Nuts about Needlepoint » embroidery

Transferring a Design to Needlepoint Canvas

Janet Perry — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:03:55 +0000

Originally posted 2008-10-24 07:07:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I began by choosing this rose design from the collection at the V & A. I’m a sucker for this Arts & Crafts style of rose, so it was a no brainer.

Using this as an example, we’ll go step-by-step through the process of transferring the design.

1. Begin by printing or copying the design onto a single piece of paper. Even if you are using a design from a book, do this, your life will be so much easier.

Design prepared to transfer onto needlepoint canvas.

2. Trace over all the lines so they are thick and solid, as you can see from the picture above. It’s better to use a thicker pen for this, but I didn’t have one.

When tracing, connect or complete all lines, fill in lines which are dotted, and generally make something which will be easy to see through the thicker canvas.

3. Cut out your canvas, it should be 4″ wider and longer than the design in order to leave a 2″ margin of blank canvas for stitching. In my case the drawing is about 8″ x 10″ so I’m going to make may canvas 12″ x 14″. I’m using 14 mesh canvas.

line drawing with needlepoint canvas over it

4. Make a sandwich of drawing and canvas and line the straight lines of the drawing with the straight lines of the canvas.

This is a critical step. Most drawings have a straight line someplace (in this one it’s the central stem). If these lines don’t line up, your design will be crooked and your needlepoint ruined.

That makes it important. But lines on paper which look straight might not be straight on the canvas; that’s what makes it difficult. I line the paper up so that the one line is as close as possible to a straight line on the canvas.

5. Using a permanent, non Xylene marker (I used a Staedeler drawing pen for this one) trace the design onto the canvas.

Begin with the line you lined up to a thread of canvas. Draw it on the thread, so it is straight.

If there are no other straight lines, just trace away.

If there are straight lines, you will not trace them, you will draw them, along lines of canvas, starting from the line you first drew. This will keep the drawing on canvas straight and square, even if the drawing on paper is not.

Traced design on needlepoint canvas

6. When you have finished tracing the design, lift the canvas from the paper and let dry 24 hours before you start to stitch.

Some Tips

Do this in good light, you could use a light table if you have one, or tape the drawing and canvas to a window for tracing. I generally do it at my kitchen table during the morning when the light is good.

If you need to lift the canvas to see if you have gotten everything, line it back up using the reference line you drew first. This will keep the design in the proper orientation.

Once you have completed tracing, you may want to go over sections of the design to make the lines darker. Because I plan on doing some more coloring techniques on the canvas to color the background, ultimately I traced over all the lines with a FabricMate dye pen.

If your design is going to be predominantly one color, you might want to use a pen in the somewhat darker shade of that color. Pigma Microns and dye pens made to color fabric come in a variety of colors.

Most of these pens are not colorfast until they have dried for 24 hours, they may run onto your threads if you start to stitch sooner than that.

Next week, on Tuesday & Wednesday, I’ll show you how to color a design before stitching and how to sponge paint a background.

Broaden your Stitching Horizons

Janet Perry — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:24:38 +0000

Originally posted 2009-01-18 15:41:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut with our stitching.

Learning a new stitch or new technique can help with that.

Today I want to point out to you two year-long series which will help you get new ideas for stitches and stitching.

The first is from Sharon B and is her monthly Stitch Explorer series. Each month on the 15th she will have an article on her blog exploring a new technique or stitch. This month it’s Chicken Scratch, a technique which uses gingham fabric as a background and guide for your stitching.

Not only does she explain the technique, but she makes suggestions for taking it further and exploring it.

Well worth checking out!

Summer Truswell will be blogging about a different stitch each week. Her first one is about Cross Stitch. I’m looking forward to this, it would be so much fun to use these to make a sampler.

Free Embroidery Patterns

Janet Perry — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:52:13 +0000

With the renewed interest in free embroidery (embroidery on a on-counted ground or fabric), you can find lots of pretty cool free patterns intended to transfer onto a piece of fabric.

But you can just as easily transfer them onto apiece of needlepoint canvas and use them as a line-drawing for your needlepoint.

