer joy of 'making' without worrying about any burden of the 'right' or 'perfect' choice of fabric or end result.

Take care, stay safe and be kind.

Meg

July 2021 

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all staying well and not totally stitched up by lockdown, frustrating, isn't it! Although Canberra is clear, it's a little awkward being surrounded by NSW.

It's very rainy and chilly here, most mornings are well below zero at the moment with days in single figures. Thankfully, our house is well-heated – good time to be tucked up inside.

Sadly, the Tour de France is almost over for another year – definitely far too many late nights/early mornings in this household and we can discuss teams and cyclists and tactics with the best of them! It's been a very interesting tour, a little dampener with several very nasty crashes and the loss of some top riders but there are still so many amazing riders of all ages. I had ambitions of making a TdF quilt during these weeks with the lovely Merci Paris and Incognito fabrics arrived recently; I did manage to design one but didn't get any further so I'll have to work on that over the next little while.

We do have some lovely new fabrics to tempt you to add to your stashes. You have probably seen most of these on our facebook posts but some got a little bit lost in the chaos of moving. However, they are all up on the web now and here is a lineup for you.

On the left, these gloriously saturated solid colours from Jane Sassaman are soft to the touch and an absolute pleasure to work with. They are very slightly variegated and would enhance rather than overwhelm your quilts. Online here.

Next is  A to Zoo, a child's delight of an alphabet – works beautifully with the Jane Sassaman solids! (I'm working on a little quilt, hopefully online soon.) The panel is online here. 

Moving along, Pixie Dots in either white or a perfect shade of grey make a good filler or background fabric as dots with a difference.

Last on the right is Pencil club, a fun interpretation of pencil marks and sharpener shavings – they would work as great abstracts and landscape pieces. Find them here.

On the left here is Paris Merci, (yes, an Incognito lurking in the middle there). Paris, love it and these are great fun fabrics for a special quilt! See them here.

Next is Icognito. I love these – quiet but interesting with their abstract nature, just right for some sewing adventures. They look good with Merci Paris, throw in a few colour highlights as well and voila! Online here.

In the middle, we have Mystical Mushrooms. I don't remember ordering this one! Very cute and lots of fun to play with though. Enjoy here!

The last two photos are some wonderful new pieces to add to our authentic aboriginal fabrics range – they definitely improve all the time and these are lovely. Online here.

Don't forget our popular AAD kits are still available here – you are also welcome to request your own choice of fabrics for these.

Lots of fun to be had with these fabrics and I do hope your quilting and making is bringing you fun and a little circle of contentment in these uncertain times!

Take care and stay safe,

Meg

Hello everyone,

We hope you are doing amazing, surviving and thriving despite the latest round of lockdowns!

 Just in case we haven’t made it clear in the past, fabric is our business - it’s what we do, it’s what we love, it’s what makes us tick.

 Although we try not to play favourites, we must admit one of our ranges will always be a standout and that is our Authentic Aboriginal Designs (AAD) range. This is an incredible range, which inspires and delights our customers from all over the world!

 As always, Misty Threads acknowledges the traditional custodians of our beautiful country, and wishes to pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging. We particularly acknowledge the Ngunnawal people who are the traditional custodians of the land on which we are presently located, especially during NAIDOC week 2021. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

 And it must be said, isn't this year's NAIDOC poster beautiful!

National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee or NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. It may be a little harder to join the celebrations in person this year however, we thought we would take the opportunity to remind you about our great Authentic Aboriginal Design fabric range. These are designed, under licence and exclusively by Aboriginal artists, many well known and in much demand for their artwork exhibited in a range of galleries across Australia and internationally.

 These fabrics remain one of our most popular ranges and it's easy to see why. Not only do they tell the traditional history and stories of our country, they are also the landscape and colours we grew up with and see as we travel across this great land. As fabrics, they are pure cotton and perfect for making clothes (great shirts!), homewares and quilts. We have had a lot of positive feedback from many quilting and sewing groups about just how lovely these fabrics are to handle.

Our suppliers keep us well stocked with new designs on the regular and they just get better and better all the time!

 Please enjoy a sneaky peak at some of the latest offerings:

Don’t worry, the order is in and we are expecting our latest haul very soon. I absolutely cannot wait to share them with you all, so keep an eye out on our website www.mistythreads.com.au, and follow us on our socials @mistythreads on Facebook and Insta!

There is some really pretty stuff coming soon, so make sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming winter sale!

