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How to Design a Needlepoint Canvas

Do you want a unique needlepoint canvas that has special meaning for you or the person you are making it for?  Creating custom needlepoint canvases has never been easier.  There are some great websites out there explaining how to paint a needlepoint canvas.  But, if you are interested in designing your own canvas and then having someone else make it for you, then you should read this.

Basically, Needlepaint.com allows users to design a needlepoint canvas online, and preview the design before placing an order.  Please note, our canvases are not hand painted, as we find that we can get more accurate photo details using digital artwork than doing it by hand.

Step One – Pick a Design and Idea

Hopefully if you found this blog, you already have something in mind.  If you want more needlepoint design ideas please review our entire blog.

Our most ordered designs are: Dogs, Cats, Kids and Houses.  Other favorites are:  Needlepoint Ring Bearer Pillows and Needlepoint Kindle Covers

Really any artwork or photo will work, as long as it is saved as a .jpg, .png or .gif file on your computer.  If you have a photo that is not yet digital you can go to a local copy store and have them scan it and save it for you, or you can mail it to us.  If you want us to help do the digital artwork for you, please contact us.

Step Two – Select the size and product you want to make

For most photo’s, you may not want to stitch the entire image, but the exact size is not important.  The key is to get close in on the subject, especially if the canvas is smaller than 10″ x 10″.

If you are making a pillow, kindle cover, or other “functional” type needlepoint project, you will want to be sure to make your image the right scale to fit exactly to your project.  An example: if you are making a 12 x 12 pillow, then you will want to be sure your image is square.  If you are making a Kindle Cover, then you will want your image to be 6″ high, and 2″ wide or an equally proportioned size so the needlepoint canvas will be 18″ x 6″.

Step Three – Cropping your Artwork

iPhoto Edit Option

OK, so you have a photo, but you don’t want to stitch all the background, or you have an exact size you want to design.  In many of the photo viewing software, there is a Crop feature.  This will allow you to select only the part of the image you want on your canvas.

***In the example below we actually did a 12″ x 16″ rectangle.  This means that we need to be sure we use a rectangle of around 3″ x 4″.

Cropping in iPhoto

Step Four – Uploading your Design

Once you have the image ready, you can go to NeedlePaint.com to create your custom needlepoint canvas.

Upload your image to NeedlePaint.com

Now you can see your own design in Needlepoint!  You will automatically be taken to our “Stitched Preview” which shows an approximation of how your canvas will look once you stitch it.  There are many adjustments on this page, please read below, we will explain each.

Stiched Needlepoint Preview 12" x 16" Husky

Canvas Options

Mesh Count:  This is a very important feature.  18 mesh will show more details, but has many more holes per inch (324 holes to stitch vs 196 stitches in 14 mesh).  If you are doing a smaller canvas, 18 mesh will help capture more detail from your photo.  (We also are able to supply 8, 10, and 12 mesh, but these need to be special ordered).

Design Size:  Here you can select your height or width.  Please note, this will keep the exact same proportions as your original photo, if you want to adjust it, please go back and read the “Step Three – Cropping Your Artwork” section in this blog.

Advanced Options:  This allows you to order a larger canvas.  Normally or canvases include 1″ of extra canvas on all sides, but if you want more blank canvas, you need make the adjustment here.

Thread Colors:  Another very important feature allows you to select the number of colors you will use on your needlepoint project.  We suggest reducing the number of colors as much as possible to make it easier to stitch but where it still looks good.  If you are very experienced needlepointer, have lots of floss hanging around, and don’t mind using lots of colors, than by selecting a high number of colors, you will get more details onto the canvas.  To adjust the color, click the line on the right or left of the bar.

Thread Type:  You can also adjust the type of threads.  Since we match digital colors to real floss colors, the DMC and Presencia will show different results in the preview.  DMC is often better for images of people because there are a lot more flesh tone colors to pick from.  (If you are ordering floss from us, you will also notice that fewer colors is less expensive).  Please note, we do not supply wool, as the color options are very limited, but it can be used on any project.

Click Finish to see pricing.  You can also view our price chart before uploading an image if you want approximate pricing details.

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How to NeedlePoint, Needlepoint

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Personalized Needelpoint Chrismas Stocking

It is never too early to start planning for Christmas particularly if there are several little ones in your family. There are nine little ones in my extended family circle, and each now has his or her custom needlepoint Chirstmas stocking printed by Needlepaint and lovingly stitched by me.

I had some assistance from Needlepaint’s designer, who created two designs to which I could add the individual names. (Luckily there are only 2 little ones per family and they live in different parts of the world.)

My first two stockings were stitched with the traditional Continental  Stitch. After that I got creative and used a variety of different stiches as shown in the completed stocking below.

