Evolutions in Stitching: Choosing a Painted Canvas

I'm still thinking about "beginners" in stitching on the painted canvas, and only recently am understanding why it's scary. People have been made to feel that they have to cover every tiny little space with decorative stitches - which isn't true, and usually only creates a lot of unsightly "goop."

There has been an evolution of my own thinking and stitching since the beginning of my designing and marketing the painted canvas so long ago (1969).

In the beginning, the challenge for a designer was to provide a beautifully drawn and painted canvas that was easy to stitch - and for the stitcher, it was to manage to work a lovely, smooth surface with no bumps or unseemly ridges.

Different people enjoyed different activities, so chose their canvases accordingly. Also, we tried to create a good balance between pattern and background, so one could switch back and forth to make it more relaxing and interesting.

I remember that my sister detested areas of basketweave background and enjoyed the tedious outlining. I didn't like outlining (still don't) so we switched and helped each other.

I'm showing this dodo bird again (still don't have a picture of the finished pillow with the tail feathers) that I did at my son's request about 14 years ago - adapted from a card from the Museum of Natural History). I did not enjoy that huge expanse of basketweave background, but would never have used texture there, as it would compete with the elements of the pattern. My challenge in painting and then stitching this one was the small things - like the shadows under it's feet, and the wing feathers. Also the gorgeous tail feathers!!

Anyway, after all of those years of stitching, I still feel that I'm a bit of a newcomer to stitching and enhancing the painted canvas as it's done these days. I think the beautiful and fun novelty threads have helped this along, as we didn't have them in the 70's and ;80's.

When I came back to needlepoint after a break of about 15 years, this was going on, so I decided I needed to experiment and learn some decorative stitches - which was fun.

I bought two or three books, and set out to explore to see what stitches actually looked like, and what effect different kinds of threads had..

However, my canvas style is just not for these stitches, so I started doing the crazy quilt format so as not to waste time, effort, and material - and also it was a lot of fun learning the embellishment of embroidery on top.

I have now decided that I am a beginner at actually doing this on a painted canvas, and need to start. Since I already have a formidable collection of favorite stitches, all I lack is a suitable canvas.

I could find absolutely nothing for starting out, as the ones I looked at were too busy already to accomodate much more texture, and I'm weary of looking at the same old same old stuff that is beginning to all look just alike - so I went cruising the internet and ebay.

To my astonishment, there are some really really fine painted canvas designers there that we never see just shopping at the LNS.

This first one is from Blue Dogwood Designs, (not on ebay) and I discovered it from an ad in Needlepoint Now. The designer has done beginner pieces, among many others, and taught classes at Needlepointer in Everett, Wa.

I love this tree, and the layered tissue paper effect it has - where the colors change at the overlaps. It's very simple, but I see a lot of possibility in the thread choices and stitches! I'll probably have to order this one and stitch it!

The next one is from her "travel" section on the web page - do go take a look! Beautifully drawn and painted, and they move me to want to try my hand at some decorative stitches to enhance.

The next one I found on ebay, and am enchanted with her work, as it's quite different from the "norm" and perfectly charming. They are from Needlepoint Art by Cheryl, and are also stitch painted and lovely. I'm not inspired so much to use decorative stitches as to enhance with different kinds of threads!!

















The first picture is a "Dala Horse" - which I had never heard of, so had to go on a "Google" hunt. It's a Swedish thing - a national treasure of hand carved, painted horses, and I strongly encourage you to learn the history and otherwise investigate. I love leaning new things, myself.

















The cottage is so appealing that I have already looked into my stash to see what I would use to make it sparkle! These are not really for decorative, textured stitches, but a joy for the colors and the different fun threads one could use.
The little bird is one of several, and is another "must have" for me, I think. It's hard not to show more, but this is enough, and you can click on the links to go browse!

Last is an amazing artist/designer I found on ebay - Nenah, who has a web page, Nenah's Needle. This lady is an animal lover with a great, whimsical side in her canvases - utterly delightful and well done work. I kept going back to look, which means I would most likely really enjoy stitching her things.

!You can see the versatility, as well as the whimsy.














