Nuts about Needlepoint » inspiration

Make these Birds your Own!

Janet Perry — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:59:28 +0000

Originally posted 2009-01-18 06:46:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Don’t you just love this bird template? They are such great shapes and they make such a wonderful starting point for creative needlepoint.

You can go directly to the post to download them as a PNG or PDF.

I keep thinking about cool things to do with them. You could do them as bargello or stitch samplers, you could make a realistic bird. You could add embellishments.

To put them on needlepoint canvas, follow the instructions on All about Needlepoint and stitch away!

The designs are from tricia-rennea’s blog and she did them originally to be cut out of paper. I learned about them from Sister Denise at Craft Gossip.

Missoni Bargello Pillow – High Fashion Inspirations

Janet Perry — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:47:06 +0000

The knitwear of the Italian fashion house Missoni, is always one that is a wonderful springboard to needlepoint. Because they design knits and are renowned for their zigzag patterns and bold color choices, often you can use high fashion pieces as the starting point for needlepoint, especially for Bargello.

My recent free pattern for The Caron Collection is a wallet insert with colors taken from a Missoni pillow that used a similar zigzag pattern.

Although I’m too swamped to stitch it now, this Missoni purse from 2004 is a Bargello pattern that is easy to do.

It’s a shallow scallop pattern. The purse, a clutch bag, uses many different colors. Instead of trying to reproduce it exactly, I would pick 10-12 solid colors in one thread, I’m thinking Silk & Ivory or wool, and put them into a paper bag.

For each new row, pick out a color from the bag. Put it back when you have finished the row and pick another color. If you pick the same color, put it back and pick again.

Otherwise anything goes.

Once I get caught up, I’m going to do it as an insert to a Stirling tote in my stash.

The result will be something as unique as you are and for a fraction the price of the original.

CReaTiNG CuSToM NeeDLePoiNT CaNVaSeS (Part Two)

Janet Perry — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:41:40 +0000

Stitched in honor of 50 years in business.

Yesterday we learned about some types of images that work for custom needlepoint in Part One of Sandy’s post. Today, we’ll learn about two other types of images. Tomorrow, you’ll see mt choices for this projects.

Artwork: Children’s artwork is generally perfect for placing on canvas. Children usually like to use many bright colors and objects are simple (great for fun stitches and fabulous fibers). A family drawn in crayon, placed on canvas and stitched, has more lasting emotional value than a professional portrait any day of the week. Collages, paintings, and other artwork by adults, that is pleasing to the eye will most likely work on canvas. Store Logos, Ranch Brands and Pennsylvania Hex Signs are awesome on canvas. When choosing artwork, look at the original piece and imagine it in needlepoint stitches. Will an overall continental be best or do you see yourself using all sorts of stitches? If there is a body of water, will Janet’s Water Stitch be just the thing to bring it to life? I suggest taking the original artwork to your LNS (Local Needlepoint Shop) and spending some time making a list of fibers that might work on the canvas. Don’t forget to consider adding elements such as ribbons, buttons and beads to your project, when appropriate. Note: Artwork that has large areas of Darkly Mottle not be suitable, if you want to stitch the details that may not be visually apparent.

Finally, please don’t send a tiny little copy of some artwork and ask me to enlarge it to some huge size. . . . I won’t do it, because you would not be happy with the results. Blur, blur, blur! FYI: I cannot accept any artwork that is copyrighted, unless you happen to own the copyright.

It’s a fact, Jack: Artwork that is copied at 100% or Digital Photos in JPEG, TIFF or PDF Formats, saved on a CD, DVD, Flash Drive or sent via e-mail work well. Many copy shops (FedEx Kinkos, for instance) will copy your artwork and save it to your own flash drive at no cost. I return all media with the order. You can submit original artwork, also. PLEASE NOTE: I can only take orders from Needle Art Shops, however, I am happy to work with you during the process of creating your Custom Needlepoint Canvas. Be sure to give your contact information to your LNS when you discuss the ideas for your order.

In the words of Duane Michals, Photographer, “Trust that little voice in your head that says ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if…’ And then do it.”

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX: How about having a pet’s face on a Holiday ornament? A pillow top from a photo of a vacation house? A long, narrow pillow featuring a single long stemmed rose from the garden.

In the next part of this series, I’ll be discussing what I can do to enhance or improve what you’ve chosen to put onto the canvas. In the meantime, start looking at your photos and artwork through fresh eyes. The possibilities for your very own Custom Needlepoint Canvas are endless!

From My Little Corner of The World,
Sandy

Please visit me!
website: www.sandygrossman-morris.com
blog: sandygrossman-morris.blogspot.com

For more information about her custom designs, please visit: http://www.sandygrossman-morris.com/sandygrosman-morris.com/Custom_Needlepoint_Designs_by_Sandy_Grossman-Morris.html

CReaTiNG CuSToM NeeDLePoiNT CaNVaSeS (Part One)

Janet Perry — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:55:40 +0000

I’m excited to have my friend Sandy Grossman-Morris doing posts today and tomorrow. They are the start of a series we will be doing together about custom needlepoint.