To finish the stockings, I lined the canvas with red cotton and then made the back of the stock out of red wool cut on the bias so there was some give to allow for more goodies to be stuffed in by Santa.

These design are available on our Etsy NeedlePaint Shop and can be customize with your name(s) on the checkout page. Please limit names to 12 letters. Stocking design is printed on Zweigart Mono 14 point , and is 16” x 10.25″.

And more designs are coming soon!

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Cat Needlepoint Pillow from a Photo

I worked with Susan Segalla a few months ago, to resize two of her photos of her kats (Josie and Tinker) to make into 12 x 12 needlepoint cat pillows.  She ordered two needlepoint canvases.  We discussed removing the background, but she thought it would be no problem for her to stitch over it.  See the image below, it was 10″ high, but we changed the “Advanced Settings” so the canvas would be 14 x 14.

The Cat's (Josie) Image on the Canvas

Advanced Canvas Options

Look how great Susan’s pillow looks!  She found a great brown rope trim, and matching faux sweud backing, but the other thing I love are the whiskers!  She made them from paint brush bristles.  If you are looking to make a needlepoint pillow, Peggy wrote a blog about needlepoint pillows that would be good to read.

cat needlepoint pillow

Josie the Cat in Needlepoint

Do you have any good links for making pillow’s for other stitchers? Please add your links in the comments to this post!

Cat Needlepoint Pillow

The finished Cat Needlepoint Pillow

 

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How to NeedlePoint, NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint, Pillows

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Making Embroidery Floss Stitch Evenly in Needlepoint

6 Strand Embroidery Floss

We recently had an issue with 6 strand cotton embroidery floss that I think others may find helpful.

A customer told me that they felt the embroidery floss we supply with our needlepoint kits was ‘messy’.  After doing some research (they called the shop owner a Phoenix Needlepoint) they found that if you pull apart the 6 strands, then run them back together in a strait line that the stitches are much neater.

I’ve not heard this before, but I checked with Peggy, and she mentioned that she does something similar.

“After I cut the thread to a 12-15 inch length, I always run it through my fingers to get any twists out of it. This makes it lay flat and even.”

“The other issue might be the direction in which she is doing the stitch. You want whenever possible to bring your thread from the back to the front in a hole that does not already have thread in it…then you go from front to back into the hole with thread. If you come from the back in a hole with thread there is drag on your thread which can cause irregularity.”

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Custom Dog NeedlePoint Pillow Canvases

We were a big hit at an office recently.  One of our customers told people in their office about NeedlePaint and our custom needlepoint canvases…

Within 3 days, we had 3 dog pillow needlepoint canvases under way!

We all agreed that 12.25″ x 12.25″ will make a good size pillow, and the pillow forms are easily available at JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels.

From there, we stuck to 14 point mesh since it will be faster to stitch on this size canvas.  And then the fun started…

I was thinking that it would be cool just to put the dog’s profile on the pillow and remove the background (this will be faster to stitch, too).  We also added borders as to frame the image, and this was a big hit!
In the end, we had three completely different designs!

#1.  The original image and original background, with a double border
#2.  The dog’s face, with name below the face
#3.  The dog’s profile, with a simple border and green background

#3. The dog profile with a simple border and background ( original image removed)

They all are special, and it was fun.  I have designed another fun background and will be happy to do more, just email me your ideas!

A fun deisgn for a black dog!

All three needlepoint canvases are under way right now, so we are waiting for images, but I’m guessing it will be a few more months.  One of the needlepointers just emailed me an image of their last kit we made for them!

***We are now showing designs on Etsy!  Check out our designs at our NeedlePoint Shop.

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint, Pillows

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How to Needlepoint The Ring Bearer Pillow

I’ve made a custom needlepoint kit for my wedding!  It came out well, you can see the preview of the stitched canvas I uploaded last week.  The letters were a bit fuzzy, but after looking at the canvas, these will be easy to do.

Custom Ring Bearer Pillow Stitched Preview

The NeedlePaint needlepoint kits include all the floss, stitch guide, and needle.

Ring Bearer Needlepoint Kit

So, where does a beginner start?  I’ve been wanting to learn needlepoint, and this is a great reason to start.  What I’ve found are some great instructional pages and videos!

I started at About Needlepoint and came across Susan Battle’s how to needlepoint videos.  The videos are a much easier starting place for me, as Peggy is out of town, and I don’t have anybody to walk me through counted stitch guides.

The continental stitch will be perfect for doing all the sides and boarders, so I’ll start there and update the blog with as much helpful information for beginners or people who have not stitched in a long while.