That's enough for now - I'm tired. Hopefully, after this next move I have to make, I can purchase some of these for myself and blog stitch one. I did get permission from each of these ladies to show their work, as per good blog etiquette.

ADDENDUM: Nenah is an animal lover, (obviously) and contributes a percentage of her sales to a wonderful shelter. Also, her Halloween things are superb - full of imagination and personality (not necessarily for beginners).

Stitches and Threads!

While looking through some of my favorite blogs yesterday, I visited Rachel in the U.K. at Virtuosew Adventures, and saw this wonderful band sampler of stitches and threads.

She suggests trying out new stitches to see how they look - as well as using different threads to see how they perform, and how the appearance of stitches is changed. Also, by doing it in bands, it's easier to determine for what purpose a stitch might be used on other projects.

I like the idea of this format for a needlepoint practice piece, learning and developing, as the time and materials aren't wasted - it's a lovely thing, and could be used as a pillow inset, a purse - depending on size, etc. Lots of uses besides the ornament shapes and crazy quilts I've been using, but am so tired of. (Besides, ornaments should sparkle.)

Do go look at this, and, as she changes posts often, you might have to scroll down one or two posts to see it. It's all worth a look!! This sort of thing is wonderful for both beginners and experienced stitchers - we should all still be learning.

For "Beginners" - What to stitch first??

First another comment on choosing a canvas: I found another example of what used to be a great beginner piece - and still would be when properly drawn and painted. That is, it needs to be symmetric and stitch painted!

This one is cute, but the little dots are lopsided, as is the bug itself - and the antennae are crooked and would be confusing to stitch for a beginner. A pattern this small would not be attractive stitched as it is.

About having that much background - I wouldn't put that much on a beginner piece and expect anyone to do it in basketweave. This is where a bit of texture might be introduced. A simple stitch such as T-stitch (the way I do it that covers the canvas) because it's not overwhelming, and because it would make the background work up faster. A diagonal stitch would be awful in this case!! So would mosaic stitch, as it's square, and would not be attractive butted up against the round contours of the bug.

I used to teach on a ladybug, myself, long ago, as it has the elements I needed to show how to stitch on a curve, and also the antennae going in two different directions. This is a thing that is difficult for people to get used to - making ALL of the tent stitches going in the same direction, as the tendency is to want to point them in the opposite direction here. As I've said before, the sawtooth effect is just a characteristic of needlepoint.

This is also a good design for demonstrating how to find where to start the basketweave, as it's different from just starting in the upper right corner (lower left for left handers). As for where to start, this picture is from my tutorial on stitching background around irregular shapes, so you can see the rest of it on Freebies, etc. (I think that's where it is).

Anyway, a piece of paper may be placed on the EXACT diagonal of the canvas, and moved toward the curve - you can see clearly where the first stitches will be. I still have to do this on some of my elaborate designs, such as the leaves on the Celadon I'm stitching right now. It can be confusing!

The leopard spots also show the advantage of stitching them first before background, as a lot of shaping trial and error is going on here, even though I painted them carefully. They are not solid only because I left the gaps to insert beads - this was intended for the top of a hat Vikki wanted to make.

Although it wasn't the subject of the tutorial, this series also shows, as in this picture, the advantage of stitching DESIGN before background. If one does background first, there is danger of misshaping a part of the curves.

I learned this the hard way long ago. I was doing a little cherry on a keyring for a friend, as it was her name - I worked the background first, but when I stitched the cherry, it looked like it had a wart on the side. It looked fine until the background was stitched around it.

The next photo is a detail of the Celadon piece I'm working on for my son - on the lower corner I noticed the date on it is 1996. Oh dear. No wonder he keeps asking me about it. He bought me the bowl from which I adapted it. The arrows are simply pointing to elements of the pattern than needed to be shaped before background was stitched around them.

In looking at the corresponding squiggle on the left side, I can see where I should have added one more brown stitch, as it appears to have a lump on it, but eliminating these few stitches in the shaping would have made it too flat on that side. Too late now, and the work is 15" diameter, so maybe nobody will notice if I don't point it out.

