product reviews Archive

Are you confused by the colors in Kreinik’s metallics? Do you wish you could look at similar colors side-by-side? While shop owners, teachers and designers have color cards, most of us just get frustrated. Kreinik has come to our rescue with the new Color Selector Tool. It’s one of the best and most useful tools for stitchers on the internet. The site goes well beyond a color card. With it you can find all the shades in all the sizes of a particular color. If you want to know if a particular color comes in specific size of thread, enter the number, you’ll know immediately. The table includes product (size), number, name, shading order, and a photo of the thread. You can sort by any column, and more Those columns pack so much into them. You can buy threads from the table. You can see easily how the different finishes

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Challenging. That’s the word I’d use to sum up the new thread from Kreinik. Made from several strands of their Easter Gras braided together, this thread comes in several sizes (Blending Filament, #8, #12, 1/16″ ribbon, and more). I tested these threads in several of the sizes on two different canvases. First some general reflections about the thread, then the test results. This thread is very stiff. It doesn’t straighten easily and tends to curl up on itself. The usual methods of straightening did not have much of an effect on it. I found that its stiffness made it kink on the back, so the back of the work is uneven in thickness. This does not appear to affect the front, but might be a concern in some finishing. It frays at the tail. The thicker versions of this thread are worse because there are more strands, but every size

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Popular for a while in the beading world, Tila Beads have only recently been packaged for the needlepoint world by The Collection. The beads are flat instead of round. They have two holes so that the thread anchors them to the canvas on each side. They are about 4mm square, so they cover a little bit more than a 3-thread square on 18-mesh canvas. I used the beads in two projects. Opaque black was used for the plug on my fish mini-sock, top. Because the shape on the canvas was irregular, I stitched the areas that stuck out before attaching the bead. On the Lee Mini Fan, below, I used Red Aurora Borealis beads for the holly berries. Aurora Borealis (AB) is the name for a rainbow finish on many kinds of beads. The beads were both sparkly and transparent. These beads were incredibly easy to use. Their larger size

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Cotton Petites is a new line of threads from Sulky. Although Sulky is best known as a maker of threads for machine sewing and embroidery, the size of this thread makes it an ideal candidate for hand embroidery, including needlepoint. The thread comes on 50-yard snap-end spools. It is 12 weight, which is about the thickness of two strands of floss. It’s easy to pull out the length you need and cut multiple lengths in order to strand up. Although I felt as if the thread was thinner than the equivalent number of floss strands, I could see no difference in how the thread performed. I can only attribute my feeling to air caught between the strands of floss, something which is compressed when stitching. I found this thread worked beautifully for decorative stitches. I used it for the gumballs in this Cat’s Cradle canvas. The many colors covered well

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Twinkles is a new rayon/metallic thread from Gone Stitching. Currently it is available in 30 shades. The thread combines one strand of rayon with a strand of metallic, coming on 10 yard cards. Most of the shades use a matching metallic but some use a multi-colored metallic for great effects. While I love the subtle look of bits of metallic showing within a color, but I hate the bother of combining base threads with Blending Filament. With Twinkles I can get this look without so much trouble. There are many threads combining base threads with metallics, but Twinkles is unusual in that it combines metallic with another shiny thread. This means that the metallic stands out a little bit less when stitched but that the overall shininess of the rayon is amped up just a bit. It makes for an exciting focal point. Often rayon threads are too slippery. While

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Oriental Linen is an unusual thread from The Thread Gatherer. A blend of 52% silk and 48% linen, this thread gives a great nubby look when stitched. The thread is two-ply and is hard to separate. This makes the thread as packaged a bit thick to use on 18-mesh canvas, but it was perfect on 13-mesh. I stitched the bag in Four-way Continental and think the result looks more like unbleached canvas than any other thread I have used. There are two secrets to this rustic look. First linen is a fiber that can be very uneven in width. This is reflected in the thread itself, which has some variation in width. That will make your stitching look nubby. The second secret is the blend of fibers in the yarn. Linen and silk absorb dye very differently. Although it isn’t obvious in this off-white color, many of the shades of

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In the past few months several new wools for needlepoint have come on the market. This has been after several years where it seemed that wool for needlepoint was an endangered species at best. Colonial Persian Yarn from Colonial Needle is one of these. As I wrote in a previous post, this yarn is spun by the same company that spun JCA’s Paternayan Persian. I tested this wool for the blue-violet on the tote pictured here. The canvas is 13-mesh and one strand was used. As you can see I got good coverage from the single strand. The canvas was painted turquoise so it’s easy to see how good the coverage is. In comparison with the new Paternayan Wool, I felt this thread was just a shade thinner. Clearly though, this doesn’t affect the stitching. The three strands are even in width and the colors are solid. It worked well

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Paternayan is back and beautiful. For those of us who have been stitching for decades, you’ll be delighted at how much this wool recaptures the traditional look and feel of the original wool from the 1970′s. Happily it combines this lovely hand and luster with the even strand-width of the more recent JCA product, giving us the best of both worlds. I had forgotten how much I loved this thread when I started needlepointing in 1970. It all came rushing back when I tested this wool. I tested it thoroughly on canvases if different mesh sizes and with different stitches. Here is what I did: 14-mesh Test My first test used old and new Paternayan on 14-mesh in both Tent and textured stitches. Both worked with a single strand for coverage for all stitches. The new Paternayan was slightly thicker and covered better in textured stitches. This could be the