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Needlepoint Ring Bearer Pillow

My fiancé was looking at pictures at stylemepretty.com to get ideas for our wedding this summer and came across an amazing needlepoint pillow!

Ring Bearer Pillow

Ring Bearer Pillow

I love the idea of a ring bearer pillow, so I have gotten to work on designing our own custom needlepoint kits to make a pillow for the wedding.  I don’t want the pillow to be too large, so we’ll need to work on a way be sure that our names fit.

This also got me thinking that these are great wedding gifts!  Once I get project underway, I’d love to help more people design ring bearer pillows.  I’m also working out how people who would like to give the gift, but don’t have the time to make it themselves, could buy a finished pillow.  I’m hoping to find somebody in Colorado…

The size I’m making is 5” x 7”, which we plan to leave in the house as decoration.  A 10 x 10 will also be fine, and may be more practical, but I want something a little smaller for my nephew.  You can see the preview of my design below, after I uploaded it to Needlepaint!

Custom Ring Bearer Pillow

I had to adjust some things, and I’m a sailor, so I put in a square knot, but I’m excited about this!  I’ll upload images as the project continues…

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint, Pillows

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The Needlepoint Mini-Brick Door Stop

My great-aunt, Mrs. Jo, loved to do needlepoint. She was prolific! She was always looking for something new to do. My mother, sister, and I would bring her printed pillow tops, bell pulls, and seat covers. When she finished these, and if we were slow in bringing her new projects, she would use the left over yarn to make brick covers with random triangle patterns. The covered bricks were our door stops. So, I didn’t have slamming doors until the covers wore out recently.

Mrs. Jo has been dead for over 30 years. I was on my own to make new ones. Bricks are BIG! On my trip to Home Depot to buy a brick, I discovered that all bricks are not created equal and there is a myriad of size choices, including a small “paver.” I wasn’t sure that the paver would be heavy enough to hold the door open, so I bought one for a test. To my delight, it worked – less time, fewer stitches, less yarn, less canvas. Voila, the mini-brick!

The pavers are 6” x 3” x 1.8”. The overall dimension of the design on my Needlepaint–custom needlepoint canvas was 10” x 7” and the design was inspired by Dover Publications Celtic Art books with CD-ROM.

I framed up my canvas and went to work. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the 14 point canvas worked up, compared to the larger brick I had finished previously. Also, having used a large scroll frame(12” x 12”), the canvas remained square and need very little blocking.

I used a variation of Henry Babcock’s instructions for finishing the brick , which was that I wrapped the brick in flannel to protect my Needlepaint canvas. Then I followed Henry’s directions. Now I have one less door slamming closed.

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St Patrick’s Day NeedlePoint

Instead of just needlepointing a normal photo, this week I was thinking that it could be fun to add a theme around an image on a custom needlepoint kit.

St. Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity!

I was thinking a clover with your dog in the middle would look pretty cool!  It took me a little while to find what I wanted, but as I’m learning to edit photos better, I found that taking the face works pretty well.

St Patricks Day Doggie Artwork

Below, we have just 10 colors on a 12” square canvas.  I did 18 mesh in this case, to catch the details in the dogs eyes.

St. Patricks Day Needlenoint Doggie Kit

Of course the ideas here are unlimited!

If you are interested in having us help to design a background photo, please contact us, we’d be happy to talk over some ideas and help create your design for you.  We offer this service free of charge on orders larger than 12 x 12”.

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Amazing Photo’s Make Great NeedlePoint Kits

Recently, I was came across some amazing stitching work done by Su Embroidery Studio.  I found their work at Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘N Thread blog.  If you have time, you need to see these images!  This got me thinking about how many beautiful animal portrait needlepoint kits we’ve made at NeedlePaint.com and how thrilled the response has been by our customers.

Normally, people will send in the best images of their pet, but I think that there is a lot more opportunity for people who are looking for other types of special projects.

One of the great things about NeedlePaint.com, is that we are 100% custom, so if you can’t find great needlepoint kits of your favorite animals, you can have us make it for you!  I’m using the bald eagle as an example.  I searched and I could not find anything really good.  You can see my search results below.

Product Search Results on Google

After that, I just looked for images of “bald eagle head”, and found thousand of spectacular images.  Please be careful not to select a copyrighted image, if you cannot find a free image, then I recommend going to iStockPhoto.com There you can view thousands of animal photos that cost under $5.  You can purchase the XSmall size.

Source Image for Bald Eagle Canvas

Next, I uploaded this picture onto NeedlePaint and look how great it looks!

NeedlePaint Preview on 12 x 12" white 14 mesh canvas

I can imagine thousands canvases for people who love ducks, cows, and all types of animals.  Istockphoto really has a great selection of both farm and wild animals, just type in the name and enjoy!

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