This is for framing for his office, and I don't think a bunch of lawyers will be too concerned with it. I did stitch in the coin in Kreinik metallic braid (002V) BEFORE outlining it, because the braid might otherwise have pulled at the DMC floss stitches of the outline if I had done that first. In this case it was O.K., as the coin is stitch painted.

In doing all that outlining first, I was able to shape the elements more easily - as the leaf the arrow shows. I like a good balance in stitching between outlining and background (or pattern vs background). Background can get boring - so working something a bit more challenging and then taking a break with working background around it is good.

The last photo is a canvas I designed in the mid 80's, and had begun to stitch, but had to put it down for other things. At that time, there still were no novelty threads, and using textured stitches was rare.

On looking at it again, I want to re-paint it, but smaller, on 18 mesh canvas, and use just a little bit of texture. Too much would ruin it, but that background is rather daunting to think of doing in basketweave. I'm thinking maybe just simple T-stitch, and needle blending at the bottom where it shades to blue and purple.

The veins of the sea fan show the "design before background" principle. However, at this point, instead of plain old basketweave, I think the fan could stand some subtle sparkle and a tiny bit of texture - I'll have to think about that.

This canvas really has possibilities for using different thread effects and a few decorative stitches here and there. Hmmmm. I'll get right on it as soon as I have time.

Hopefully you can see at this point that stitching the painted canvas needn't be frightening - one learns gradually, after mastering the basic basketweave, to introduce a few well placed and carefully thought out decorative stitches. You can look through books and try out a few that look interesting, but there is simply NO need to master dozens of them, just to be able to use long, fancy names and show skills that aren't necessary and make the work tedious rather than relaxing and enjoyable - it just isn't required, and it makes a goopy mess if overdone.

The Order of Stitching! (Background and Beads)

I've had a bit of trouble thinking about "beginner" things to discuss, and just now realized that even the simple techniques of using beads with needlepoint and replicating fabrics does require a good knowledge of and familiarity with basketweave!

Way back a long time ago, I became fascinated with trying to replicate fabrics in needlepoint, as I was doing a lot of Traditional American quilt patterns on canvas, and wanted to dress up the patches that didn't have "printed" designs on them.

One of my very favorites was dotted swiss, which I had worn a lot as a small child. (My mother loved it.) I still use this from time to time for things like the background of this little cactus, and the blue part of the "beginner" flower in a previous post.

This little barrel cactus canvas (from Sundance) was posted previously (about two years ago) for showing basketweave and outlining properly executed, but I noticed that I also used "dotted swiss" on the background so it wouldn't be so plain. I didn't want to use a textured stitch that would distract from the central design - but it needed something. You can see where I marked little blue dots on the canvas to indicate where to put the "dotted" in the Swiss.

The basketweave around them HAS to be worked first, or they will kind of sink and not stand up so high so as to show up. After doing the background around the dots, simply make an X over the blank tent stitch where you've left the canvas intersection bare. If you make the dots on the intersection where the WARP thread is on top, as a little"bump," it will stand up high and show up well.

The backside of the little stocking is another example of using basketweave correctly - I usually advocate "design before background" (unless the thread is fuzzy), but have always preferred to stitch the background before the name on a stocking cuff. Several reasons - one is that the fibers from the name, if stitched first, can rub off on the white stitches and make it look "smeared."

This shows the back of one, where I simply carried the thread, doing diagonal work, across underneath where the name is drawn - you can see where I started working the name. It has beads on it, so the blue "Nina" was stitched as I do for inserting beads - basketweave on every other row, using the weft stitches, and leaving the warp bare for the beads. One thing seems to lead to another!

On this front view of the Nina sock, you can see strings of beads with "jewels." I never place the beads clumped up together on a straight line, but leave the warp thread between them. It "reads" well as a straight line of sparkle! In this case, I put Kreinik 002V braid between the beads as part of a chain of jewelry. You can see also that there are beads as well as a tent stitch in the "jewels."

By the way, when placing beads on needlepoint, never place them end to end - especially the faceted ones, as they don't quite fit the space and can look rather strange. The faceted beads aren't perfectly round like the little smooth ones, and appear more like tiny bugle beads - so are too long to be putting end to end. This is just one of the little things one learns with experience and trial and error.

