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Originally posted 2007-01-22 17:39:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My Sunday stitching project at the moment is an older canvas and Iâ€™m stitching it in hand. Working on it yesterday got me thinking about canvas.

High-quality canvas, like Zweigart mono, is made from 100% cotton. The stiffness of a new needlepoint canvas comes from sizing added to the canvas once it is woven. Sizing also makes canvas hard on threads because the stiff sizing wears out the thread more quickly than the smooth fabric alone.

Sizing is removed from canvas is several ways. If you thoroughly wet the canvas, you notice itâ€™s a bit sticky — thatâ€™s the sizing. Wet it and wring it out a couple more times and the sizing is removed.

As you stitch the canvas, your needle moves the canvas back and forth – this will eventually break down the sizing. Folding the canvas also does this along the fold.

Finally the sizing disappears as the canvas gets old.

In my case, the canvas was folded (and I know better) and it is three years old. So itâ€™s very soft. Iâ€™m still crumpling it up in hand, so I donâ€™t mind too much, but if you have an old canvas and want stiffness, your only solution is to stretch it on a frame. Stretching and the tension it brings will put stiffness back into the canvas. I would go further and say just use Evertite bars because you will need to adjust the tension more often with an older canvas.

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On Older Canvas

Merry Easter Eggs – book review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2006-02-18 14:51:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Carolyn Hedge Baird. 2004.

Whimsical and bursting with ideas, Carolyn Hedge Baird has written a book of stitch ideas
which covers much more than just Easter Eggs. It contains “ideas for borders and stripes,
backgrounds, details, threads, finishing, and displaying your needlepoint eggs!”

The book can roughly be divided into four sections; introduction, stitch suggestions, stitch
dictionary and additional techniques. Each section is packed with ideas.

The introduction is short and includes an introduction (and a great story about the Easter
Raccoon (who now lives at my house, I think), an introduction, some thoughts about
needlepointing, and a wonderful set of outlines of Easter eggs (for designing your own).

The second section is called Easter Needlepoint. It is divided by types of objects (straw
hats, bunnies, etc.) and lists stitch and thread suggestions for all parts of the object.
Needing to stitch some dots? This section includes suggestions for evenly spaced dots,
random dots, dots over 4 threads, and dotted areas. Along with some stitch diagrams,
there are list of stitches for all these areas, as well as hints and comments. Blank pages
and graph paper are included throughout this section to record your own choices.

The largest section of the book is the stitch dictionary. It is divided into sections including
tiny and small stitches, backgrounds, stitches for details, laid fillings and more. The
sections begin with a listing of stitches in them and then each stitch is diagrammed, and
many have additional information. In the tiny stitches section, for example, she has a great
description of Chottie’s Plaid. Once again idea, blank pages, graph paper and clip art are
interspersed throughout the section.

Specialized techniques, finishing and display information make up the last section of the
book. This included information which often is not seen in needlepoint books with
sections on silk ribbon embroidery, wired ribbon, and beading as well as finishing and
display information.

I love this book and find myself turning to it often for ideas, but I would add a small word
of caution. For people who have difficulty reading or who don’t like densely packed
information on a page, Baird’s style could be difficult. Her typeface can be hard to read
(especially in small sizes) and with clip art, text and diagrams on a page, it can be difficult
for some people to see what is most important.

But these are small problems with a book which is joyous, fun and full of ideas, even if you
never stitch and Easter Egg.

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Merry Easter Eggs – book review

Free Embroidery Patterns

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-10-23 06:52:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

With the renewed interest in free embroidery (embroidery on a on-counted ground or fabric), you can find lots of pretty cool free patterns intended to transfer onto a piece of fabric.

But you can just as easily transfer them onto apiece of needlepoint canvas and use them as a line-drawing for your needlepoint.

Today we are going to talk about what to look for when you want to do this and tomorrow we will begin a step-by-step tutorial on how to go from a free pattern on the Web to a finished needlepoint.

When you look at embroidery transfer designs, what you see are the lines of the design which will be covered with stitching. Most free embroidery of this type relies on the fabric to covey the design and so they have lots of open spaces.

This is good for us as needlepointers because we will fill those areas up with stitches.
Tip #1 Look for designs with open areas which aren’t filled with lots of lines to be covered.

But (isn’t there always a but), in free embroidery other details, like facial expression are conveyed with lines and other details as well.

