Last fall I bought this charming needlepoint canvas on eBay (larger photo – 8/16/`6). It came with a blown glass version which I hung on my tree last year.
What is it?
The cat is a Japanese good luck cat, properly called Maneki-neko. You see them in Japanese and Chinese shops and restaurants. Usualy, but not always they are white with a red collar. Several designers make canvases of this including Amanda Lawford and The Collection (I have these as well).
All these cats have a few things in common. One, or rarely both, paw is always raised. This is a beckoning gesture in Japanese, which is why you find it in stores — to bring in customers. They also always have a collar, blue here, with a bell on it, the small gold circle. The larger gold circle is a coin. There are many charming folktales about the cat that can be found in the Wikipedia article on them.
Stitching Decisions
It’s a bit hard to see with this small picture taken from eBay (I need to buy a cable for my camera). but the canvas is pretty detailed. The cat is red and dark red with pink and jade spots. The facial features are in black.
I’ve picked silks and metallics to stitch this and will even out the shape with a pearl cotton background.
I’m stitching the collar in Diagonal Gobelin. The coin will use Tent for the lettering and Offset Mosaic for the coin face.
That’s as far as I have gotten. This could be why I haven’t stitched it yet.
Stitching Problems
Because the areas throughout are small I’m really perplexed about the stitches to use.
Here are some of the areas that are giving me difficulties:
The Ears: They are metallic gold. Stitching them in metallic will make them stand out, which is OK (they are that way on the glass ornament), but do I want to put more emphasis on them by using a textured stitch?
The Dots: Should I pad them and stitch them in Gobelin to give them a different texture?
The Face: There is so much detail here and it’s so small just about any stitch I do, including most Tent variations, will not have enough repeats to set up a pattern. Do I stitch each color in a different stitch (Tent, Reverse Tent, and Cross)? Do I figure out a small stitch and do it just varying the color? Or do I find a combination of the two?
What would you do?
How Does this Apply to Other Canvases?
Unless you have gotten a stitch guide, you’ll go through something like this with every canvas you stitch.
First, you’ll find or pick threads that will work for the canvas. If you’re stitching from stash this could mean making some compromises. For example, maybe you only have one shade of gold. Do you pick a non-metallic gold, an almost gold, or do you go buy a thread?
Second, you’ll see areas where you know what you’ll stitch.
Third, you’ll have areas where you don’t know what to do. There you’ll think about effects, focal points. stitch size, and complexity to make choices about what to stitch.
Every canvas is a puzzle of this kind and every stitcher comes to a unique solution for stitching it.
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About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Gerry Sawrey says
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2016/08/12/cat-collection-became-museum/87966340/
What a coincidence! This article anout the Lucky Cat Museum in Cincinnati appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer over the weekend. I thought you would enjoy it.