Originally posted 2010-02-23 07:54:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter There is a problem (opportunity if you’re a glass half full person) lurking in the heart of every piece of needlepoint. It catches new stitchers and old, it can make a modern edgy piece look “needlepointy” and dull. And it cannot be avoided. Tent Stitches, the basic needlepoint stitch, are asymetrical. They have a direction, like little arrows. If you have done cross stitch in the past, it doesn’t have this problem (cross stitches are squares). The as=symmetry of needlepoint sneaks up and surprises many stitchers. You can’t get a curve to look even, a line that slants the wrong way becomes a dotted line. Older needlepoint that was done entirely in Tent Stitch didn’t worry about this problem, so modern needlepoint that has the problem tends to look dated; today we go for a more realistic line and more elaborate
Monthly Archive:: June 2011
Here are even more great canvases from may designers. Most of these premiered at the TNNA Summer Market earlier this month. Deborah Mix, the designer behind Dragon’s Tale has an equally talented sister, Christine, who is a children’s book illustrator. Deborah has adapted 8 of Christine’s fairytale illustrations to needlepoint canvas. These designs are full of great detail and they would fire any child’s imagination. Canvas Candy, that great company that pairs needlepoint with blown glass ornaments in many styles has a set of four juvenile ornaments that include a rocking horse, a teddy bear, a piggy bank, and a baby duck. They also have some great retro canvases that include a biker jacket, saddle shoes, and a motorcycle. If you thought they just did food, look around — there’s lots more! Amanda Lawford has many new designs, including a new Santa, lots of wonderful bugs, flowers, and animals, and
Originally posted 2010-04-23 07:16:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Patchwork Quilts remain a rich source of inspiration of design in all kinds of media, needlepoint not the least. Every time I look at a quilt book, any quilt book, I find lots of ideas for new projects. And I’m not alone in this, many other needlepoint designers do as well. I thought on this sunny (at least here) spring Friday I’d share some of the many quilt-inspired posts and projects you can find here at Nuts about Needlepoint. First off, we have the Pyramid mini-sock post from earlier this week. Based on a traditional quilt block, Thousand Pyramids, and designed by me in about 2003, this design is one of a series of Scrap Bag Needlepoint ™ mini-socks. The Sunbonnet Sue mini-sock remains one of my favorites. Sunbonnet Sue has been so popular as a quilt pattern that there are
Colonial Needle has released four new products in their line of Lee Needle Arts self-finishing items. They include an iPad Cover in black or red. It has a large area for needlework and uses the same elastic corners their ebook reader uses (my reviews of this product is tomorrow). It comes in black and red. Next is the same additional insert for their bags. It looks as if it’s the one used for Leigh’s popular Fash-Inserts. There is a great alligator belt in white, red and black that uses the popular 3″ round/ Possibly my favorite is the two-insert nylon tote. It’s navy, a great color, and not only does it have places for two pieces of needlepoint, it opens wider than their other totes. It comes with two inserts so that you can change the look. It comes in black, brown, red & navy. One is on it’s way
Originally posted 2009-09-27 07:44:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Looking for a fast project that’s suitable for kids, makes something cool and uses materials in your stash? Look no further than these wrist wraps, a free pattern from Coats & Clark. Using plastic canvas with stitching modeled on friendship bracelets, these projects are a great introduction to needlepoint. Although the instructions call for floss, you can use any thread that works on 18 mesh canvas on 14 mesh plastic canvas. So you can put your stash to work here
Originally posted 2006-08-18 07:30:28. Republished by Blog Post PromoterSuZy Murphy, self-published, 2006, ISBN: 978-0-0701330-4-5. Do you love your SuZy Murphy books, but wish you had them in a smaller, condensed format to carry with you? Me too. SuZy has heard us an come up with this packed book, containing the stitches from SuZy’s Small Stitches and SuZy’s SurpriZe Stitches. Like those books, Portable Stitches is divided by type of stitch, including little. straight, cross, diagonal, round, and square stitches. There is an index. The diagrams are reproduced from the original books, numbering and all, with 2-3 per page. Text and SuZy’s tips are not included. However she has included a page of tips for her fans. SuZy has a delightful sense of whimsy in her stitches and no matter how many stitch books you have, this one will give you new stitches and ideas
Barbara Bergsten does absolutely wonderful canvases if you want to master different stitches on canvas. She actually paints the stitch’s pattern onto the canvas. In addition to this she has made many stitch guides available free on her site. Now she’s added an even better tool: the “Painted Stitches” handout. It comes from her class at TNNA earlier this month. That’s a small picture of it from her blog. It has 30 stitches diagrammed in two colors on a single sheet. You could print this out, get it laminated and keep it in your stitching bag. I love it