The white patch of Petite Very Velvet is on my December crazy quilt heart - and shows straight lines of clear faceted beads. In this case, as they are on the diagonal, I simply marked lines where I wanted the beads and then worked basketweave around them.

Notice that the beads are NOT placed end to end, as they would have butted against each other and made the lines crooked. They read just as well with the little space between them, as they are lying sideways..

This close-up of one of the coral reef ornaments shows the lines of beads going from the sand up to the top of the sea. The little round, clear beads with the one stitch separating them look just like bubbles, I think. However, I had decided that next time I do this, I'll make the vertical line more irregular with spaces. I used both sizes (#11 and #14) clear beads #250 for this for more "bubble" effect

Next time I'll show where and why to stitch design before background and vice versa. As you can see, one can really start working some amazing but simple effects without having to resort to covering every space on a painted canvas with texured stitches.

This would be overwhelming to a beginner, as one simply cannot just go look in a lot of books and choose stitches at random. This needs to be introduced gradually. After all - we do this for enjoyment and relaxation and to create something fun/beautiful/useful - whatever - for ourselves and our friends and loved ones.

Needlepoint for Beginners: Basketweave

Actually, I'm wondering what constitutes a "beginner." There are total beginners who have never stitched with needle and thread on canvas at all - and then there are those who have done lots and lots of counted work, but never a painted canvas. I am amazed that people are afraid of it, but if all they've seen is the "goopy" messes so many people make, it's understandable. Fortunately, it's not required

I would say that either one needs to start with the very basic foundation stitch of needlepoint - basketweave! This is a greatly misunderstood stitch, but it's the one that teaches us how to regulate the tension of our work, and also to fill in parts of a painted canvas where it's more appropriate than textured stitches. It's repetitive motion is also very soothing.

Basketweave is called that because of the way it looks on the back - like a simple woven basket. It's another name for "diagonal tent" stitch, as opposed to the horizontal tent stitch, which is called "continental." An aside is that continental should never be used on mono canvas, as it makes a flimsy fabric, and has ugly horizontal ridges - it also distorts the canvas, and actually serves no purpose. and it's BORING.

This stitch was used by Victorian ladies (and my grandmother) on penelope canvas with pre-worked design. The double stranding made it possible to split 10 mesh canvas into 20 threads per inch for fine pattern.

The second picture shows the look of the basketweave on the right, and continental on the left - you can clearly see the difference. I took these pictures from a post of two years ago - lots of posts under "beginner needlelpoint" if you click on the label. I didn't have time today to do fine new swatches.

Another reason to begin with basketweave is that you get a "feel" for what is called "traveling" - the direction of making stitches properly for the most attractive effect as well as as, again, the repetitive motion that is soothing to us. I have seen some rather poor instructions for this in some of the more poplar books of stitches, although the stitches themselves are great!

There is one book that is supposedly one of the best that actually states that "basketweave can't be done in small spaces." This isn't true. See my little candy corn to dispel that myth.

It also says to come up in the center hole and go down outside when making Algerian eye - common sense would tell anyone this is not a good way to "travel." BUT the stitch collection is superb, once a person has learned technique.



The next picture of the candy corn is the little first medallion on the napkin ring finished - I can remember beginning students being upset by the strange shapes and the "sawtooth" edges on diagonals, but this is a characteristic of needlepoint, and is fine.




Note that the candy corn is stitch painted and perfectly symmetric. Think what a mess this would be if it weren't!!

I chose Petite Very Velvet for the candy, and surrounded it with black YLI Ribbon Floss in Shimmer Blend. I also used ribbon floss for the gold, as I didn't like the idea or the look of metallic braid here. This is YLI Honey/Copper Shimmer Blend. Great stuff!! The edging is my favorite long-armed cross stitch, which is superb for this - as well as for belts, as it rolls over easily and makes finishing simple as well as making an attractive edge.