 We do have a massive array of other fabric ranges currently being put up online, and we promise you will be the first to know when they are available!

 That’s all from us for now so please, mask up, hand sanitise and keep your distance.

Stay safe, stay kind,

Much love,

Everyone here at Misty Threads xx

Hi everyone,

How are you all? Not too cold wherever you are, I hope, but I must admit it's certainly cold enough here in Canberra! Thankfully, our house is snug and warm and I think I can finally feel my toes again.

Misty Threads has been down a rabbit hole for the last two months or so while we have moved. At the moment, it is peaceful and warm down the rabbit hole – it's very tempting to curl up with a good book and not come up until springtime! However, we've seriously missed playing with fabric over the last several weeks so we're back.

We are here in Canberra again for the time being, only slightly in abeyance and we are certainly still open online. Currently, I'm doing a stocktake and major sort of all our products – look out for a nice fat sale in July. We plan to clear out as much of our older fabric as possible to make way for some of the gorgeous new fabrics around. As great as most of these older fabrics are, it's time they moved on so there will be some terrific bargins, perfect for stash building. 

We do have some lovely new fabrics available:

 The solids are particularly beautiful, saturated and not harsh, on gorgeously soft ctton fabrics.

These will be up on line shortly!

There are still a few customers we are untangling recent orders for – we will contact you directly in the next week.

Stay safe and warm

Cheers

Meg

Hi all,

Misty Threads has been a bit quiet this year, catching up with various family matters - all good though!

Some of you may have already heard this but we do have some great news for you. Chris and Carolyn will be back with the 2021 Misty Mountain Getaway with their usual lineup of wonderful tutors!

It'll all be happening from 25 to 30 September with the program available here from 1 May 2021. Plenty of time to start planning now - it's going to be fun! Misty Threads will be there and we're really looking forward to catching up with you all at the getaway.

Just to whet your appetite for the getaway, Chris and Carolyn have also arranged a workshop with the amazing Gloria Loughman in Dorrigo with two classes - Abstract Landscape 24 - 26 April and The Painted Landscape 27 - 28 April. These are not to be missed - Gloria is a wonderful and award winning textile art quilter and popular tutor. Details and bookings can be made here.

Misty Threads will be unable to attend the April workshops due to a prior commitment - I'm quite sad as I've wanted to do one of these classes for awhile now. However, you can still order your requirements on line or call me direct on 66571200. Our 10% workshop discount will apply to all orders.

Don't forget also - after your initial online purchase from us  (including phone orders - just ask us for your discount code), all future purchases receive a 10% discount.

Cheers Meg

We're well and truly on the way through January. Do you have study looming again - student yourself or students in the house? 

Whether you're on the move or studying or returning to the office, what about a fresh new cover for your (or their) elecronic devices?

Here is a little peek at a custom order going out today, made in our great aboriginal fabrics (available here) - talk about the wonderful colours and dance of Australia! Aren't they beautiful?

We sell these through our website - see here - and offer three sizes, tablet, small laptop (e.g. Chromebook) and standard laptop. We're happy to custom make to your choice of any fabric on our website, (excluding linens) - please indicate preferred fabric and bag size in the remarks box. If your laptop is larger than the standard case (e.g. larger MacBook), let us the measurements and we'll work with that.

To start 2021 on the right foot, what about a 10% discount until the end of February - just use code LAPTOP10.

PS. We're working on designing a small bag for cords and other accessories so keep an eye out for that - we'll post our progress.

With all this extra staying at home, does your house need a bit of lighting up? What do you do when you want to cheer things up without spending a fortune when life gets a bit rubbish? I usually make a cushion cover or get another lamp (don't get too freudian on me – it's a dark house, okay!). It's not too big a commitment for 2021 after all 2020 wasn't exactly what I'd call faithful.

We certainly have a few cushion covers (plenty more available or just let us know your cushion size and fabric preference, we'll happily custom make you one) but what I want to show you today are our great lampshades (and friend). 

Currently, we are offering drum lampshades with a 30cm (12 inch) diameter, 21cm (8¾ inch) in height; they can be used for a table or standard lamp or if you'd prefer, at no extra cost, we can custom make one as a ceiling shade (just select a fabric from our extensive online range!) They are individually handmade with much care from quality fabric – remember that Misty Threads is certified as Australian owned with our artisan products made locally. You're welcome to choose your own fabric or pick one ready made here. Postage is included in the cost for the lampshades.

Cheers and stay safe

Meg

PS Or I just go buy another book – we've got a few of those too here.