Originally posted 2010-02-09 09:24:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Longstitch was one of the needlepoint techniques that became popular in the 70′s. Made up of long Upright Gobelins, Longstitch has the advantage of being really fast to stitch, easy to do, and forgiving of poorly printed canvases. It’s mostly gone out of style these days, although I often see kits on eBay. But the kits don’t help the technique one bit. They are made from cheap materials such as acrylic yarn, and are not very well designed. As you can see by this artichoke, Longstitch doesn’t need to be relegated to this ghetto of out-dated needlepoint. The artichoke is a hand-painted canvas from Jean Smith. Her bold style, which has large, unshaded areas, is perfect for Longstitch. It’s stitched in JL Walsh silk/wool and #3 perle cotton. I began by making all the violet edges in Basketweave using the perle.