Hi to everyone who’s Nuts About Needlepoint!! For those of you who don’t know me yet, please let me introduce myself. I’m Sandy Grossman-Morris, a designer from (Hotter than Heck) Brentwood in Northern California. I know this because our air conditioner decided to retire last night. Luckily, I’m married to Bob the Builder, who is well aware that I am only comfortable in a room that is cold enough to hang meat in safely. But, I digress….I’m really here to spread a little Bloggy Inspiration…Creating Custom Needlepoint Canvases.

First of all, I’d like to thank Janet for inviting me to spend this time with all of you. So, pour yourself a cup of tea and get ready to be inspired. I love the challenge of creating Custom Canvases. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my knowledge of what makes a great custom design versus a not-so-great design, what I can do to enhance or improve an overall design and encourage you to think outside the box.

What is a Custom Needlepoint Canvas? In a nut shell (you know that I just had to include that little phrase!) it’s when I take your media, such as a photograph or artwork, and put it on needlepoint canvas for you, and then, Voila! it’s Instant Stitching Envy among your friends and family. Trust me, it’s the bees knees. BTW, it’s always good to remember that by the very nature of canvas, some of whatever it is you want printed onto the canvas will fall into the abyss between the threads. Don’t let this scare you, but keep in mind that every little, microscopic detail may not actually be seen in the final piece. That’s ok.

SuiTaBLe vs. UNSuiTaBLe

Photos of People and Pets: Choosing clearly defined photos with good shading of the face and hair will decrease the “Flat Factor”. Close-ups are best, as 12 stitches do not make for an interesting face! In other words, it’s far better to have a canvas featuring the head and shoulders as opposed to the whole body. A pet on the other hand, can be featured standing, reclining or a close-up head shot. Fur is much easier to stitch and shade than clothing is. Always, though, the closer the better, in order to capture the facial detail, especially the eyes. Note: Photos that have large areas of dark, mottled colors on the subject itself, may not be suitable, if you want to stitch the details that may not be visually apparent. If it’s in the background, it’s probably ok…more on that in Part Two.

Houses or Other Buildings generally make good choices, especially if the focus is on one building and it is a head-on shot. Try to choose a photo of the whole house or a specific portion of the house, say, an interesting front porch or an architectural detail such as a turret. Color photos are generally best, but if you want the end result to have artistic flair, a black and white photo may be just what you want to choose, especially if there are no plants to contend with.

This couple were given 2 Ring Bearer Pillows for their marriage ceremony.

Flowers are Fun! Don’t take your photos in full sun, or your flower may end up looking washed out. You’ll want to choose a flower with many shades of color. Take several photos from various angles in order to choose the best one for your project. Close-ups are best, but be sure to keep an eye on the focus. . . . The clearer the photo, the clearer the canvas. A bouquet of flowers would make a beautiful pillow top or chair back, as well as a framed piece. A wedding ring pillow featuring a single flower is a memorable gift for a bride. Note: A large bush of little flowers would be too detailed and would not, in my opinion, be a suitable project. Beware the Darkly Mottle!

Tomorrow, come back to learn about some other kinds of images that work.

From My Little Corner of The World,
Sandy

Please visit me!
website: www.sandygrossman-morris.com
blog: sandygrossman-morris.blogspot.com

For more information about her custom designs, please visit: http://www.sandygrossman-morris.com/sandygrosman-morris.com/Custom_Needlepoint_Designs_by_Sandy_Grossman-Morris.html

Needlepoint & Seraut

Janet Perry — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:33:13 +0000

Originally posted 2008-06-19 06:12:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Also on the DVD I talked about yesterday, the third episode was about Georges Seraut’s Sunday at La Grand Jette. You might know it as “Sunday in the Park.”

The cool thing about Seraut is that his technique consisted of painting with tiny brush strokes, mostly dots and dashes in a technique called pointillism. As you move closer to the painting, the images dissolve into a mass of dots. If you start close and move away, suddenly the picture pops into view. This is the very first painting to use the technique.

While this was revolutionary at the time, today we see things reproduced as distinct bits of color all the time. We call them pixels.

This has some interesting resonances with needlepoint. His ideas about color came from the researches on color in tapestries and he used distinct blobs of pure color and let the eye mix the blobs together into the blended shades. Sounds kind of like needlepoint, doesn’t it?

We call that optical color mixing and do it all the time in our stitching.

But the whole idea of a chaos of color resolving into a picture is also something we should remember. We look at our needlepoint from stitching distance, and we see the points. But we should step back and look at it from viewing distance. This way we can easily see the effect our needlepoint will have on others.

