Nuts about Needlepoint » inspiration

If it’s Perforated, Can I Stitch on it?

Janet Perry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:30:08 +0000

The really simple answer to this is yes. Anything that has holes drilled in it in a regular grid-like pattern can be the ground for needlepoint.

Think of these grounds as being like perforated paper or plastic canvas but made of a different material.

However, the size of the grid (think of it as being like mesh-size) will determine how “rustic” it looks. Bigger grids will make more rustic designs, so pick your pattern accordingly.

You also need to be sure to pick a thread or yarn that will cover well. This may mean that you’ll need to use bulky or even super bulky knitting yarns to get the right look.

It opens up a whole new world of possible needlepoint, but there are some things to remember.

Most of these materials are quite rigid, so they may be harder to hold.
Rarely do they have large margins, so you need to adjust your thinking and be ready to manipulate your needle differentlyt
If you can see straight through the hole with no barrier, you can use a blunt needle, but if you can’t (for example if a purse is lined), you will need to use a chenille needle which is a sharp-ended tapestry needle.

Here are some examples of stitching done on these kinds of grounds. In pieces ready-made for stitching, look at AMH Designs with their notebooks and key fobs, leese designs iPhone4 case, or, over on Etsy, this kit for a wooden square necklace. If you want to be more adveturous, look to products with hole drilled in them and then stitch on it. Some creative ideas include this cross-stitched Fossil bag, or this contemporary lamp. Other grid-like grounds you could use for needlepoint include nylon screens, pegboard, or some kind of metal mesh.

Look around you, there are plenty of grids to embellish!

Correction: In Saturday’s column I stated that Pischke Pockets distributed Elizabeth Bradley and Kirk & Hamilton. This is incorrect, although they are all located in the same building, they are different companies and distributed independently of each other. My apologies for any confusion this caused.

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Merry Easter Eggs – book review

Janet Perry — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:11:35 +0000

Originally posted 2006-02-18 14:51:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Carolyn Hedge Baird. 2004.

Whimsical and bursting with ideas, Carolyn Hedge Baird has written a book of stitch ideas
which covers much more than just Easter Eggs. It contains “ideas for borders and stripes,
backgrounds, details, threads, finishing, and displaying your needlepoint eggs!”

The book can roughly be divided into four sections; introduction, stitch suggestions, stitch
dictionary and additional techniques. Each section is packed with ideas.

The introduction is short and includes an introduction (and a great story about the Easter
Raccoon (who now lives at my house, I think), an introduction, some thoughts about
needlepointing, and a wonderful set of outlines of Easter eggs (for designing your own).

The second section is called Easter Needlepoint. It is divided by types of objects (straw
hats, bunnies, etc.) and lists stitch and thread suggestions for all parts of the object.
Needing to stitch some dots? This section includes suggestions for evenly spaced dots,
random dots, dots over 4 threads, and dotted areas. Along with some stitch diagrams,
there are list of stitches for all these areas, as well as hints and comments. Blank pages
and graph paper are included throughout this section to record your own choices.

The largest section of the book is the stitch dictionary. It is divided into sections including
tiny and small stitches, backgrounds, stitches for details, laid fillings and more. The
sections begin with a listing of stitches in them and then each stitch is diagrammed, and
many have additional information. In the tiny stitches section, for example, she has a great
description of Chottie’s Plaid. Once again idea, blank pages, graph paper and clip art are
interspersed throughout the section.

Specialized techniques, finishing and display information make up the last section of the
book. This included information which often is not seen in needlepoint books with
sections on silk ribbon embroidery, wired ribbon, and beading as well as finishing and
display information.

I love this book and find myself turning to it often for ideas, but I would add a small word
of caution. For people who have difficulty reading or who don’t like densely packed
information on a page, Baird’s style could be difficult. Her typeface can be hard to read
(especially in small sizes) and with clip art, text and diagrams on a page, it can be difficult
for some people to see what is most important.

But these are small problems with a book which is joyous, fun and full of ideas, even if you
never stitch and Easter Egg.

