beginners Archive

Compensation, or the process of fitting partial stitches into edges and corners of your needlepoint, is often confusing. That’s true even of experienced stitchers. Compensation can range from easy to difficult depending on the stitch (oblique is harder than diagonal) and the shape of the area (curves are harder than straight lines). But, unless we plan on having exposed canvas, we’ll need to compensate on every canvas. Joni Stevenson has written a blog post about compensating diagonal stitches along a straight edge. It’s wonderfully detailed and has tons of her large clear diagrams that show you exactly what you need to know to compensate these common stitches. If compensation confuses you, this in-depth tutorial is ideal

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Originally posted 2009-08-15 07:36:28. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe weekly email from a local school says that you are the best recommendation for the school. That holds true for needlepoint as well, you are the best recommendation for needlepoint there is. By wearing needlepoint shoes, carrying a bag or wallet with needlepoint on it, or stitching in public are all ways to spread the word. So once you have them interested, what can you do? I have a free email course for beginners, Right from the Beginning. People can sign up and get the course sent to them in 7 weekly lessons. It teaches several stitches, has two projects and helps people with picking their first painted canvas. If they want to try as stitch guide, sign up for the mailing list on the Napa Needlepoint home page and you will get directed to a free stitch guide. You can

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I don’t know about you but often I’m frustrated when learning a stitch. Yes I can try it on a canvas but often the spaces are too small or too irregular for me to have a great feel for the stitch. Ideally I’d like something big but not too big, straight-sided, easy to finish, and useful. You probably feel the same way. As part of the Plastic Canvas Blog Hop, Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes signed up for a project. Although this was the first time she had used PC, her project is a real winner — stitch sample coasters. She used yarn and 7-count plastic canvas and made six lovely coasters. But you could use smaller count canvas and your stash threads.If I was using 14-count I’d make my coasters 3″ square. In her blog post, she shows you step-by-step how to make these. I just love this idea!

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Are you looking for a way to make ornaments that look sophisticated, use your stash threads but that can be finished quickly? Look no further than 14-count plastic canvas and the wealth of quilt designs. This Spoolies Plastic Canvas Needlepoint Quilt Ornament is a perfect introduction to this much-overlooked material and to the wealth of great quilt designs. It’s part of the Plastic Canvas Blog Hop. My grandmother was a seamstress and I remember loving all the wooden spools of brightly colored thread at her home. This quilt reminds me of her. It’s based on a free quilt pattern from Humble Bee Buzzings. I lightened both the spool ends and the background. 14-count plastic canvas is easily found at most craft shops. It comes in 8.5 x 11 inch sheets usually in white and clear. Either can be used although clear works slightly better for the front and white for

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Let me tell you a secret. I simply love needlepoint. It takes all my will power not to buy every canvas I see even though I can’t finish what’s already in my stash. The reason is simple, I can’t help but start to plan a canvas whenever I see one, writing stitch guides in my mind. I’m lucky because I write stitch guides but for too many of use stitchers we’re tied to guides that are either expensive, inadequate, or not to our tastes. You probably think the alternative is to commission a stitch guide, possibly with a cost running into hundreds of dollars. And if you already own the canvas and maybe even the threads even your options for this are limited. You could summon your bravery and plunge into creating your own guide. But there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to find out how the professionals do it,

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Originally posted 2010-11-28 07:21:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Even though I’ve lived in California for more than 30 years, I miss the color of the Fall Leaves. I am happy about every little bit of color on our hills (California oaks don’t change colors) and I’m kept reasonably sane because grape vines change beautifully. At this time of year I’m missing the leaves and am wanting to stitch some. Originally I used stencils for my outlines, but it’s even easier to use printed outlines like these ones from Tricia-Rennea (found through a post by Denise on Craft Gossip). To use these for needlepoint. Enlarge the original drawing to the size you like. Print more or make copies if needed. Draw a shape on paper to be the size of your finished needlepoint and arrange the leaves inside it. When you like the arrangement tape the leaves down. Using a

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Samplers and quotes are a continual attraction to stitchers of all kinds. From magnets which declare whether the dishes are “clean” or “dirty” to elegantly bordered and framed sayings, the combination of words and stitches allows almost anyone to become a designer. Today I will discuss choosing an appropriate quote, picking a style of alphabet, spacing and choice of a border. With these tools, you can make your own quotable quotes in needlepoint. Choosing a Quote When doing a quote in needlework, you need to be aware of the space each letter will take up and the effect this will have on the size of the finished piece. Ideally a quote for needlepoint should be short. Quotes for cross stitch can be longer because you can use Backstitched letters to put more letters on each line. The quote should also be something which breaks into more or less even lines.