Originally posted 2006-07-18 07:55:31. Republished by Blog Post PromoterNote: I’ve been stitching In Good Company mini-socks almost as long as they have been in business. Here’s my interview with Bob Healy, who is the technical whiz behind the company. 1. Can you tell me a little bit about computer-printed canvas and its advantages to me as a stitcher? We use a commercial printer and inks designed to produce Fine Art Prints and Posters. The inks are water-fast and fade-resistant. The advantages to a stitcher would be in the cost-effectiveness and quality of designs. Needlepoint has always been thought of as a ‘rich woman’s hobby’ with hand painted one-of-a-kind designs. There will always be a place for these works of art, but why not make good designs available for everyone to be able to stitch! Needlepoint is a wonderful art form that everyone should be able to enjoy. That’s the niche
Many of you collect the limited edition Santas done each year by Pat Thode of Heartstrings for The Artist’s Collection. These include a painted canvas and detailed stitch guide along with embellishments. The 20 year run of these Santas is coming to an end this year with her new canvas “And to All a Goodnight.” It’s pictured here. They also made some of the older pieces in the series available for a short time, so, while the period to order is over, you might find some in your local shop
Originally posted 2010-05-24 07:04:58. Republished by Blog Post PromoterVicki asked earlier this month if the designers actually painted the canvases they sold. It’s a good question. Although there are designers who paint their own and custom canvases are painted by the artist, most canvases you buy in shops are not painted by the designer. It is the designer’s own design, but after painting the master (and sometimes a few more for models and shows) the canvases are painted by copy painters. These people have two important skills needed for reproducing the artist’s work. First, they can paint on canvas. This isn’t easy to do and the result needs to be appealing enough for you to buy it. Second, they can accurately reproduce the piece from the master. I’ve tried this and I’d almost rather have my fingernails pulled out. It’s hard, nit-picky work. Some designers hire their own copypainters (some
I get questions all the time in my mailbox asking me to identify a vintage piece of needlepoint. Usually it’s because someone did the piece, loved it, and would like to do something similar. Quite often, I can identify the designer (I’ve been stitching over 40 years) but the work is no longer published or the designer is long gone. The best an most consistent source I’ve found for older pieces is ebay and you can use their saved searches tool to narrow down your search to exactly what you want. And get email notices when something is there so you don’t waste time looking. Here’s how to do it: Go to ebay and then the crafts category Under crafts, pick needlecraft & yarn and click on it This goes to a huge listing (over 350,000 recently), but in the left column, you’ll see needlepoint & plastic canvas, click on
Originally posted 2010-05-11 07:39:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Betty Chen Louis is, quite simply, a marvelous needlepoint artist. Her work is creative, beautiful, and interesting. And, luckily for us, she shares it with us by being an outstanding teacher as well. The pictures throughout this article are of many of her pieces, put her to inspire you. Sue Dulles wrote a phenomenal post recently about Betty and what is behind those designs we love so well. We often think that a design springs into being full-formed and ready to go. But that isn’t really the case. Designing is hard work and requires time, patience, and revisions. My two favorite types of Betty’s pieces are her Cityscapes and her lovely oriental pieces. I love the way she captures the vibrant textures of skyscrapers, with the limited palette, but never making them dull. And her mastery of oriental design is unmatched.
Carol is an Australian needlepoint designer. She has posted this small design on her blog for all of use to enjoy. You can also just get the chart in a second post. Cheryl Fall from About.com Needlepoint has this charming design, Square One, part of a series of what she calls “Needlepoint Doodles.” I just love the way it uses several overdyes for a unique look. They are great for using up scraps of thread and is small enough to fit into one of the Sudberry mini-boxes. Thanks Carol and Cheryl!
Originally posted 2009-07-01 05:58:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Leigh Shafer is talented finisher based in Arizona. In Jane Zimmerman‘s most recent email newsletter she shared the most wonderful tips about what we as stitchers need to know in order to get the best results from the finishing. Leigh was gracious enough to give me permission to post it here for you. Once you have finished stitching your project, you need to consider how you want it finished. Will it be a pillow? A standing figure? Do you want ornaments that you can hang on your Christmas tree? Do you have favorite colors, or do you have one color that you absolutely hate? How will the finished piece be used or displayed? All of these thoughts must be conveyed to your finisher so that you and she can be in agreement on the finished product. Do you want a pillow?
It’s a truism of needlepoint that for a stitch to fit in an area there should be three repeats of it — in every direction. While for larger needlepoints, this isn’t a problem, for something small, such as this mirror, three repeats can be a problem. Several of the patches are very small and won’t fit three of much. The reason for the rule is that our brains need repetition to see something as a pattern. And the number of repeats we need is three. Fewer than three and we aren’t really sure there is a pattern. So what to do when area are small? Begin by analyzing the piece. Are the colors repeated? If so, you could use the same stitch for all. PIck your stitch to fit in the middle or larger area. Then the other areas just look like pieces of the same fabric? Are two areas