Vintage Clip Art for Adaptation & Inspiration

Janet Perry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:20:13 +0000

Originally posted 2010-07-09 07:39:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

vintage french arthmetic illustration

Talk about stitchy goodness for inspiration and adaptation, thanks to my DD, who is REALLY good at finding these things, I found a blog called Agence eureka, which is chock fill of great vintage printed material.

It’s written in French, but the important thing is the wonderful images. I found things, like this chart from an arithmetic book, that could go straight to needlepoint. There were more pictures from textbooks, illustrated magazines, children’s books and games, and advertisements. There are even tons of vintage alphabets to adapt.

illustration of a vintage french phonics card

Just think how fun it would be to do a version of this snowman in needlepoint. I think I’m in stitching heaven!

Book of Hours Color Twinchy – Sneak Peek at New Color & Thread Club

Janet Perry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:20:12 +0000

Going from the earth and mineral colors that predominated the palettes of Ancient Egypt and Greece, the High Middle Ages seem to burst in a world of color and light.

I have adored the bright, rich blues of medieval prayer books, or Books of Hours, since I first saw one in a reproduction in High School. A picture from Jean de Berry Book of Hours, it’s the monthly scene for June, is below.

illustration from medieval book of hours

Those colors are the inspiration for this Twinchy. It captures the bright colors with the blue and red, the lightness of the palette with the blue-violet, the slightly yellow white of vellum and parchment, and the gold that is so much a part of illuminated manuscripts.

It’s just one of the twelve color palettes I’ll be exploring in Color through the Ages my exciting new color and thread club beginning March 1, 2012.

Each month you’ll get the charted Twinchy (2″ square needlepoints) and lots of information on the palettes, color, and three threads in a PDF.

There are two subscription option, basic and deluxe. The basic subscription gets the monthly PDF only. The deluxe gets the PDF, canvas for the Twinchy, and samples of three threads.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

Deluxe Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program as well as canvas and three thread samples of about 2 yards per month. It is $12.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Please note that the Deluxe Package prices are for shipment to US addresses only. If you want this option and live outside the US, please contact me. All sales to California are subject to sales tax. If you are in California and choose the subscription, you will be invoiced for the sales tax separately.

Taking Color Cues from Fashion

Janet Perry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:54:24 +0000

My husband thinks I’m sort of weird because I love fashion magazines. One big reason I love them is that they often give me ideas for needlepoint.
One great thing is that you can use color combinations that they showcase to put together interesting combinations for needlepoint.

Sometimes you are lucky and the magazine spells out a combination for you. For example, the combination of nude, light pink, minty green, and coral in Style Watch inspired the Twinchy freebie pictured here. It’d entirely made up of Cashmere stitches, charted below. (Instead of a complete chart, use the picture of the finished needlepoint to stitch it.)

A stunning malachite-grren sequined evening gown inspired me to stitch a malachite clutch in all metallics.

When looking to fashion for color inspiration there are three types of things that can inspire.

You can take you inspiration from an individual outfit. If you see an outfit that combines a bright yellow blouse with navy blue pants, look at the neutrals paired with it to create the start of a great piece.

You can take inspiration from the colors in a print. The prints do lots of the work for you. They always have a background color, which becomes your background. The figures in the print determine the other colors. You’ll get the best success from using these colors in similar proportions. You can do this by writing down the colors and then ranking them from most to least used. Note also where there are big gaps. (A future post will demonstrate how to do this).

You can also take inspiration from a color spread, as I did here. The spread took these colors and showed current clothes and accessories in this palette. Coral was most predominate, then light pink (some almost white), green came next appearing in one piece and as a print’s background. Nude was used the least, although both the light pinks and lightest corals were almost nudes.

While I love and often use the combination of deep coral and bright turquoise, this combination made me think about these colors in another way. The threads I used included three shades of Aurora silk perle (coral), Gentle Arts floss in porcelin (center pink), Kreink #12 in an unlabeled color (green), Elegance E844 and Neon Rays N40 (nudes), and a mix of Gentle Arts Cotton Candy and Crescent Colors Spun Sugar (outside pink).

And it’s all thanks to the fashion magazine.

