backgrounds

dede Ogden, self-published 2011

One thing that needlepointers love is to look at each others work and to learn about the choices made in stitching it.

That’s good, but even better is getting a look into the thought processes of a truly remarkable stitcher, such as dede Ogden.

I’ve known dede almost as long as I’ve lived in California and have always marveled at her lovely work and inventive ideas.

Now we are all so lucky because we can get see how she stitched a number of her own pieces in her new book, That’s Not Needlepoint.

I get the same thrill looking at it as I do looking at an artist’s notebook. It’s not a formal book, it is a series of stitch guides in note form for several of hr undersea canvases.

The canvases are complex (many are pictured in the book) with lots of detail and her stitching makes them even more gorgeous (I saw two of the in person and they are amazing).

For each piece she lists an area, then lets you know the threads she used, the stitch, and any special techniques. Some, but by no means all, of the stitches are diagrammed.

dede uses lots of inventive techniques including light stitching, wrapping, blended threads, needleweaving, and tons more. Often her notes are accompanied by line drawings of the canvas.

This is not a book that you could use by itself to stitch any of these canvases; at the very least you will need a good stitch dictionary. Beginners will find many of these techniques and ideas to be confusing.

But if you remember that it’s a notebook in book form, you will find so much to inspire.

My biggest difficulty with the book is the photos. The color photos are grouped into two sections, both near the end of the book. I found it annoying to page back and forth to look at them. A better idea would have been to make a color copy of the page to have right there as I read.

My other difficulty is that often I felt as if the canvases pictured weren’t completely stitched. Usually this was because I couldn’t see the background. dede uses lots of light stitching and an almost transparent sparkly thread for her backgrounds, so it is possible that they did not reproduce well, but I found it frustrating.

All in all though, the more I think about this book, the more I like it. I like that it is so full of ideas that I can use on other canvases. I like that it is going to be a springboard for my imagination on needlepoint for years to come.

Thanks dede!

See the rest here:
That’s Not Needlepoint — Book Review

Fun Ways to Learn New Stitches

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-06-04 07:30:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

bargello needlepoint easter egg, designed by Janet Perry

This is a picture of my latest Bargello, mostly done at Maker Faire. It shows a great way to try out new stitch or pattern ideas.

Begin by picking out a simple and small shape. I used an egg because I wanted enough space to show off several repeats of the color sequence. Other shapes might be hearts mittens, or circles. Simple shapes of animals, such as a bird or fish also work well.

You want a design which a mainly an outline and one which could be lots of different colors without looking too strange.

Trace the outline onto canvas using a permanent marker made for canvas. I like Pigma Microns or FabricMate.

You can even trace several of the shapes, especially smaller ones, onto a single piece of canvas, making a fun composition. Wouldn’t a basket of smaller eggs overlapping each other be neat?

Pick your pattern or stitch. Since this is a kind of sampler, use more than one thread so that contrasting colors or textures will show the different elements of the stitch. If you have chosen a pattern to stitch, pick several threads to make a pleasing color scheme.

Then start stitching. When the outline is full, you’re done. My plan is to make this egg into an ornament, but it could also be stand-up or a small pouch.

When the outline is filled, you are done.

The rest is here:
Fun Ways to Learn New Stitches

Ruth Schmuff’s Background CD now in Printed Form

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Like many needlepointers I find a plain Tent Stitch background to be rather boring. Since at least 1984 I’ve been punching them up, not by changing the stitch but by adding repeating patterns to them. I usually do them in two contrasting textures of the same color, a technique I call needlepoint damask (the subject of tomorrow’s post) but you can also do them in different colors, subtle or loud.

Ruth Schmuff wrote the book, or rather the CD, on these with her Backgrounds CD (reviewed here), a collection of 481 repeating patterns, organized by size.

It’s a wonderful resource, but many people don’t like to use a CD. Ruth has now made it available as a printed book. Next up, I hope, the iPhone version

Original post:
Ruth Schmuff’s Background CD now in Printed Form

Generate Japanese Patterns to Inspire Your Needlepoint

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Design,Nuts About Needlepoint

Today I’m starting a short series (look for the next installment next Wednesday) to help you use Japanese patterns to create exciting backgrounds for your needlepoint.