This is where a nice repertoire of stitches is handy - not too many, as that gets confusing. One should use decorative stitches judiciously and for effect and not over-do it just the the sake of using them. These are things you can glean as you go along - see them on other people's work and ask questions. Just looking through a book when you haven't a clue what you're looking for, as a beginner, won't help. This should come gradually with experience and some good tutoring!

That's enough for now - too much pontificating here and not enough pictures. I'm off to stitch for a while.

Choosing a "Beginner" Canvas

I've been thinking for the past few months about doing extensive tutorials on selecting canvases to stitch, (and then how to begin stitching) as I've seen so many beginners who wanted badly to learn needlepoint, but then purchased a really poorly drawn and painted one that wasn't appropriate for a beginner anyway. This is very discouraging, and many lose out on what could have been a wonderful and relaxing hobby.

When I was teaching many years ago, I painted my own beginner pieces that served well for children and adults alike - as they consisted of a few nice, clear flat areas of pleasing and colorful design, were small enough to not be overwhelming, and carefully drawn for ease in seeing where to put the next stitch.


Also included would be elements needed for teaching techniques, such as outlining, veins in leaves or butterfly antennae going in opposite directions on the canvas, and irregular curved shapes. Sadly, the canvases on the market now lack this sort of thing, and pieces labeled "beginner" are pretty bad in many cases.

I actually saw one that was a dragonfly - beautiful picture, but entirely too many lines on it, hardly any flat spaces, and on close inspection, the lines were so badly drawn that some of them were down in the grooves between the threads. The background was beautifully shaded, but very very difficult for a beginner - or even some experienced stitchers!

The first illustration is a little canvas I stitched that was designed and painted by a young friend of mine who had great potential as a designer - and did have some lovely "beginner" pieces in her line. I redrew it, as the original needed some help - I was tutoring her on drawing and painting. The second picture is the same flower, but stitched by the artist herself before she learned that the outside of the circle should have been outlined first to contain the decorative stitches and avoid the jagged/raggedy edges. More on that later.

The background on the first one was stiched AFTER the leaves were first outlined so that it would meet the pattern neatly without making a mess.

I think the poorly painted canvases are a lot responsible for designs being smothered with "goop," as people don't quite know what to do with this problem, or where to start and stop, so just start adding layers and layers of threads and too many decorative stitches, which creates an eye shattering mess..

Next is another of the beginner flowers in the series - a charming canvas. Below it is the designer's stitched piece, so you can see the difference just a symmetric drawing makes, as on the first version.

The arrows are pointing to places that are jagged due to it's needing to be outlined first. Messy and unattractive!! More on this in another day or two - and then we'll begin learning to stitch!







Actually, I like her thread colors better than mine on this design. I'm hoping this lady will decide to resume marketing canvases again, as she does have talent and a lot to offer!

Last on this entry is the egg - it's a bright and pretty design, but the outline of the egg is not only drawn with a harsh, black line that will most likely show through the thread, but it is totally lopsided and asymmetric.

It takes very little effort to stitch count a symmetric egg onto canvas, and it it finishes so beautifully, it's worth the effort. I think this is also a problem with the shop owners, in that they see a pretty design when buying, but don't really look closely to see how well or poorly the drawing and painting is done - so learn to really LOOK at a canvas before you purchase it.This you will understand after you begin stitching!

BASKETWEAVE: A Tutorial

The painted canvas - beautifully painted designs on mono-canvas - exploded into popularity in about the mid to late 60's. At that time, our mothers, and grandmothers (and great-grandmothers) had done little more than stitch on the pre-worked canvases on penelope, which originated in Victorian times, and were referred to as "Berlin Work." Penelope is a canvas, usually brown, that is woven with two strands of warp and two of weft, as opposed to the single threads of the mono canvas. The purpose was to split the threads and insert petit point, as the count was usually ten mesh for the background - and 20 after splitting the double thread - so much more detail was seen in the pattern.

