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Posts tagged ‘design needlepoint’

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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How to NeedlePoint, NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint

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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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How to NeedlePoint, Needlepoint

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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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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint

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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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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint

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E-Reader Needlepoint Cover

According to shopping reports, Christmas 2010 was the Christmas of the e-reader, and I was the recipient of one – a Barnes & Noble color Nook. On Christmas day with e-reader in hand, I was not only excited about the present but itching to get started on a new project – a personalized  needlepoint cover for my Nook.

I blocked out a simple three-color pattern for 18-mesh canvas and decided to use a trianglepoint stitch made popular by Sherlee Lantz in her 1976 book Trianglepoint, because it covers the canvas quickly and I wanted to get the cover finished before I scratched the screen of my new Nook. The canvas was the same width of the e-reader and an inch longer.  I planned the cover to be like a narrow box with a flap at the top which would fold over the top and fasten to the back with two snaps.

I was in such a hurry to start that I forgot to photograph the canvas before I started. Sorry!

The photo above shows the finished canvas with the piping, backing and gusset fabric, and white fleece for lining which I used. The fleece lining serves a dual purpose. It protects the screen from being scratched and it also cleans the screen as the Nook slides in and out (Figure 2).

If I were to make this design again, I would extend the length of the needlepoint cover by another inch to have a longer flap. But mine is done now and I am a happy traveler with it.

I have to confess that I don’t read all my books on my e-reader, and I probably never will. But I travel a lot, and when I travel I always take books and needlepoint along. Now, my suitcase is lighter with reading materials on the Nook, including my essential needlepoint reference book The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint

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Needlepaint Traditions

Most of us have our favorite causes to which we devote time, energy and often money. One of mine is The Colorado Trail, a 500-mile Denver to Durango hiking trail that was built by and is maintained by volunteers. With the launch of Needlepaint .com, I decided that the Colorado Trial logo would look great on a custom needlepoint pillow and would made a wonderful door prize that the annual Christmas party in Golden, Colorado.

The logo is a simple stylized green mountain on a white background. Maybe a little too much white for a pillow?

So, why not needlepoint it in reverse! (needlepaint screen shot)

This was a perfect project for something other than the traditional continental stitch. The lettering was done in an embroidery-styled satin stitch, working where possible with vertical and horizontal stitches to cover the canvas completely. The white mountain was done in the Shingle stitch, the green center of the mountain in Leaf #3 stitch, and the background in Giant Knitting from The Needlepoint Book by Jo Ippolito Christensen.

The pillow was finished with matching green cotton piping and backing over a 10-inch polyester-filled form from JoAnn Fabrics .

The finished pillow made it to the 2009 Colorado Trail Christmas Party. It was not given away but auctioned off bringing in $200.00. In 2010 another Colorado Trail volunteer came forward to needlepoint a second pillow which was also auctioned. We may have started a tradition. Why not do it for your favorite group?

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint, Pillows

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Cool Needlepoint Pillow Kit Concepts

I went into a Jonathan Adler store a few months back, and the pillows there still stick out in my mind.  I love them!

Attached are a few of my favorites, but what is great for needlepointers, is that you can use these ideas to create your own  custom needlepoint kit.

Needlepoint Pillows from Jonathan Adler

Look below to see what I designed.  I could imagine lots of ways this could go.  Kids names, lake names, or your city name!

A NeedlePoint Pillow for the a Summer Home

As far as pillows go, we don’t supply pillow kits yet, but I do have some website links that are very helpful.

This ehow article is pretty informative.  One important thing to note is that the canvas size should be slightly larger than the pillow form.  So if you want a 16 x 16″ pillow, you’ll want to order a 16.25 x 16.25″ canvas…

Another suggestion I have, is to follow Jonathan Adler’s lead, and use velvet for the back. 

Anybody who wants help designing a pillow, I’d be happy to talk and do the design that you want, free of charge if you are buying a kit! Our phone number is on our website.

For Pillow Forms, the best sites I’ve found are Fabric Farms and JoAnn Fabrics…

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint, Pillows

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Free Stitch Guide!

Barbara Bergsten Designs has posted a PDF file showing her newest needlepoint stitch guide on her blog.

“This canvas is a great class canvas. The stitches are set up easy to more difficult. The finished needlepoint becomes a great reference for decorative stitches and samples of overdyed threads.”

There are a lot more guides on her website: http://www.barbarabergstendesigns.com/stitch_guides.htm

I believe you can purchase her guide kits through needlepoint retail stores, of which she has a list, and many have websites.  But, the FREE PDF file looks great for people who would like to learn new types of stitches.  Check it out!

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Needlepoint

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Retro Needlepoint Design Inspiration

Coming up with cool ideas for needlepoint kits is not always easy.  As great designs come in, I’m always amazed how creative people are!

From my side, I’ve always appreciated the internet for its ability to help spur great ideas, so going forwards, as we come across fantastic websites for needlepoint designs, we’ll put them in a specific category called ‘NeedlePaint Inspiration’.

So where to start?

I recently found a pretty fun website where artists put up their work, it is very modern and fun. http://tewi.us/tegaki/ I found this site via Mr X Stitch’s contemporary needlecraft blog.  Also, we’ve had some traffic coming from Sprite Stitch, which is a website that people can show their love of stitching and older video games.

This site Tewi.us,  is almost all animated images, so  I pulled out a few colorful ideas to try on NeedlePaint.

Original Images

NeedlePaint Canvas Previews

The canvases came out really well, I did 12″ high, with 14 mesh, and all the kits use below 20 colors.

I did have one interesting thing to show to our users, which was on the violin player.  Originally, the website selected 40 colors, (see left), but I figured that would be very hard, so I reduced it all the way to 11 colors and it still comes out great! (see right)

Left Image has 40 colors, right has only 11!

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NeedlePaint Inspiration, Needlepoint

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