Today we are going to talk about what to look for when you want to do this and tomorrow we will begin a step-by-step tutorial on how to go from a free pattern on the Web to a finished needlepoint.

When you look at embroidery transfer designs, what you see are the lines of the design which will be covered with stitching. Most free embroidery of this type relies on the fabric to covey the design and so they have lots of open spaces.

This is good for us as needlepointers because we will fill those areas up with stitches.
Tip #1 Look for designs with open areas which aren’t filled with lots of lines to be covered.

But (isn’t there always a but), in free embroidery other details, like facial expression are conveyed with lines and other details as well.

Here is where you have a problem. When you embroider on cloth you can stick a stitch anywhere, it can be any angle, it can stop or start anyplace. But with needlepoint you are stuck with the grid. The bigger the wholes, the fewer details you can convey. So a design with too many little details will lose them when changed to needlepoint.

It’s like looking at a scene through a screen as opposed to through a window. With the screen you can see everything, yes, but you lose detail. Needlepoint canvas is the screen.

In conclusion I thought today I would share with you some free embroidery sites where you can download new and vintage embroidery patterns.

If you want to play along with the tutorial, check back tomorrow to see the Arts & Crafts design I picked from this site. But you can pick one which suits your style and your mood and stitch away.

Check the designs out at these sites:
Embroidery Patterns – This Flickr album has many charming designs, many looking like children’s book illustrations.
TipNut – has a listing of all kinds of embroidery projects. Click on the link to find the particular project and then look through the article to find the pattern. Many of these are vintage and vintage style.
Meggiecat – has links to lots of great vintage patterns.
Needle n’Thread – Scroll down past the text ads to find many lovely patterns, often in traditional, Victorian, and Arts & Crafts styles.
Doe-c-doe – Every Thursday she showcases vintage embroidery and embroidery patterns. I’ve found lots of good things here.
Vintage Transfer Designs – Lots of great retro and vintage transfers.
Antique Pattern Library – This site is harder to use. It’s a list of vintage embroidery publiations available to download on the Web.

I’m sure you will find something to suit your fancy here. We’ll start the project tomorrow!

Stitch in Public Day — Coming in September!

Janet Perry — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:53:39 +0000

Do you stitch in public?
Do you want to show off your lovely needlework & get others interested in stitching?

On September 3, you will have a perfect opportunity to do so, with National Stitch in Public Day. This event commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the found of EGA. There will be lots of public events in Louisville at that time (during EGA’s National Seminar that week). But let’s have a real show of stitching by having stitch in public events all across the country.

Knitters have done this often to generate publicity, and we can do the same thing.

Here are some ideas:

Do you commute to work? Do you have friends who ride with you who stitch? Everyone bring a project and stitch on the bus, train, ferry, or carpool.

Do you have time during the rush hour to hang out? Even if it’s only a couple of people, why not stop by every coffee shop in town and stitch on a table outside, where everyone can see you?

Do you live near a mall and have some time in the afternoon? Grab a bunch of stitchers and sit in the mall and stitch.

Going to soccer practice and know other players’ moms who stitch, bring your stuff along and work during practice.

Are you a teacher or do you have a job where many people take lunch at one time? Why not find stitchers among your colleagues and stitch together on that day?

Remember stitching is more than just needlepoint. It includes lacemaking, embroidery, cross stitch, tatting, quilting, and lots more.

If you are planning an event, email me to let me know. I’ll post it here to let others know who might want to join.

On September 2, I’ll post a list of everyplace I know about. If you take some pictures at your event, send them along, I’ll post those as well.

And tell everyone, I stitch in public!

Ribbon Embroidery and Needlepoint

Janet Perry — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:09:35 +0000

I’m currently a guest blogger on Stitching Up a Storm where I talk about using Ribbon Embroidery techniques in needlepoint along with ideas on how you can use ribbons of various kinds in needlepoint.

As a bonus there is also a listing of companies and some of the ribbons and ribbon threads they make.

Look here for postings on the future stops on my Virtual Book Tour.