technique Archive

If you are like most stitchers compensation is an issue, I know that often it is for me. That’s why Joni Stevenson’s series on compensation is so great. She’s taken a shape (black line on the drawing) and shows us, step by step how to compensate it when you are stitching with a diagonal stitch. I love that she shows us how to place each row and that she shows what teachers say but often brush over, “Make the whole stitches then fill in.” She’s also honest and offers good advice on what to do with problem areas. It’s the best tutorial I’ve ever seen on compensation. Read the whole thing here. Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013Some Rights ReservedOriginal content here is published under these license terms: X License Type:Non-commercial, Attribution, no Derivative workLicense Summary:You may copy this content, and re-publish it in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes, provided you include an overt attribution to the

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Originally posted 2011-04-22 07:39:26. Republished by Blog Post PromoterNeedle Nook of La Jolla is creating a video library for needlepoint and the first entry is fantastic. David McCaskill shows how to use a laying tool. If you’ve never had a chance to see David in person watch this to get a look at his delightful personality. I learned to use a laying from David many years ago when he lived in northern California, so I highly recommend this

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Originally posted 2011-03-18 07:48:36. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThis week we’ll list the open stitches and techniques from the Stitches for Effect books. Each is listed by its name. After the name you’ll find the volume and page number. This concludes the series of indexes for these popular books. Open Stitches are those stitches designed to leave some canvas exposed. Techniques are those stitches or stitch patterns that are for a particular technique such as Bargello, Pattern Darning or Laidwork. I – Stitches for Effect II – More Stitches for Effect III – Even More Stitches for Effect Remember all these stitches are also in their “Just the Facts, Ma’am” book, Stitches to Go. Open Stitches Alicia’s Lace Variation I-22 Sprats Head I-49 Sprats Head Heart I-49 Buttonhole II-35 Open Cretan II-53 T Stitch II-61 Tied Cross with Small St. George’s Fill II-62 Techniques Bargello Line 1 I-23 Bargello Line

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Originally posted 2010-11-20 07:27:42. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe Needle Bug, a great shop in Montgomery, Alabama, posted great instructions on how to use Thread Heaven on their blog earlier this week. If you’re like me and using this little product is baffling check it out. There is also a link on the page to buy it

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Needlepoint classes often fall into broad categories: they either teach you many different stitches or they concentrate on one technique. There’s nothing wrong with this. In a stitch class, you’ll get so many new ideas to spiff up your needlepoint projects. In a technique class you’ll get a chance to learn, and practice one thing in depth. That’s what makes this class so different. You’ll get a taste of many different techniques. Techniques you can put to use right away in your other projects. You could think of it as a sampler, but instead of samples of each technique, you’ll do them within the context of an actual needlepoint piece, this dramatic amaryllis by Piet Mondrian. As you can see from this details you’ll learn: how to use textured stitches in needlepoint using outlining techniques for definition padding to create dimension pattern darning and shadow stitching The class is free

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Originally posted 2009-10-23 07:16:20. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThanks to ANG and Judy Souliotis for providing an article from the archives of their magazine. The article goes through how to do gold leafing on needlepoint canvas. I’ve used metallic markers and stencils to color canvas in the past, and there are plenty of metallic paints out there in all kinds of colors. But nothing can match the richness and real metal look of gold leaf. The major obstacle Judy encountered was finding an adhesive that would work, but that wouldn’t discolor the canvas. You can read the details of what she did in the article. I can’t wait to try it

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Originally posted 2011-04-14 06:49:32. Republished by Blog Post PromoterA guest post by Brenda Stimpson of www.Needlepoint-For-Fun.com – your needlepoint home on the web. Thanks to Brenda for letting me post this article from her recent newsletter. In our house, ‘couching’ has two definitions. The first is what I like to do with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon (or a glass of wine, depending on how far past noon it is). The second definition, and probably the one you are all tuning in for, is the term used for laying down and securing a thread on canvas. I have always called couching – well, couching (hence definition 1 above)! But, apparently, the correct pronunciation is KOO-ching (like KA-ching but without the benefit of pennies falling from the sky). However, now that I have dutifully informed you of this I want you to know that I will be continuing

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The second book in the Art & Needlepoint series is now available on Amazon. The title says “beginner” but any stitcher will delight in these wonderful ideas for stitching anything you find in a landscape: fields, trees, hills, water, skies, and more. Not too toot my own horn, but this is the book on stitching landscapes I’d want to have by my side. Every single stitch or technique is easy to do. Every single technique is something that you’ll be so glad you learned. I like the ideas here so much that I realized that I have four landscapes sitting in my queue needing immediate attention, four more slightly further out, and who knows how many more in my stash. Every single one of them will be using the ideas in this book. In addition two of the canvases from the book will be subjects of cyberclasses with Art Needlepoint

