Originally posted 2009-08-04 23:23:11. Republished by Blog Post PromoterJust a quick note top let you know that Mary has put up an index to her Long & Short Stitch tutorial. All the lessons are listed and will be updated with links as she puts up the posts. This is fantastic for forgetful people like me
Monthly Archive:: April 2012
Using waste canvas to embellish clothing is a fantastic way to give garments a custom look. Learn how in this illustrated tutorial. Do you have some plastic canvas and a bunch of thread sitting around. This plastic canvas bracelet is just one of several PC projects, that create great things from odds and ends. Look through the archives for more that create amazing accessories from your leftovers that create big impact accessories. Overdyed threads are fantastic tools for creating big bang for your buck needlepoint. Leave it to the cross stitch world to give us some ideas for using them effectively. Learn about these resources in this and this post. There are many post with great background ideas and stitches. Creating a wonderful background can have a huge impact on the finished look of your needlepoint, but, all too often, it’s neglected. Here is a post about Tent Stitch variations.
Originally posted 2010-01-10 07:09:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Above are two Santa’s from Kelly Clark’s new monthly Santa series. I’ve done the stitch guides for them both. There are lots of easy, fun effects on them. I’m just crazy about the fiddler for March, I had so much fun stitching him. Stitch & Zip (from Alice Peterson Co.) has announced a new size of Stitch & Zip cases for Kindles (and possibly other ebook readers). This such a great idea. Not only does it show off your needlepoint, it will protect the screen. If you are crafty, but not just in needlepoint, think about AMH’s DIY Journal Kit. It has a place for a needlepoint initial already in the cover and is blank, so you can create your own design. Several of Fleur de Paris’ designers, have lovely new pieces. There is Epicerie, a charming FRench storefront from Sandra
The RSN (Royal School of Needlework) class schedule through December is now on-line. Located in Hampton Court Palace in England, they have a wide variety of classes, with links by subject along the right side. It used to be that you needed to travel to England to take the classes, but now they have day classes in San Francisco and Glasgow. Thanks to Denise from Craft Gossip for pointing this out
Originally posted 2009-10-26 16:57:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter This is a simple maple leaf from Anne Orr. Isn’t it great? It’s so simple that it could be a beginning project if you wanted to try counted needlepoint. I’m also thinking it would be great for other techniques using charts like beadwork, filet crochet or cross stitch. Want to try your hand at beading on canvas? Stitch the veins in a dark brown first. Then make a mix of beads in fall leaf colors. Pick the colors randomly as you stitch. It will be glorious
I was excited by the project that is to be ANG’s SOTM this year in honor of ANG’s 40th Anniversary. The plan was to have stitches contributed by popular needlepoint teachers old and new. So I decided I would stitch it. Almost as soon as it began in January I started to have problems. First there was the shape and thread colors. It was supposed to be a heart done in a variety of red threads. Because I want this to be a stash project, red threads were out, I decided to go with teal. A teal heart would look weird, so I modified it into a rectangle. I didn’t want to use the canvas they suggested, so I sponge painted my canvas a light teal. I did the first two months and haven’t worked on it since. That’s largely because I don’t like the stitches for the past two
Originally posted 2003-08-15 17:46:49. Republished by Blog Post PromoterNeedlepoint is beautiful, there’s no doubt about it. But once several pictures are framed, and pillow are made, there is still stitching to display. Finding products for finishing which make your needlepoint look better than it was unfinished is alwasy a challenge. So I was intrigued by the lovely wooden boxes and cabinets from Patches ‘n Planks. Available in three finishes (light and dark oak and cherry) they looked like a dream come true. But would they work for needlepoint. The answer is a resounding and joyful YES! The company makes a variety of wooden boxes and cabinets including a floss cabinet, recipe box (two sizes) and several different sizes of trinklet boxes. All are available in three finishes and are reasonably priced. For example, the Trinket Boxes, which have square openings ranging from 3.5″ to 10.25″ range in price from $26