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Keeping needlework taut on scroll frames is a never-ending problem for stitchers of all kinds. Another problem is attaching the canvas or fabric to the bars. FA Edmunds has addressed both these problems with their Ratchet Scroll Frames. They come in complete sets, with rods in three sizes: 12″, 18″, and 24″. Other rods cannot be used with these sides. They can be used for fabrics, evenweave fabrics, or needlepoint canvas. The entire frame is made from lightweight plastic. When assembled it still has a bit of give. Although it might seem that this would make it too flimsy for needlepoint, I found that it held up well in my tests. The give in the frame seems to allow the canvas to flex, much as it would on stretcher bars while still keeping the canvas tight enough to stitch. The product comes in a plastic bag with instructions. The two

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The idea of a needlepoint biscornu sounds great These pincushions have taken the cross stitch and embroidery worlds by storm — why not needlepoint? The reality when done by Sekas & Co. falls short. On the plus side, the designs are charming and hand-painted. Their price is quite reasonable. The designs are simple enough for a beginner but use a variety of threads. In the packet you get the canvases for front and back and a stitch guide that is a single piece of paper folded and printed on both sides. The stitch guide has stitch diagrams and finishing instructions. Unhappily the bloom comes off the rose once you start to stitch. First the margins on the pieces of canvas are less than 1″. If you use stretcher bars, you must use minis. Even then stitching the edges can be quite challenging. The narrow margins made this little project unpleasant

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Coming in a variety of colors, the Handy Caddy is a practical and inexpensive answer to storing all your needlepoint tools and accessories. It’s made of clear plastic and is on a metal frame that folds flat. It’s 8″ high, 11″ wide, and 5″ deep so that it stores lots and you can reach everything. Lightweight the Handy Caddy won’t weigh you down as fabric bags or metal tins will. There are six small pockets on the outside with a large central bin. I found the smaller pockets perfect for things such as laying tools, pens, and my longer scissors. But they didn’t open enough to fit things such as my little tins of needles. They are best to use for long thin tools. The center pocket is quite roomy, the whole length and depth of the Handy Caddy. There is plenty of room to store your tools and even

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Word needlepoint has become very popular, while needlepoint of names continues to thrive. But what do you do if the name you want or the affirmation that speaks to you is not available? Having a custom design painted for you is a possibility, but an expensive one. I have a great alternative — create your own with Debbie Rowley’s delightful project book, Change It Up Alphabet. The project book is a marvelous way to create a unique project. It’s easy enough for beginning needlepoint but has plenty of options to make even experienced stitchers happy. The book has each letter charted using a different stitch. All the stitches cover a 4-thread block, so that one stitch can easily be substituted for another. The letters are designed so they require no compensation. This keeps the focus on the letters and the marvelous selection of stitches. Because every stitch is the same

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Can you use Q-Snaps for needlepoint? I know that they are popular for crosstitchers and quilters. I have also recommended them for people with problems gripping stretcher bars. Until Sunday, I hadn’t tried them myself. The big concern is that with Q-Snaps you need to have something big enough to put over the full rounds and cover with the partial rounds that snap into place. Once you do that the fabric stays tightly in place. That’s great for cross stitch and free embroidery but not so good for needlepoint where the margins aren’t so generous. My friend William Swords stitches on pre-finished canvases. He recommends Q-snaps for his pieces if you stitch in a frame. He put one together for me. His method of attaching the canvas is fantastic. It will work with any canvas that has a bound or finished edge, preferably sew under or sewn with seam binding.

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Three-strand wool for needlepoint has been lacking in the stitcher’s world since Paternayan became unavailable. Fleur de Paris is now importing a new wool from New Zealand called Anahera. Currently it come ins less than 40 colors. New colors have been announced that will bring that number to about 80. Most of the color families have five shades, a few with more, some with fewer. The wool is packaged in 3 ounce continuous strand hanks. It is spun as a single-strand two-ply wool. In contrast Paternayan was packaged as a three-strand two-ply wool. However the strand width is similar and in my test needlepoint, seen here the dark blue, it behaved similarly to Paternayan (the orange.) Although 2-ply is recommended for 13-mesh. I found the coverage to be good in both Tent and diagonal stitches. My sample wasn’t long enough to try a background, so I’m not sure if it

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Woven Ribbon from The Collection is a 6mm metallic ribbon. It comes in zipper bags wound on clear plastic bobbins (like sewing machine bobbins). Like Flair or Rachel, it is a braided tube in construction. The package tells you how it is constructed. It is woven “from brass, copper and/or aluminum and is coated in enamel and lacquered to prevent color change.” Because of this it is waterproof and heat resistant. Of less importance to us as stitchers, it is also nickel free. I used most of a package to do the ribbon on my ornament. I was delighted to find that I could apply it to the canvas easily by enlarging the hole slightly and pulling it through with a #22 needle, the same size I used for the stitching. I was surprised at how nicely it compressed so that I didn’t need to make a special effort to

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