The first step is to create a pattern. The second step is what patterns work nicely in needlepoint. The final step (in two weeks) is to convert the pattern to needlepoint and stitch it.

One thing about needlepoint patterns that makes many of the cute designs you see around NOT work, is that the pattern needs to be seamless. In other words you shouldn’t be able to see the individual tiles of the pattern and seams where they connect. Think of a fabric. When it’s just an uncut length, the pattern is seamless. But one you sew it into a garment, the pattern may not match at the seams — that’s what you don’t want.

Creating seamless patterns can be hard for you (it is for me) but it’s easy for the computer. And here’s where this handy tool — Japanizer — comes in. Pick a pattern from the 27 choices. Then pick a size from extra small to extra large. Finally pick a color choice.

Click on Japanize.

The pattern, in the colors you chose shows up as a background. YOu can link to it, download it or tweet it.

The pattern I created is pictured here.

Thanks to my DD who pointed this out to me.

View post:
Generate Japanese Patterns to Inspire Your Needlepoint

Great New Book on Blackwork in Needlepoint – Book Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Blackwork is used as a background in this canvas from Tink Boord-Dill, with a stitch guide by Janet M. Perry

Everything ‘Blackwork’ is New Again, Julia Key Snyder, self-published, 2011 (available at needlepoint shops)

I love Blackwork and love to do it on my needlepoint, so I was very excited when I read about this book. When it arrived I was a little skeptical because, it’s just pages and pages of patterns with no names and no text. After having looked at it, I am now a fan of this approach.

Each pattern is numbered and the diagrams are large. They are big enough to show several repeats of the pattern. That’s great because you really get a feel for how they will look. For one part of the pattern, the stitches are numbered, but arrows showing the direction to use for each stitch are shown on every single stitch in the diagram.

That is the most incredibly helpful thing!

Blackwork as a technique on needlepoint canvas has two stumbling blocks and Snyder addresses them both beautifully in this book.

First many blackwork patterns look like the diagram above, with the stitches on the lines of the grid. Since in needlepoint the convention is to have the stitches begin and end in the holes of the grid, this can be very confusing. In this book all the diagrams are like good needlepoint diagrams; the stitches have curved ends so you see every stitch and they begin and end in holes.

If Blackwork diagrams have defeated you in the past, this will help you understand the technique.

Second, because canvas is so open, it can be hard to figure out a path to take so that threads don’t show on the back. Snyder acknowledges this as a problem with Blackwork on canvas and in her numbering schemes she has worked out paths for most patterns that aren’t double running (used for Blackwork on cloth) but that don’t leave thread trails.

There is a one-page introduction that talks about some ways to use Blackwork as well as some working notes on the diagrams. Then it’s on to the patterns.

The patterns are wonderfully varied and I can think of tons of projects sitting in my stash where they would work.

Many of the patterns are variations of other patterns and this is the source of a small complaint. I’d love to see related patterns next to each other. Occasion ally this happens, but mostly it does not. Having related patterns next to each other would make it easy for me to decide if I wanted to add more stuff to a simple pattern or not.

There are a few patterns in her that are not strictly Blackwork, I saw a laidwork pattern and some textured stitches, but there aren’t many of these.

All in all it’s a simply fantastic book and I’m so glad I have it.

Painted Canvas Stitches

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Painted Stitches

Barbara Bergsten does absolutely wonderful canvases if you want to master different stitches on canvas. She actually paints the stitch’s pattern onto the canvas.

In addition to this she has made many stitch guides available free on her site. Now she’s added an even better tool: the “Painted Stitches” handout. It comes from her class at TNNA earlier this month. That’s a small picture of it from her blog.

It has 30 stitches diagrammed in two colors on a single sheet. You could print this out, get it laminated and keep it in your stitching bag.

I love it.

Continued here:
Painted Canvas Stitches

If the Stitch Fits . . .