Here is where you have a problem. When you embroider on cloth you can stick a stitch anywhere, it can be any angle, it can stop or start anyplace. But with needlepoint you are stuck with the grid. The bigger the wholes, the fewer details you can convey. So a design with too many little details will lose them when changed to needlepoint.

It’s like looking at a scene through a screen as opposed to through a window. With the screen you can see everything, yes, but you lose detail. Needlepoint canvas is the screen.

In conclusion I thought today I would share with you some free embroidery sites where you can download new and vintage embroidery patterns.

If you want to play along with the tutorial, check back tomorrow to see the Arts & Crafts design I picked from this site. But you can pick one which suits your style and your mood and stitch away.

Check the designs out at these sites:
Embroidery Patterns – This Flickr album has many charming designs, many looking like children’s book illustrations.
TipNut – has a listing of all kinds of embroidery projects. Click on the link to find the particular project and then look through the article to find the pattern. Many of these are vintage and vintage style.
Meggiecat – has links to lots of great vintage patterns.
Needle n’Thread – Scroll down past the text ads to find many lovely patterns, often in traditional, Victorian, and Arts & Crafts styles.
Doe-c-doe – Every Thursday she showcases vintage embroidery and embroidery patterns. I’ve found lots of good things here.
Vintage Transfer Designs – Lots of great retro and vintage transfers.
Antique Pattern Library – This site is harder to use. It’s a list of vintage embroidery publiations available to download on the Web.

I’m sure you will find something to suit your fancy here. We’ll start the project tomorrow!

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Free Embroidery Patterns

Correction

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-05-04 05:58:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I typed it wrong, NCPat’s canvas is from Sharon G.

An archive article about finishing will be up later this morning after I get back from the DMV.

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Correction

Marble Waves – New Colors & Kit

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-09-17 06:47:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Su has a second post on Marble Waves up. It’s in a lovely soft colorway of green and eggplant. It also has a tiered border which sets off the piece nicely. This combination of colors will soon be available as kits from Su.

I was working on doing my own Marble Waves, but gave it up last night in total frustration. I don’t read charts very well (an eye problem makes it hard to count), I’m in a state of total exhaustion from getting the house ready (it went on the market yesterday, you can see it here) an I had had an immensely frustrating day, pretty much from start to finish. So when my corners wouldn’t match and I realized it was going to be a parallelogram instead of a square, I gave up.

But I love it so much I’m going to stitch it again and do it right this time.

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Marble Waves – New Colors & Kit

Needlepoint for Kids’ Rooms

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-04-14 07:26:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Recently my daughter had an entry on her blog about buying art for kids’ rooms as a baby present. She’s right, having lovely art to look at is a wonderful thing for children. But we can go that one better, we can make lovely art for kids’ rooms.

This charming design from ABS is a good case in point. The designer, Anne Stradel, both designed and stitched it, so I can’t take any credit there. I only put her stuff onto paper. But I love it.

It has that vintage children’s book color and look which is one of my favorites. And it uses simple stitches and a few additional techniques to create something really special. I love the dimension which comes from adding the grass over the stitched pond. The sky is a very simple shaded Basketweave which adds so much. And I’m crazy about the way the ducks are stitched and it’s so easy. You stitch them first all in Basketweave using floss. Then over that, using a single strand of a silk/wool blend, you make random stitches in different lengths following the way the real feathers would look. It’s so easy to do.

There are so many wonderful designs out there for kids, from charming to colorful. You could even do one yourself by adapting a picture from a favorite book. I think maybe I’ll get to work on showing you how to do that yourself with a step-by-step class.

In the meantime, do like that poster from the 70′s said “Expose yourself to art” and do the same for your kids.

Needlepoint Learning for Kids from Orna

Link:
Needlepoint for Kids’ Rooms

Update for May 8

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2006-05-08 14:50:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Although I didn’t add to my blog for the last several days, I have been stitching up a storm.

I finished the Leaf Mask on Saturday.

I worked on a cool quilt pillow from Susan Roberts on Sunday.
On Friday I bought the thread for the background. I decided with lots of background, I’d try a knitting yarn. I bought Cotton Classic from Tahki/Stacy Charles. It’s a mercerized cotton, less shiny than pearl cotton, in a five-ply strand. I cut the skein once at the knot to have great stitching lengths. I’m using three-ply for basketweave on 14 mesh. The thread is great, MUCH cheaper than any alternative and looks perfect, an inky black which really sets of the bright colors of the star pattern.
It’s big, on 14 mesh and I only work on it on Sundays. It will probably take me all year to do. Adding in the background color added so much to the design it was hard to put it away Sunday night.