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Originally posted 2010-08-28 07:17:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter One thing you can often say about Victorian art is that it tends to be elaborate. Star took her charming Berlinwork motifs and added to them this glorious folded ribbon border. Now you can make up the motifs into a very simple cushion by outlining each block with a line or two to Tent Stitch in a contrasting color, but if you really want a showpiece, go for this ribbon. You can see that she has isolated each motif with an are of the background color and that the border in in one of the accent colors in the design. You can find links to all the smaller motifs in these posts: Part 1 Part 2 Part

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Compensation, or the process of fitting partial stitches into edges and corners of your needlepoint, is often confusing. That’s true even of experienced stitchers. Compensation can range from easy to difficult depending on the stitch (oblique is harder than diagonal) and the shape of the area (curves are harder than straight lines). But, unless we plan on having exposed canvas, we’ll need to compensate on every canvas. Joni Stevenson has written a blog post about compensating diagonal stitches along a straight edge. It’s wonderfully detailed and has tons of her large clear diagrams that show you exactly what you need to know to compensate these common stitches. If compensation confuses you, this in-depth tutorial is ideal

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By Julia Key Snyder, self-published, 2013 This book, Julia’s eighth, looks at laidwork stitches. This lovely method is less well-known than it should be and currently there are no books in print on the subject. The most recent, and best, book is Joan Taggert ‘sLaid Fillings book, but it’s hard to find used. In Laidwork a grid of stitches, going from end to end of an area is put down. These long threads are then tied down with stitches in a specific pattern. Additional stitches can, and often are, stitched in the open areas. It’s not necessary to make all layers of a Laidwork stitch in the same thread. Variety is a big part of this technique. Julia’s book is essentially a stitch dictionary of laid stitches. It’s organized by grid styles, so that all stitches that use the same grid are grouped together. Each stitch has a name that

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Originally posted 2006-10-22 07:34:55. Republished by Blog Post PromoterHave you ever had the feeling while you were stitching that this is too tiring to be fun? That was just happening to me, and I wanted to share with you some questions to ask and some solutions for the question of needlepoint and fatigue. Is the light good? For many people, especially as we get older, light is a big issue. No matter whether you stitch in natural light, under a stitching lamp, or just with the lights in your home, be sure there is enough. Dim light could be making your stitching less fun. Is there not enough contrast between your clothing and the canvas? Sometimes this can make it impossible to stitch (try using black canvas when wearing black clothes! Get what my friend Michelle calls a “lap dog” – a piece of white (or black) canvas you put

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Originally posted 2009-08-12 19:53:32. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe next lesson on Long & Short Stitch is now available. It covers shading triangles. That may not sound exciting, but think about flower petals, often they are triangles with a rounded top. This lesson has detailed instructions and some simply stunning examples of shading. If you want to create realistically shaded flowers, this is the best technique to use

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Samplers and quotes are a continual attraction to stitchers of all kinds. From magnets which declare whether the dishes are “clean” or “dirty” to elegantly bordered and framed sayings, the combination of words and stitches allows almost anyone to become a designer. Today I will discuss choosing an appropriate quote, picking a style of alphabet, spacing and choice of a border. With these tools, you can make your own quotable quotes in needlepoint. Choosing a Quote When doing a quote in needlework, you need to be aware of the space each letter will take up and the effect this will have on the size of the finished piece. Ideally a quote for needlepoint should be short. Quotes for cross stitch can be longer because you can use Backstitched letters to put more letters on each line. The quote should also be something which breaks into more or less even lines.

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Originally posted 2009-03-27 07:09:41. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI got an email from a reader recently, it said: “I was teaching myself the french knot. Looking at different stitching books I found that there was not one right technique. What technique to you use? ` I know what you mean. I have been told that what I call a French Knot is actually a colonial knot, but to tell you the truth I can’t see one bit of difference, so I call them French Knots. I haven’t found a really good illustration in a book for French Knots, but I found some good stuff on-line. –a video tutorial by a stitcher with an excellent reputation. –an excellent photo tutorial from a quilting shop in NYC. – another video tutorial. – an illustrated tutorial (drawings) from Sublime Stitching, – and one by them for lefties. – a YouTube video. – another

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