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint mirror with hand-dyed thread and textured stitches by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
It’s a truism of needlepoint that for a stitch to fit in an area there should be three repeats of it — in every direction.

While for larger needlepoints, this isn’t a problem, for something small, such as this mirror, three repeats can be a problem. Several of the patches are very small and won’t fit three of much.

The reason for the rule is that our brains need repetition to see something as a pattern. And the number of repeats we need is three. Fewer than three and we aren’t really sure there is a pattern.

So what to do when area are small? Begin by analyzing the piece.

Are the colors repeated? If so, you could use the same stitch for all. PIck your stitch to fit in the middle or larger area. Then the other areas just look like pieces of the same fabric?

Are two areas divided by another object? Then you can consider them as one with the object “in front” of it.

There are four colors here. The burgundy gas three areas, but all were quite small. So they became my Basketweave blocks. (Remember every canvas should have some Basketweave in it).

Next are the three overdye blocks. One is considerably larger than the others, so I want a stitch to fit the middle size block, otherwise the two small block will look too incomplete. I chose Nobuko.

For the pink blocks, we have a relatively large block and a long skinny diagonal block. The long skinny block won’t let me do three repeats across, so I need something narrow and horizontal, so I will get repeats in that direction. With the bigger block I know I can get the horizontal repeats if I don’t pick a big stitch. So I went with Annapolis Brick a Cashmere and Mosaic pattern based on brick buildings in Annapolis Maryland.

That left the red blocks, more equal in size. Here picked a bigger Mosaic variation. The upper block just manages to squeeze in three repeats. But when combined with the lower block you have a good feel for the stitch.

I did the lower block first. If I had felt it didn’t fit the area because I didn’t have three repeats anywhere, I would have ripped it out and picked another stitch. But I easily have three repeats across on one line, most of three on another, and most of three repeats vertically. If this was the only place with this stitch, it would be too big to fit. But when combined with the other patch, it works.

Continued here:
If the Stitch Fits . . .

New Overdyed Colors from Zweigart

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Zweigart has just announced new colors in their overdyed fabrics collection. The six colors are available in Congress cloth and other evenweaves.

Aegean Aqua is a semi-solid aqua.There are two, Swirling Storms and Twilight that are more varied, but still limited to only two colors. The other three, Twixt & Tween, Halloween Hauntings, and Flighty Fairy use three or more colors.

If you like Congress Cloth, these could be great additions to your stash.

See the original post here:
New Overdyed Colors from Zweigart

Product Review – Backgrounds CD

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-08-07 09:10:09. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

BACKGROUNDS CD, Volume 1, Ruth Schmuff and Janice McGuire, self-published, 2008.
I loved Ruth’s two disks of stitches. I like them so much I even made a spreadsheet of all the stitches so I could find them easily. So imagine my delight when I found out a couple of weeks ago there is a new CD, just on backgrounds.
Now you might be thinking that there are plenty of backgrounds in the first two CDs and you’d be right. But this CD present 481 repeat patterns that are classified by the size of the repeat.
What I love about these is that they take advantage of one of my favorite background techniques, needlepoint damask. In this technique threads of contrasting texture, value, or color are stitched in a regular pattern to make the background.
Starting from one stitch repeats and going up to a 40 stitch pattern, Ruth and Janice have come up with all kinds of inventive patterns which are perfect for this technique. Each one is presented on a PDF page. Many of them substitute some of the Tent Stitched with Diagonal Gobelins, Mosaics, or Scotch Stitches, to create another type of pattern. If there is one of these alternate versions, it is presented on the same page.
Because the patterns are all done in Acrobat format, any computer can use it with Acrobat Reader. Each pattern has the repeat in height and width presented at the top of the page, making it easy to find a background to fit any space.
I’m excited to get working on a new project to use some of these patterns.

Go here to read the rest:
Product Review – Backgrounds CD

Great Stitch!

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

The Bristly Thistle showcased this Cashmere/Scotch combination stitch on their blog Needlepoint Tips & Techniques. It’s from one of Jane Zimmerman’s Stitch Books (reviewed here).

I think it could be used in so many places.

Read the original:
Great Stitch!

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