Over on Needlepoint Teacher, Susan Sturgeon Roberts’ blog, is a wonderful detailed post on how to stitch this elaborate Egyptian hairstyle. Now stitching the Queen of the Nile may not be in your plans, but there are plenty of things to tale away from this post. How about using her directional creation of braids to stitch some stick-straight hair? You can use her method for making braids to make a child’s pigtails or a single fat braid. The goldwork techniques used to embellish the hairstyle show some easy ways this material can be incorporated into your needlepoint. The headband could be stitched in a very different thread to be any kind of headband. So much inspiration from such a little bit of stitching
I get lots of mail about saving money when stitching needlepoint. I think making good use of the investment you make in stitching is important, whether you are making a stash project with a canvas you bought on eBay or stitching a canvas that cost several hundred dollars. You always want to know that your money isn’t wasted, and that the result will be lovely. Saving money and getting big bangs for your bucks has always been a concern of this blog. So I thought I would point out some of the other posts I’ve done that relate. You might want to use some of those partial skeins you have but you worry about dye lot changes, here I give you ideas on how to solve that problem. Here is another creative way to solve this problem. And this post includes yet another solution. You can tell this is a
Originally posted 2009-12-20 07:23:20. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAnne Stradal had a great post last week about stitching with raffia. She’s right, it’s the best for making straw and such. Besides being inexpensive, “green,” and widely available, you can use it as ribbon for your wrapping. If you want to do this, buy a roll of raffia and wind off about 10 yards and put it in your thread stash. It should meet your stitching needs for years. Her tips on using raffia are great, and I can’t wait to use them on the manger in the Wild Olive nativity I’m working on. I also want to let you know about a couple of alternatives to raffia. The Thread Gatherer makes Sea Grass, a raffia-like cotton thread, packaged for needlework. Judi & Co also makes a raffia(pictured about a third of the way down the page). If you’re looking for
As I’ve been thinking about the theme of this month’s posts, I have realized that using the tools of my needlepoint more prudently and more productively has made me a better and more creative stitcher. We so often fall into a trap of wishing things were endless, that we could buy any canvas we wanted, that we had every color of every thread, that e never had to worry about money. But the reality is that scarcity makes for better needlepoint, just as “neccessity is the mother of invention.” When something is scarce or restricted, it forces us too look at things in a new way. When we do so great things begin to happen. Take the adobe church from yesterday’s post. I bought it from Canvases Be Gone when she had a big dede sale because it reminded me of a lovely church in Santa Fe. It went into
Originally posted 2009-04-02 18:39:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I’ve been collecting, more or less, lots of little pieces to finish the Twinchies, so they are all 2″ square. Most of them are pretty neutral, but then there is this ring box, which is covered in abalone shell (I think). The iridescence of the shell is lovely, but I have no idea what to put into it. What would you do
If you look around, you’ll see plenty of examples of art on plain paper. Think of illustrations in Natural History books, book illustrations, illuminated manuscripts, or even many watercolors. Several years ago I started doing a series of needlepoint bugs designed by Mika Partridge (some currently available from Julia’s Needleworks, pictured here, here, and here). I wanted them to be like those illustrations in Natural History books. To do this I would need to have a background that looked like paper. Since that time, I’ve used this type of background often for needlepoint pieces. I’ve come up with several stitches that I use for backgrounds. To stitch them, you’ll need a thread that is white or shades of white. In these designs you’ll see that I’ve used Silk n’Colors in Old Lace (woven plait), linen (straight T) and Pebbly Perle (T stitch). Other threads that work well include silk perles,
Originally posted 2006-04-18 06:32:56. Republished by Blog Post PromoterCarolyn Hedge Baird is a talented teacher and designer from Houston where you can find her at Chaparral Needlepoint. She has written stitch guides for Melissa Shirley (Halloween Houses and Noah’s Ark) and has two general books on needlepoint which are brim full of creative ideas for stitching your canvas. She’s the subject of our designer interview. 1. How do you develop your ideas for stitch guides? First of all, I always pick a canvas that I really like. If I am teaching the piece for a class, I try to use different stitches than I used on other teaching pieces. I love trying stitches with different parts so I can use several colors and or types of threads in the stitch. I like to make each canvas as a sampler so the student can look on that canvas and see what