Cool Plastic Canvas Alert

Janet Perry — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:40:51 +0000

These plastic canvas robots are from Crafty Pod (http://www.craftypod.com)

My friend Diane over at Crafty Pod made these completely amazing robots from plastic canvas.

Her post details the project and many more pictures of them.

I am completely in awe of the wonderful and fresh things Diana does with plastic canvas. In fact there are several posts on this blog pointing to free projects she has made available using this ground, including:

Color through the Ages Sneak Peek

Janet Perry — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:30:22 +0000

Many of you have asked to see what the Twinchie projects for Color through the Ages will look like. This year’s needlepoint club is going to go beyond the traditional color schemes to look at color combinations that refer to a specific time, place, or object.

Through charted Twinchies (2″square needlepoint) based on quilt designs, club members will explore color schemes typical not just of ancient times, but of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Twentieth Century, along with others.

Pictured here are two of the completed Twinchies, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. I’ll post a couple more sneaks late this month. Both societies used similar color palettes based on minerals. In these packets you’ll learn about mineral colors, why “dirt” isn’t just one color, why blue is so prized, and more.

In each month’s packet you will get:

Extensive information about color and this color scheme
Information about the quilt block or setting
Charted Twinchie with thread list
Information, including stitching tips for three different threads

The club begins March 1, 2012 and registrations are open now. There are a number of different pricing options, depending on what you want.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Come join me on this journey of exploration.

Embellishment with Kelly Clark

Janet Perry — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:46:28 +0000

The Needleworks in Austin, Kelly is doing a home study class of her lovely Thanksgiving piece, Rebekkah.

In a lovely post over one her blog, she has close-ups of the many delightful embellishment techniques she used in the garland.

It’s inspiring and many of them can be used for other items.

2012 Needlepoint Club – Color through the Ages

Janet Perry — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:34:36 +0000

Color can be so evocative of a time or a place. Think of the combination of deep ultramarine blue, gold, linen white and rusty red. Ancient Egypt, right?

Or what about the terra cotta, black, and golden yellow of Greek pots?

This year’s needlepoint club, Color through the Ages, is going to go beyond the traditional color schemes to look at color combinations that refer to a specific time, place, or object.

Each month you’ll get a PDF instruction packet with the chart, information about the color scheme and something about color of the time, and information about three different threads.

A continuation of 2011′s popular Color, Thread, and Quilts Club, you’ll have a chance to expend and extend your knowledge with these delightful little pieces.

The club begins March 1, 2012 and registrations are open now. There are a number of different pricing options, depending on what you want.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Come join me on this journey of exploration.

You Are a Part of the Creative Conversation!

Janet Perry — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:18:35 +0000

Illustration: Gustaf Fjaestad (artist), Miss Fjaestad (weaver). Below the Falls tapestry design, c1913. From The Textile Blog.

I don’t like it when people criticize needlepoint saying it’s like “painting by numbers.” Being the daughter and granddaughter of very creative women, I have always seen, as have they, needlepoint as a very artistic and creative process.

A blog post last week at The Textile Blog got me thinking about this again.

All art is a conversation. In it there are always two people: the artist and the person seeing the art. The artist has an idea and expresses it in a particular way. It may not be an idea you like and it may be expressed in a way you find ugly. But he began the conversation with his idea and its expression.

The second person in the conversation is the person viewing the art. By seeing the expression of the idea, you, even if it’s just mentally, react to it and comment back.

I never thought much about my part in the conversation since looking at art is almost as much of my life as breathing until I was in my 20′s and invited to a docent-led preview of an important modern art exhibit. I went through it and hated every piece, but I understood them. Without knowing it I took part in the conversation.

But in needlework there is always a third party — that’s you the stitcher. As The Textile Blog points out, often they are unknown. But always, always, we take part in the conversation. We do it through our choices of thread, through our stitches, and through our ideas on what the piece is about.

It may be not obvious at all, as is the case in the tapestries in the blog post. Or it may be very obvious, as is the case in how I personalized the baseball player pictured here. But as the maker we take the artist’s idea, add our own, and express that combination in the finished piece.

So go out, embrace your creativity and stand up to be part of the creative conversation.