This year’s TNNA was their biggest to date. I thought it would take me forever to get through everything, but I was pleasantly surprised. Because knitting has been so big, many new knitting companies were at the show, which made it much easier to home in on all the lovely needlepoint out there.
Surprisingly for so much knitting, it seemed there weren’t that many new yarn companies. There were many companies with high end knitting bags (possible needlework project bags) and knitting patterns.
The companies which looked freshest and the most exciting of the
larger companies have brought out designs which speak to several
trends.
The first is designs which work with high-end decorating. One
designer, Julie Pishke, had some wonderful shells and corals in
colors which work well with designer palettes. Shorebird Studios had several large coordinating oriental pieces. Lani Designs had created a number of oriental pieces which were available in many sizes, often with the sort of complex borders characteristic of oriental art(and also of high-end decorator pillows).
The second is that many companies are working with a brighter color
palette. These are not the neon colors of a few years ago, but
saturated colors. A new exhibitor, Bongo, uses these colors to great effect in painted canvases which are designed to show off stitches. I like seeing these canvases because they attract the eye with their colors but do not look difficult to stitch. Although these color combinations are great, they may not appeal to older stitchers. The playing cards designs from Custom House uses a simple palette of primary colors with black and white. This is a great combination of colors which is traditional enough but clear enough to attract new stitchers.
The third is customization. While having one design in one (or
sometimes two) colorways has always been standard, now some companies are willing to customize. For example, The Red Thread, has tool totes with initials. Last year each initial had its own color combination, this year (for a slight fee) any combination can be painted for any letter. This is good as it allows the customer to make something unique. You may say that the needlepoint is unique anyway, but being able to choose a light pink letter on a dark pink background might be enough to get that lover of pink into
needlepoint.
Although in the past few years there has been lots of emphasis on
smaller needlepoint projects, this seemed to be less the case at this market. While there are still lots of smaller designs, most
needlepoint designers are emphasizing canvases which can be finished into something practical. This could be as simple as painting several related design in sizes to fit the Lee leather accessories or as complex as creating a set of matching golf club covers, but the emphasis on making needlepoint which will be useful once it’s finished continues unabated.
Another trend I’m seeing more is designs which need more complex
finishing. While projects you can finish yourself are still an
important part of the needlepoint market. I saw many companies with three dimensional items, houses with several pieces made as
stand-alone objects or as purses, and even three-D fruits, vegetables and flowers. The flowers are for on sandals (child and adult sizes) and are made by Birds of a Feather. The fruits and vegetables are delightfully realistic and are designed by Ruth Chow and distributed by Sundance Needleworks.
PAINTED CANVAS
Tink Boord-Dill has added a new set of designs loosely based on
Japanese family crests. These designs are lovely and come in both 14 and 18 mesh. I think there will be more designs coming out on 14 mesh in the future.
Keri Designs (from Hawaii) has some great Hawaiian shirts, also
available on 14 and 18 mesh canvas. The 14 mesh is a great place to show off stitches and threads (I saw it done with River Silk ribbons and it was fantastic) while the 18 mesh has more realistic shading. Continuing in the tropical theme, several companies, including Associated Talents had ornament sized flip flops, often finished with ribbon straps and embellishments. Jane Nichols had some great golf pillows, rugs and coasters as well as a whole flock of flamingoes and flip flop coasters.
Julia’s Needleworks had a lovely delicate gazebo which is finished in 3-D (with a roof). The design was lovely and delicate. Ruth Schmuff had an novel approach to purses with several designs based on bustiers. Changing Woman Designs has many designs based on great art including Monet’s Water Lilies ands Vermeer’s Girl with a Peal Earring. Barrani Designs has a great series of mosaic vegetables. These can be done beautifully in Long Stitch.
Kathy Schenkel has a great series of Round the World Santas, each
with a separate flap to needlepoint. They were finished a bags and
would be a great decoration. Beau Geste has another limited edition series of canvases based on Christopher Radko ornaments, this year all nutcrackers. Unlike pervious years, they will all be made available at the same time. Although there continues to be great Christmas and Halloween designs, I saw many new Easter designs. These included Chocolate Bunnies from The Point of It All and designs based on Muni’s chalkware bunnies from Whimsy & Grace.
Three designers stuck out with clever ideas for small needlepoint.
Shelly Trubbey has Tiny Travelers, small designs which come with mini stitch guides, a color picture and materials list. The Princess and Me has an advent calendar of 25 2″ ornaments. They are charming. Lund Enterprises has a series of purse and pump ornaments, available in 12 colors each. These small canvases are great for trying out stitches and threads. Lund also has great circular ornaments with geometric patterns as well as belts in rarely seen geometrics.
River Silks has a whole range of Kits to Go which include painted
canvases from designers like Keri Designs, Jean Smith and Pease on
Earth. They come packaged with silk ribbons, instructions and the
canvas.