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Bold or subtle, colorful or neutral, with this notebook class you’ll be seeing stripes. The upcoming 25 stitches class begins June 1, 2013 and focuses on these surprising useful stitches. In the class you’ll have a chance to try out stripes large and small. Some of these stitches are small enough to add distinction to even the smallest area, while others make great backgrounds for larger pieces. Plus you’ll learn about creating your own striped patterns, how stripes can solve dyelot problems, and tons of tips for using these stitches in your needlepoint. All for only $25 (sign up with button near the end of this post). Because this is a notebook class you can stitch it your way, using your scraps of canvas and leftover threads.ecause this is an email class you can take it on your time, when it works for you and your schedule. You can sign

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This ornament is based on Christmas quilts which have large trees made up of triangular patches of many different kinds of green fabric. A trunk of brown is added along with white and red borders. The green threads should be mostly solid or variegated with only slight changes in color. Tweeded threads add interest while not changing color. This ornament works up very quickly and makes an unusual decoration for the tree. To make the ornament you will need: 1 card Rainbow Gallery Backgrounds “Natural Silk” (BG1) 5 different green threads from your stash 1 shade brown yarn in a matte color 1 skein red variegated yarn 18 mesh canvas canvas 4″ x 6″ Begin about 1.5″ from the left side of the canvas. Following the ornament picture for color choice, make the bottom row of triangles. All the triangles are five stitches; the smallest size below. Once the bottom

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The bright colors and bold graphics of the Sixties is the inspiration for this delightful pillow from Ziva Needlepoint. It’s easy to stitch in one simple stitch — Brick Stitch. Even better, the post with the design has some great information about this era and its iconic art. Get it all here

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I’m working on a project and decided I’d try some new stitches fro Stitch INs & OUTs. Two in fact. The first one went very well, it was easy to stitch and if I hadn’t been diverted by watching Mad Men on OnDemand there would have been no mistakes. But then I started the other stitch. I studied the diagram carefully and started near the top of the area. I screwed up on the second unit and had to cut it out. The second time I started I managed to stitch two rows. They looked fine. The start of the third row looked fine too, but soon I ran into trouble. The accent stitches, done in a second color, were lined up incorrectly, so I knew the main units were placed wrong. I had suspected it because this unit isn’t supposed to end the same way for every row. I

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If you look at a leaf, you see that the veins on either side point to the central vein. If you embroider a leaf, you stitch lines, veins, pointing to the center vein. If you draw a leaf, you make lots of parallel lines on each side, pointing to that center vein. But what do yo do to make a new needlepoint leaf that looks acceptably realistic but conveys the idea of lines on both sides pointing towards the center? The answer is simple — reversals. Make the stitch as you normally would on one side of the leaf’s central vein. On the other side, flip[ the stitch so it slants in the opposite direction. This can be done with any diagonal stitch, from Tent Stitch on up. In this vintage Lee fan Tent and Offset Mosaic were used. It’s simple and it’s very effective

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Originally posted 2010-09-13 07:34:39. Republished by Blog Post PromoterCouching is a wonderful technique. With it, you can use ANY thread, even ones that can’t go through the canvas. With it, you can make really curly areas, like sheep’s fleece or Santa’s beard, without making endless French Knots. With it, you can actually make a true curve or circle on the grid of needlepoint canvas. But while the theory is simple — lay a thread dow and make tiny stitches to attach it to canvas — you may find it hard to visualize. Thanks to Denise over at Craft Gossip, I found this delightful tutorial on couching from big B and her 100 Stitches Project. While the tutorial shows couching done on fabric with floss, the procedure is exactly the same for needlepoint and for any thread. What makes this tutorial really great is the detailed pictures. Not only does her

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Originally posted 2009-06-12 06:06:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Over at Needlework Tips & Techniques, there is a wonderful page of information about embroidery floss. It is designed for Cross Stitchers, but there’s lots of advice that works for needlepointers too. There is a video on how to separate plies. This works for any stranded thread. There is information about several ways to start your thread, including a loop method, which is worth trying for needlepoint. Do not, however, use the table of number of plies; they are not correct for needlepoint. Instead, use these amounts: Congress Cloth: 2 strands 18 mesh: 4 strands 14 mesh: 6 strands 13 mesh: 6 strands 12 mesh: 8 strands Also remember that these techniques and amounts. work for any stranded thread, such as stranded silks, where the individual strands are about the same size as floss. Thanks and a tip of the hat

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Chain Stitch, and its wrapped version, are wonderfully adaptable stitches for use in needlepoint. Here’s why: It easily makes rounded, curved, or straight lines. Most of the stitch is on the surface of the canvas so you can use thicker or more delicate threads. It makes a thicker, bolder line than Backstitch can. Wrapped or not, the line is always solid. Useful as it is, many stitchers struggle with Chain Stitch. For us, as needlepointers, it’s because it isn’t really counted. Yes, each stitch should be even, but that may not mean they are all the same number of holes or threads. Jenny Hart (the genius behind Sublime Stitching) has a wonderful illustrated blog post with instructions on how to do Chain Stitch. She learned this method from a student and it is very cool. If you’ve struggled with Chain Stitch — try it!

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