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Sneak peeks of new stitch guides from today’s best needlepoint designers Use this expanding resources of needlepoint ideas, techniques, and reference information. Material for your shop, website, store newsletter, and classes (with permission).
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Technique'
Adding a Name to a Ready-Made Needlepoint Stocking
The second part of the house will run tomorrow, my apologies. Last weekend a reader asked: “I have store-bought needlepoint Christmas stocking. I want to needlepoint (or use some other method) to put a child’s name on the stocking. Can ...
Needlepoint Collage
Most of the things on my needlepoint bucket list are really huge projects, I probably never will end up doing. But some are small enough I might actually achieve them someday. Right near the top of that list is learning how to do canvas collage. Thi...
Needlepointing Houses – Come Stitch with Me
Colonial houses, especially the ones of Colonial Williamsburg, are one of my favorite things. I grew up in a neo-colonial house (it looked like Mt. Vernon). I loved Williamsburg when I went there when I was 10. One of the things I love about Annapol...
Whipped Backstitch Tutorial
Whipped Backstitch is one of my favorite stitches. It’s easy to do and it makes smooth rounded shapes. Not many stitches in needlepoint can do that. You can use it to outline round shapes (like the bubbles in Wicked, above). But where it real...
Beginner Needlepoint Project Book Out this Weekend!
One of the harder things I’ve done in needlepoint is advance from doing Tent Stitch to feeling confident in making different stitches, using different threads, and trying new color combinations. That’s why I’ve designed this new se...
Game Needlepoint Update
As you can see I’m more than halfway through the background of m Game Needlepoint piece and I just love it. I changed to the next stitch on the list when someone was called by name or when my cat mewed. If I was in the middle of a stitch when ...
Gold Leafing on Canvas – Try a New Technique
Thanks 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 ther...
Random Needlepoint Background
Sometimes the background really is the focal point of the needlepoint as it was in this vintage canvas from Beau Geste I made several years ago. But how do you make it really special? This technique is adapted from a knitting technique from Philosoph...
Silk Ribbon Embroidery for Flowers
Silk ribbon can add so much to your needlepoint, I love it couched to give the look of real ribbons or streamers. I like to make bows from it for packages. I even like it just done in Basketweave, I think it has a very different texture. But silk rib...
Black Cats & Needlepoint
Its no secret that I like black cats. I’ve owned three of them (that’s Dot in the picture above), and I have many black cat canvases stitched and unstitched. The nice thing about black cats and needlepoint is that since they are associate...
Long & Short Stitch Sampler Update
The two most recent tutorials in Mary Corbet’s outstanding tutorial cover two kinds of items that often stump stitchers — flowers and leave which have turned tips. I probably get more questions about how to stitch flowers than any other t...
Highlighting the Focal Point – Mitered Backgrounds in Needlepoint
An easy way to accent the focal point of any needlerpoint, especially if it is a simple one such as this autumn leaf, is to have the background stitch “point” to the center of the stitching. This process is called “mitering.”...
Fall Needlepoint – Leaves Three Ways
Even if you live in a part of the world where the leaves don’t change much (like the SF Bay Area), fall always makes me think of brilliantly colored leaves. And since I can’t have them for real, I want to stitch them. To stitch your own l...
Long & Short Stitch Tutorial Update
There are three new lessons up on Mary Corbet’s tutorial on Long & Short Stitch. Lesson 5 covers shaded curves. Lesson 6 covers simple leaves. Lesson 7 covers more complex leaves. Remember Mary has an index on her site to all the lessons i...
Controlling the Overdyed Thread – Color Clouds
Sometimes I’m happy working with an overdyed thread as it comers off the skein. But more often my favorite colors in the skien are those that are the result of two of the main colors coming together. It has always bothered me that I only got si...
How to Use Leftover Yarn or Thread to Make a Tassel
Over at the Craft Magazine blog, there is a wonderful illustrated tutorial on how to make a simple tassel using leftover yarn. Tassels are lots of fun to make using a scrap of cardboard, leftover thread (at least 2 yards), and scissors. They make a w...
New Needlepoint Products – August 2009
I’ve come across some delightful new needlepoint products for you to look for at your local shop. Here’s a round-up of some of them. Painted Canvas CBK Needlepoint Collections has added a new artist, Designs by Karen. These designs featu...
Hand-dyeing Threads
If you love threads and needlepoint, you have probably used and loved one or another kind of hand-dyed thread. I was crazy for the process of dying threads not too many years after I learned how to needlepoint and have made many forays into dyeing th...
Thread Blending Tutorial
Jenny Hart, of Sublime Stitching, has a new book coming out and in preparation for it has a tutorial about blending two colors of floss at her publisher’s site. The technique, needle blending, is useful for shading, when you can’t find th...
Substituting Colors – Plan It in Advance
I’m getting ready to start stitching a charming piece from Needle Delights called “Down the Garden Path.” I just love it and the way it uses so many different shades of Watercolurs. So I decided to use it as a chance to try some new...
Long & Short Stitch – Circles
I don’t know about you, but I think circles are about the hardest thing to stitch. So imagine how excited I am by Mary Corbet’s latest Long & Short Stitch lesson, shading circles. It’s GREAT! Social Bookmarking...
Long & Short Stitch - Lesson 3
The 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 simpl...
Long & Short Stitch Tutorial - Lesson 2
There is a new tutorial (both in still pictures and video) on Long & Short Stitch in Needle ‘nThread. This lesson,the second, shows background shading using this stitch. A second part continues this lesson. This kind of shading is outstand...
Long & Short Stitch Tutorial Update
Just a quick note top let you know that Mary has put up an index to her Long & Short Stitch tutorial. All the lessons are listed and will be updated with links as she puts up the posts. This is fantastic for forgetful people like me. Social Bo...
Start of Long & Short Stitch Tutorial
Long and Short Stitch is a free embroidery stitch adapted to needlepoint and used to make realistic shading. Similar to Random Stitch, which we covered in two posts last week, Long and Short Stitch is a fantastic method for stitching flower petals an...
More (Fantastic) Pictures of Random Stitched Needlepoint
Suedukc posted a whole slew of pictures on her blog, showing her random stitching method in action. They are simply fantastic and I’m in awe of her work. So read her post about how she does it, then enjoy the pictures. Social Bookmarking...
Tips for Photographing Needlepoint
Taking pictures of my needlepoint is not my best thing. I’m best at slapping the piece on the scanner. But I know the ability to take a good picture is important. So for all you folks who are like me and for myself, I’ve rounded up some...
Videogame Needlepoint
Videogames of all kinds have such a wonderful graphic punch to them. The bright colors, the uncluttered design. In the back of my mind I’ve always wanted to do some needlepoint of them, but haven’t. I recently found a wonderful Flickr al...
Bargello with Templates - Compensation
Using templates or outlines as shapes to fill with Bargello is a lovely way to make a unique gift. When the outline is a simple shape, such as a heart or mitten, the job is easy. You just stitch and go. But what do you do if the outline has more tha...
Making Realistic Flower Petals
Many needlepointers (myself included) find flowers one of the most challenging things to stitch. Their curved edges don’t fit the squared-off nature of needlepoint. It can be hard to make them look realistic. Often we don’t think of using sur...