These pieces were done in Continental Stitch, and you can see, if you have an old piece lying around on a footstool, chair seat, or bell pull, the ugly horizontal ridges that resulted. It was a relaxing occupation for women, as they knew no other stitch. The Penelope canvas, being double woven, was strong enough to hold this stitch without too much distortion. Mono-canvas is not. Even for people who work on a frame, the distortion is pretty bad. (It's also pretty boring to stitch) There is also the factor that Continental stitch makes a flimsy, thin needlepoint fabric as opposed to the well padded and smooth one created with basketweave. For ecclesiastical work - as cushions and kneelers, if a canvas thread breaks from heavy use, or rots after a number of years, if done in Continental stitch, the stitches will fall out. If done in basketweave, the stitches hold. Incidentally, I have never used a frame, as I see no need for it - by learning so long ago the proper method of stitching basketweave, my canvases don't warp.

The illustration is of a piece I did last night for this "lesson," and is a repeat of something I used for years to teach (without the continental stitch swatch, of course) beginners. It's easy to see the ridges on the left, and also the bit of distortion already beginning even on this little 1 1/2" square. We used to dread having a person in a class who had done continental stitch previously, as the concept of diagonal was difficult for them to learn. I have taught classes of five-year-olds who learned easily in a few minutes - so it's really quite simple. Both my daughters, and my granddaughter learned by watching me for a few minutes at about ages 9 or 10, and then went off to their rooms and did it beautifully - so it is NOT difficult or mysterious.

In the 70's we put quite an emphasis on beautiful, smooth surfaces, and these ridges you can clearly see on the swatch above on the left were not acceptable - so everyone learned basketweave, which gets its name from the appearance of the back.

Basketweave on the left - Continental on the right. Where I put the arrow, you can see the place where the trip back across (actually "half cross") from left to right wraps under the one horizontal thread, which is what gives it the ugly ridge. I am told that some people turn the canvas upside down for the trip back, trying to avoid this ridge - but that isn't good either, as it pulls loose some of the fibers from the threads of the row below. This is as poor a practice as doing Algerian Eye by coming up in the center hole. (another of my pet peeves, which just involves a little common sense.)

Also, if you hold up a swatch like this to the light, you can see horizontal gaps on the one stitched with continental. The light shines through. Basketweave is solid. In this close-up illustration, the ridges are clearly seen on the left swatch.

I included the little patches of basketweave and the "scroll" to illustrate that it can be done on tiny little areas. I actually read in a popular book recently that "you can't do basketweave in small spaces." This is a ridiculous statement! My little practice teaching pieces used to consist of just such irregular, odd-sized small patches, and also some scrolls and squiggles and gently curved lines for understanding the concept of outlining. No need to call it anything else - it's just "outlining" with a bit of basketweave where the scroll thickens.

In this business of needlepoint, as with other things, there are preferences and opinions, and there are facts based on experience, experiments, trial and error, and just plain common sense. In my 40 years of designing, teaching, and writing about needlepoint, I have always been willing and eager to try new things and suggestions with an open mind, and figure out simple and effective ways to do things (like my beading techniques). If you aren't convinced that Continental stitch is not right for use on the painted canvas on Mono-canvas, just stitch a swatch yourself and see the difference!!. I have no answers for why on earth it is being taught again. I thought we had done away with it for good at least 35 years ago. Oh dear.

Tish's Garden

I never get tired, it seems, of going to Tish Watkins' web page - her wholesale design line at Happy Heart Designs, and admiring not only her great designs - simple, colorful, and well done - but her husband's ingenuity at putting it together. My favorite lately is her lovely "in my garden" series, which seems appropriate, as the trees are leafing out here in Texas, and we look forward to flowers and critters alike (except the mosquitoes). These little ornaments-on-a-stick make me want to do each of them myself, as they are great for experimenting with new threads, new stitches - and for just plain enjoyment of looking at bright, pretty colors - and being able to finish one quickly! Part of the fun of this web page, also, is looking at the "book feature" - just click on "finished pictures," and when you get there - click on "new - in my garden series" and it will take you to the book. When the corner of the page is slightly curled, click on it, and it will turn the pages. Enlarge each picture, and it is a joy to behold - the stitching, fibers, and colors!! Reminds me. I have one in my stash that I haven't worked on yet. Must go find it and get started! Also - don't miss the link to her blog, as she has a new piece showing there too - the link is on the home page of the web site. Happy cruising!! (and enjoy turning the pages of the book!)