Nuts about Needlepoint » rugs

Idea for a Quick Rug or Floor Pillow

Janet Perry — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:51:41 +0000

Here’s a great idea for a quick contemporary needlepoint rug. It was designed by Karen Barbe and complete instructions for the rug are on her blog.

The key is to use rug canvas (if you can’t find it, try latch hook canvas). Ad you’ll need a bulky, hand-wearing yarn. A single stitch, leaf in this case, is used throughout.

You could also use the same materials and pattern to make a floor pillow.

You can use any bold, highly textured stitch on rug canvas to make a fast and easy project. I used Norwich Stitch, an ANG stitch of the month) and three shades of rug wool to make a bold pillow. You can do the same. And remember if it’s 7 mesh rug canvas a 12″ pillow is the same number of intersection as a 4 2/3″ inch piece on 18 mesh.

Thanks and a shout out to Denise from Craft Gossip.

New Needlepoint Products – April 2010

Janet Perry — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:59:39 +0000

One of the things that excites me most about needlepoint is all the creative new ways designers are finding to use needlepoint. Looking at the new products in this column you will see some new 3-D products in both painted canvas and charted needlepoint, new canvases, kits and charts, as well as other exciting new products.

Needlepoint in Three Dimensions

I was blown away by two products I just learned about. The Needle’s Notion has a 3-D cake done as charted needlepoint. “Carrot Cake” is built around a papier mache box and is white with textured stitches, geometric motifs, carrots, and rabbits. Put it on a lovely cake stand to make a wonderful centerpiece.

CBK Needlepoint Collections has marvelous 3-D lighthouses designed by Sukey Designs. They come in two sizes. The large is 12″ and the small is 6″. All four pieces to build the lighthouse are painted on a single canvas.

Painted Canvases, Kits & Charts

Jean Smith has two new canvases featuring a field of tulips. On 13 mesh for easy stitching. They are available as 14′ and 8″ squares. She also has a stunning hydrangea rug on 10 mesh. IT has companion pillow on 13 mesh.

Dream House Ventures has added some new sayings in different styles and ha a lovely design based on a Chinese lattice. There is also a lovely new Pueblo pot designed by Paula Manning

If you have liked the birds in Threadworx Journal but want the ease of painted canvas. three of them (cardinal, hummingbird, and robin) are available as kits from Threadworx. Anna-Marie Winter has lovely round “Tree Jewels” ornaments available as kita from Kreinik. The kits are complete, including even the styrofoam ball and a reusable storage box. They are in holiday colors and there are three styles.

DebBee’s Designs has a great new beginner’s pattern out that is about 6.5″ square. It uses sweet spring colors in several threads. It’s a charming project any stitcher will love. There is also a new Diamond Delight pattern.

Brenda Kocher has several new designs. Tootsiebubbles is a different kind of baby sampler. Fancywork is inspired by a crazy quilt and features silk ribbon embroidery and includes a CD. Coral Reef features several Bargello motifs.

Sekas & Co. has a new monthly series of fobs featuring flamingos. They come with stitch guides and are available on 13, 16, and 18 mesh. There is also a charted flamingo heart.

Thread & Embellishment News

The Gentle Art has 7 new colors of their crewel-weight Simply Wool out, bringing the total to 36. There are also 6 new Simply Shaker colors.

Weeks Dye Works also has a crewel-weight wool available, as well as a new two-strand floss on spools and #12 perle. They have new colors in #5 perle, six-strand floss, and linen.

I’ll have a review of Threadworx new silks soon, but I wanted you to know that the overdyed Au Ver a Soie has 20 colors.

Just Another Button Company has alphabet buttons in two styles. One style has as white background and the other has a natural wood color background. An easy way to personalize.

Accessories & Finishing Ideas

Nordic Needle has 2″ antique gold pendants with finishing instructions. To go in them, they have 6 new designs, 2 canvas and 4 cross stitch. The canvas is designed by Laura J. Perin.

For lovers of Q Snaps. BritStitch has come out with a similar table/lap stand that comes in two styles and four sizes.

The Elizabeth Turner Collection has a unique piece for football fans. The leather-covered flask also includes a canvas.

Needlepoint Rugs – Stitches

Janet Perry — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:02:50 +0000

When you are making a needlepoint rug, such as this one (a current project). You need to think before you stitch. Will it be hanging on the wall or be underfoot. This has implications not only for the thread (yesterday’s post), but also for the stitches you use.

If your rug will hang on the wall you have no worries about stitches. But if it will live on the floor, your stitches need to hold up to heavy use. This means NO stitches going over more than three threads. Longer stitches will snag.

Any stitch in the Mosaic family, such as Offset Mosaic, above, will work. So will shorter versions of Scotch and Cashmere. Cross stithes aren’t great choices unless they are quite small because they are layered and can snag more easily. Stick to cross stitches over 2 threads at most.

But what do you do when the stitch is longer than three threads, like this Diagonal Gobelin?

You split up the longer stitches into shorter one. This version of Cocktail Stitch, divides every other stitch, but since there are two types of divisions in this over four stitch, you could alternate between the two.

You can do this division with most stitches. When you do, you will find that sometimes internal stitch patterns occur, so test out a small block on a scrap of canvas before committing.

August Giveaway & July’s Winner

Janet Perry — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:52:24 +0000

The winner of the July Contest is Carmen whose favorite project has been a saying she made when she was a teenager. The runners up were Tracy (set of teatowels), Shelly (pansies on pillowcases), Deanna (Father Christmas stocking), Betsy (sampler of her own design), Kim R (butterfly sampler). August’s postings will have a theme which will show up in occasional posts. The theme is rugs (miniature ones count as well). In the comments, let me know if you have ever stitched a rug, whether you want to make one, and any tips you might have for stitching them. Throughout the month I will be posting about my own rug stitching project, a rug from Art Needlepoint. Remember US addresses only for the contest. Related posts:Remember this Month’s Giveaway! Needlepoint & Social Networking Needlepoint Rugs — Threads Giveaway Update — Cross Stitch Still Available Bargello Color Schemes – April Giveaway Theme Related posts:

Needlepoint Rugs — Threads

Janet Perry — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:26:25 +0000

That picture is the daybed in my studio with many of the threads I’ve picked for my rug spread out on it. The rug uses motif’s from Owen Jones’ Grammar of Ornament and so that is there as well. Obviously I have lots of stash.

Having stash to use is great for rug because you don’t need to have colors match exactly unless it is the background. When a rug is broken up as this one is, even the background can change. Mix dye lots, threads, as long as you stay in one color palette, it’s all good.

The very best thread for rugs is silk and I will be using little bits of it. But silk is expensive and rugs are large. The second best thread for rugs is wool and the bulk of my rug will be in wool.

There are three main types of wool to consider. Persian Wool which was originally developed to repair oriental rugs, tapestry wool developed for needlepoint, and crewel wool, developed for embroidery on cloth. All three can be mixed and used in a rug with no difficulties. You will find the biggest variety of manufacturers in crewel wool. You should also look at wool knitting yarns if you need to buy thread for larger areas. It is a significantly better buy. Just be sure to get the correct weight. In my pile are all three types of wool.

The third best choice is wool blends. These come in two types, all natural blends, like the silk/wool blend here. Or one with synthetic threads, such as Rainbow Tweed and Burmilana. The synthetics may not wear as well as pure wool and the wool/silk blends may be too soft for a rug.

Needlepoint rugs will be a theme of columns throughout August (I’m starting a bit early with this post. Next week there will be a posts about picking stitches and as post that will show you a bit of progress and talk about how to tackle stitching a rug.