Original post:
Update for May 8

Organizing WIPs, UFOs, and Unstitched Canvases

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-03-18 06:39:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

A major contributor to messy stashes are our piles of unfnished and unstitched projects, I know it is for me.

Once a year, at least, you should go through the piles of this stuff and organize them. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt. Yesterday was that day for me, occasioned by finding the two underbed boxes of stuff I had stored over the summer.

Begin by sorting stuff into four piles:

unstitched canvases
projects you are actively working on (WIPs)
started projects you aren’t working on (UFOs)
projects you don’t want to do anymore

I sorted my unstitched canvases into large and small (small is by far the biggest. The large ones went back into one of the storage bins. The smalls got organized by subject and put into a straew tote bag whixh ia easily accessible for when I want to start a new project.

My WIPs are stored in zippered project bags in open baskets under some of the thread stash. These projects are one stretcher bars. Some of them, like the CyberPointers President’s Challenge are long term, some, like Maple Leaf Rag, are almost done. I’m hoping that new projects won’t get added to this pile until an old project is done.

The UFOs are more problematic as I don’t want to waste stretcher bars, thumbtacks, and zippered bags on things I won’t be stitching for awhile. So I use plastic bags for storage and put threads and canvas into the underbed unit.

The stuff you don’t want anymore and what to do with it will be the subject of next week’s article.

Now instead of two underbed units, I have one. I’ve reduced the number of WIPs to ones I can handle and have the small pieces I love somewhere where I can get them fast.

All in all not a bad day’s work.

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Organizing WIPs, UFOs, and Unstitched Canvases

Stitch Notebook – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-07-28 07:00:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Little Shoppe Canvas Company has come up with a charming notebook to keep track of your project ideas. Unlike many other stitch diaries, this isn’t for the finished piece, but gives you a place to record your ideas for a work in progress or to be stitched.
Two pages are given to each project. The left page has lines for the project name and date, a listing of threads, and some notes. The right page has four areas of grid in two sizes for diagramming stitches. This is a feature not often seen in stitch notebooks and a useful tool. One thing I like to do with new stitches is draw them the way I would stitch them. This feature lets me do that easily.
Great product, available at your local shop.

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Stitch Notebook – Product Review

Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2003-09-19 06:38:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

BACKGROUNDS: THE FINISHING TOUCH by Ann Strite-Kurz

The choice of a background which is both appropriate for the design and beautiful is a decision which often perplexes stitchers. But all stitchers agree that the right choice can really make the design.

Ann Strite-Kurz’s teaching projects project packs and stitching are well known for their wonderful open backgrounds. No matter what the design, you will find innovative open backgrounds enhancing her work.

In this book Ann has taken canvases (of her own and by many others) and used them as the basis for a book about open background techniques. It is comprehensive and dense with information.

The first chapter opens with a short history of needlepoint and then has what I think of as the heart of the book. Well over 100 canvases are pictured and the backgrounds are analyzed. Each design is pictured in black and white in the book and then in color on the accompanying CD. A second picture of a detail section of the background is also on the CD. Each canvas is analyzed and information is given about how the background was developed or why it is an appropriate choice. In the section Ann classifies the different types of backgrounds into classes such as mat backgrounds, painted backgrounds or partial backgrounds.

Following this chapter are six chapters of techniques which show you how to do many of the techniques seen in the pictured canvases. The second chapter covers planning and execution of open backgrounds including detailed suggestions for starting and stopping threads so they won’t show and how to plan a background to work with the design.

The remaining chapters are all devoted to specific techniques. In each chapter there is an explanation on how to work the technique (if needed) and then the patterns are discussed. Anyone who has read Ann’s previous books knows how thorough her diagrams and explanations are, and this book is no exception. For example, Pattern 11, Diamond Outlines in Tied Oblong Crosses has a large diagram of the over all pattern, a detailed explanation of the pattern and when to use it (it is a large scale pattern with oblique stitches, so it needs to be planned carefully). then there is another explanation with diagrams of how to stitch the pattern. The section ends with some suggestions (accompanied by diagrams) on how to make the pattern more dense.

Because the book is packed densely with information it is a book to be savored and read over and over again. Pick a canvas, page through the CD to find ideas, then through the book to find a background you like, everything you need to know to make these open patterns an asset to your canvas is there.

We are so lucky to have Ann and her wonderful way of analyzing patterns available to us.

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Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

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