By the way if you’re ever in Chicago go to the Art Insititute to see it both up close and from across the room.

Needlepoint Purses Old & New

Janet Perry — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:18:43 +0000

Fendi needlepoint bag

Needlepoint tote inset by Janet Perry

purse from Needlepoint, Inc

You may be under the impression that needlepoint bags look like the very expensive Fendi bag pictured top. Or that they are leather or canvas bags with a needlepoint insert such as my Haida Feather bag, center. Or even that they are made entirely from needlepoint, similar to this bag from Needlepoint, Inc., bottom.

One thing they all have in common is that they are modern bags incorporating needlepoint. But needlepoint as a front for bags has been around a long time. Lovers of vintage fashion can often find needlepoint bags such as the one above because quite often they were kept for special occasions.

If you want to learn more about needlepoint purses, or buy one of your own, start with About.com page about needlepoint purses, written by Cheryl Fall, Needlepoint Guide.

Thanks to Jane from Chilly Hollow for pointing this out, I’m sending cool thoughts your way.

Vintage Clip Art for Adaptation & Inspiration

Janet Perry — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:39:41 +0000

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!

Free Needlepoint Chart – QR Code

Janet Perry — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:51:44 +0000

Originally posted 2008-02-14 08:15:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

For almost as long as I’ve been doing needlepoint, I have loved geometric patterns which aren’t really abstract but are some kind of code. I like them so much I even have my Personal Plaid mini-sock which is, in effect, a code based on a name and a date.

This morning, while surfing the Web I came across QR Codes, which are the successor to bar codes. But they do so much more. There is a project to encode Wikipedia articles as QR Codes, people have made QR code scarves, cakes and even needlepoint.

I found a free QR Code generator and encoded the basic information about this site. That’s the tiny QR Code you see above. Here’s a link to a simpler QR code for Originally posted 2009-05-14 06:08:15. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Kokeshi are simple wooden Japanese dolls. They have asimple trunk and a rounded head with painted features, so they are a design which can be adapted easily to needlepoint. This shopping site has about the best explanation of them I have found. Stick around and look at their lovely selection.

This folk art has many people making lovely modern and traditional dolls. Poking around the web, I found some great sites with inspirations for needlepoint. Kokeshi Designs has delightful dolls, grouped by categories. To find the most typical, click on “girls” on the left column. Jun Japanese Gifts has many unorganized pages of kokeshi. These are no the hand-made Kokeshi of Kokeshi Designs, but there are over 100 doll here, so that’s lots of inspiration. This site, which only has three dolls, shows the striped kimono and columnar design I remember from my younger years (though why I don’t know).

Sublime Stitching has a free pattern which you could print out, maybe enlarge a bit and trace onto canvas for your own Kokeshi design. I would leave out the flowers on the kimono and use a similar pattern as the idea for the stitch. What about Double Upright Cross in an subtle overdye with one or two stitches picked out in another color?

The hair sticks and eyelashes should be straight stitches in a thick thread and why not use a Japanesey looking blackwork pattern as the background?

If you made the background relatively small this could be a great Christmas ornament for a little girl.

I am so ready to make one myself. I though about it before, but now I have an idea of where to go. If you are coming to the Maker Faire, I’ll be doing one or more with Bargello kimono.

Needlepoint Inspiration – National Parks Posters

Janet Perry — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:33:52 +0000

The beauty of America’s National Parks has inspired artist of all kinds (think of photographer Ansel Adams’ classic pictures of Yosemite). It can also inspire you and your needlepoint. Today I’ll point you to some delightful sites with great ideas for needlepoint.

The WPA (Works Progess Administration) was an organization during The Depression that allowed artists to work on all kinds of projects. The classic styles of many of these works is still appreciated today. National Geographic’s site has a small display of some of these posters. The poster pictured above is one of the collection of eight. Click on the arrows to see the whole collection.

I live on a island in the San Francisco Bay which has taken the first step to becoming a national park. Our local national park, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, encompasses many different places, from the redwoods of Muir Woods to the urban beaches of San Francisco. During the mid-1990′s the iconic pictures shown above, were designed to honor the different parts of GGNRA. They hearken back to WPA designs and are wonderfully suited to needlepoint.

You’ll have to poke around a bit to find them on-line, but here’s a great starting point. The style is so resonant that National Parks in the East use a similar set of designs for their shopping bags.

I used one of these as an inspiration for a design several years ago and am planning some more based on the shopping bag I have.

Ranger Rick is a modern artist working the the style of the WPA posters. His site has both reproductions of the WPA pieces and new pieces done in that style. The poster pictured above is one of his new works.

The simple colors and relatively flat areas of these designs are the basis of successful needlepoint. The shading and texture of many of the posters could be rendered nicely with stitches and threads. This could be the start of a mini needlepoint vacation!