Many companies seem to be doing canvases of street scenes and
buildings. TS Designs has several single and multiple buildings,
realistically painted. Renaissance Designs has an interesting
Christmas village as well a different city street scenes. I was
particularly struck by the Paris scenes which included Montmatre, and the Moulin Rouge.
FINISHING IDEAS
The wonderful Foot Petal sandals from Birds of a Feather are a
fantastic idea. The painted canvas comes with the petals and centers for two flowers, a button form for the center, backing fabric and velcro. The finished flowers are backed with velcro, so they can be removed from the shoes. Because the sandals are made in the US, they come in regular shoe sizes.
My favorite finishing idea was the self-finishing Dupioni silk
jewelry cases from Chameleon Designs. The colors are bright, the
silk is lovely and they are so easy to finish that I’m entranced. In fact, I need to go through my stash to look for pieces to put in them.
With the popularity of needlepoint sandals, there is a winder a
variety of shapes available. One finisher I saw has three shapes of sandals and 11 colors of leather. And better yet, the cost is low enough to make these sandals a possibility for many customers. In fact one of the shoe shapes uses belts, making these popular canvases useful in other ways.
Voila C’est Fini has added a complete shoe canvas to their line. The same canvas (they showed them made up in plaids) can be finished with a kitten heel or as flats, and with a rounded or pointed toe. I hope I’ll see more shoes in the next year, they are a great idea.
Lee’s has added a new tote to their leather line, the City Tote,
which has a shape like popular “Shopper” bags. They have also added new colors for ID tags and a great daytime clutch.
NEW THREADS
There were lots of cool new threads at TNNA and I have been having a wonderful time trying them out.
YLI will be introducing heathered colors of ribbon floss this spring. The heathered colors are soft matte colors, but not as fuzzy as wool. Matte threads are something we need more of in needlepoint. They also have a cool thin metallic thread which is new to me called Candlelight. I’ll let you know more about it once I’ve tried it out.
Rainbow Gallery introduced two new threads. Mandarin Floss is made
from 100% bamboo and has six strands. This is the first bamboo
thread for needlepoint and it stitches beautifully. It is more matte than floss but still has a gentle sheen. There are 33 colors Sparkle! Braid is a thin very bright metallic which is designed to be combined with another thread. One feature is that it’s easier to use for blending than filament, which is nice. There are 30 colors. There are six new colors of Water N’Ice, including two “wet look” colors which are quite dark. A yummy bubble gum pink is now available in Very Velvet (both sizes) as well as new colors in Splendor, Petite Sparkle Rays, Flair, Frosty Rays, and lots more.
Needle Necessities has seven new colors of Overdyed Floss. These
colors include some great blues, a bright yellow/orange combination, a bright light blue, and a good green. They also have 6 additional colors of #8 braid and 5 of #12 braid in the overdyed metallics. These are not new colors, but only new to the metallics.
Kreinik has six new metallic colors, available in Fine, Tapestry and Medium (8, 12, 16) braid. Called natural colors, these are great soft shades. They will also debut Red Ember, a wonderful combination of red and gold. These will be available in March.
Anchor has introduced a pearl/metallic combination in #5. These are solid or multi-colored threads with a gold or silver metallic wrap. There are three multi-colors and six solid colors, including red, three dark blues and green.
In April DMC will be introducing their six-strand linen floss, which is already available in Europe. There are 12 natural and pastel shades. Suggested retail price is $1.29 for an 8 meter skein.
Stitch Elegance, the distributors of the glass laying tool, have a
wonderful new thread called Snipits. This is a Mercerized cotton,
which is one of the softest threads I’ve ever used. It comes in 22
soft variegated shades. The retail cost is about $3 for 10 yard
skeins.
Caron Collection has come out with new solid colors in Impressions
and Soie Cristal. There are three green color families as well as a family of red-violets. Finally, JL Walsh has 10 new colors of Silk Perle, milky pastels which look like sherbet.
BOOKS & TOOLS
Ruth Dilts has written a great book for beginning needlepointers,
called Needlepoint 101. It talks about all the basics beginners
need for stitching painted canvases, has 20 stitches diagrammed and
includes before and after pictures of several canvases, so that it’s apparent how stitching decisions were made. Best of all, it should be generally available for less than $20.
Charland Designs has come out with the Little Clipper a scissors fob clip which can be attached to your scissors. Rainbow Gallery has made a new version of the LoRan needle threader which will be
available in bulk form local shops (it’s cheap enough to make a good giveaway).
Colonial Needle has a few new needles, Chenille needles in size 28
(for very fins embroidery) and the Tapestry Tweenie, which has a
larger eye and is a slimmer needle.
Romancing the Past had a fantastic tool tote, which is the size of a glasses case. They are covered in oriental brocades and have short handles. Inside there is a mirror and two Rare Earth Magnets. It’s a great size to pop into a stitching bag and is elegant enough to be an evening bag.
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