Twice last week, this has been me looking at my needlepoint. I decided that the tiny break I had by finishing several projects the week before was perfect for working on a UFO I had that came with a stitch guide.
This was my first big mistake. Not only was the canvas so oddly drawn that my DH couldn’t tell what it was. The stitch guide was laughably bad. It included from least irritating to worst: spelling mistakes, a poor cover photo, small diagrams, and very incomplete instructions. I managed to get about 20% of it done by making up my own stuff for part of it and guessing based on the awful cover picture for the rest.
I finally stopped the unequal struggle with this last night and picked up a second canvas. That was my second mistake.
This was a painted canvas, again with a stitch guide. This time the guide was good but the canvas was bad. I know that designers use painting services. I also know that they create a master copy of each design which the copy painters are supposed to follow. Designers pay big bucks for this service.
Here the copy artists must have been out to lunch because the square top on the round ornament was on the bottom instead of the top. What should have been thimbles had turned into goblets. All on a white background. And one of the borders is painted incorrectly. Of course that means to stitch it as the stitch guide recommends and with the items as they were designed, I have to move the box and paint out some of the goblets. Or pick a stitch that covers the background completely.
You may be thinking that these things were from new unseasoned designers, but this isn’t the case. They are both fairly expensive canvases by well-known designers who have been in the business for decades.
And that’s why I am so mad. These people should know better. There should be a reasonable level of quality control in our business which is clearly lacking.
Stitch guides should be written and checked so that the stitcher can stitch the piece even if it’s picked up months after being stopped. Designers should check the canvases coming in against the design.
I know that mistakes happen, but it seems that more and more often I’m seeing products sold that aren’t just mistakes, but that are shoddily done. What happens if we complain? Does the shop refund the money or replace the canvas? Does the stitch guide writer provide additional instruction? My experience says not.
Shopowners put a certain amount of trust in the designers that the products are correct and complete. We, as stitchers, choose to buy projects and canvases trusting that what we get is correct and complete. We have to trust because we can’t get into the stitch guide writer’s mind, nor do we have the original so we can check the canvas.
When we spend our hard-earned money on needlepoint, this is the minimum we should get. So why isn’t there better quality control in the needlepoint business?
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
Marilyn Young says
Thank you for putting your outrage and rightly so in print. There is no excuse for this. Stitch guides are not inexpensive and canvases are very expensive. Try living in Canada and have to pay in US Dollars. I can only suggest greed for the dollar bill is the answer. When you are getting no satisfaction from the store of purchase, the only smart thing to do is to stop buying and let them know why. If everyone did that, I believe you would see a change. The only other suggestion would be to write the store a letter to tell them why you have stopped buying and until the situation has been resolved, you won’t be making any purchases of anything from their store.
Christa says
Thanks for posting. About a year ago I started doing needlepoint & really enjoy it… but the 2nd canvas I ever bought was botched badly. I spent countless hours trying to figure it out, make it work, etc. It took painful months for me to accept the possibility that something had saved up money and paid over $100 dollars for could just be WRONG in a multitude of ways.
Patty B. says
I’m a designer and I agree. Here’s what’s happening. In today’s market you have people who are often not designers “representing” (frequently) several designers. So the designer sends their new design to the person/company who represents them. That person then sends the canvas off to the painting service to reproduce the canvas.
In my experience, the quality control of the painting service is non existent. They once upon a time had someone look over the canvases and check them against the master copy. I’m pretty positive that never happens any more.
So the representative gets the canvases back from the painter, and they just ship them out. Common sense would say, look them over but I don’t think that happens.
Back when I was doing shows and working directly with a painting service I would proof the painted copies I received from the painting service I used. Rarely did something come back that did not require touch ups. Now I’ve actually discontinued designs because I no longer have control over the reproductions and I KNOW they’ll be painted incorrectly.
The recession of 2008, the high cost of doing trade shows and the impact the internet has made on our ability to deal directly with stitchers has changed the business.
Our association trade shows used to be full of designers representing their own lines. Today when you go to a show you’ll see the or four designers repped by a single person.
In the future I really believe there with be a hand full of people representing most of the lines. Not sure that’s for the better, but that seems to be what’s happening.
Janet M Perry says
Thanks Patty, this gives us all some great insight.
Keep stitching,
Janet
Robin Hargett says
I am glad to see you bring up this subject as I too have had the same problem. Talking about it and letting the designers know how we feel is a step in the right direction.
Jg says
I am a finishing company that has been operating for thirty five years. This has become a big problem with three dimensional pieces that are so popular now. By the time it gets to me, it is my problem! Most shops and shop customers don’t really understand why I can’t “just make it fit together”. I have NEVER had an artist respond positively. I was so wrong to think that they would want to know so that newl canvases could be corrected.
My options are to spend hours struggling with an item to figure out how to get around the problem. I can’t consistently do this without damaging my business.
Option two is to charge shops for my time and this is passed on to you. This would result in you paying sometimes double what an item should be. The result is that you would lose confidence in the shop as being “overpriced ” and stop dealing with them or the shop would loose confidence in the finishing company and drop them.
Option three is to notify the shop I will no longer finish for that artist and explain why.
The result would be that the shop would discontinue purchasing that canvas as it creates a problem for both the finishing company and the shop customer.
So the problem remains. There is no direct consequence for the artist, that is in their face, that they must deal with. Everyone down the line seems to inherit their sloppy mistakes.
Frustating
Janet M Perry says
I know exactly what you mean. This happened to me the one time I tried to finish a two-sided piece myself. Now I stay far away from even stitching them.
Keep stitching,
Janet
Patty B. says
It’s not just the artist! I can stitch paint a canvas, but once I send it to my distributer to have it painted, I have ZERO control over how it looks. It is painted by a painting service as pretty much all canvases are. If the distributer doesn’t proof it and the shop doesn’t look at it closely and the customer accepts the product – there you go. You can’t buy a canvas, stick it on your stash, pull it out two years later and THEN expect a shop to take it back. So even though it’s not your job as a customer to proof the work, take a close look at what you’re buying just to save yourself some grief.
As a designer I could have my distributer have every canvas painted for my line sent to me to proof and touch up before it goes into inventory for shipment. I would totally be willing to do that. But here’s the problem, along with the added cost of shipping, even if I don’t charge for my time, you have an extra delay of ten days to two weeks on top of the usual six plus weeks it takes to get designs back from the painters. As a wholesaler I dealt directly with shops for ten years. Everyone one wants everything right now.
I agree distributors and painting companies should proof – do a better job. But you know what makes change? Hit them in the pocket book. Shop owners, return poorly painted canvases to the designer or the company you bought them from. Customers look at what your purchasing. Voice your concern – tell the shop owner when you see a poorly painted canvas. Visit the designer’s FB page and post a picture. Ask for help. Do that to me if one of my designs is screwed up and I’ll get your problem solved! But also realize there’s a difference between stitch painted designs and beautiful paintings on needlepoint canvas that you’re not likely to be able to translate using fibers! I’ve seen many incredibly painted canvases that, once stitched, end up looking nothing like the original. There wasn’t much of a chance they ever would.
Sylvia L says
It’s not just painted needlepoint canvases that need a QC check. I’ve been struggling with a poorly-written stitch guide for a counted thread piece. What was obvious to the designer is not so obvious to me, and I’m not a novice stitcher. I firmly believe a second person needs to review written instructions. I’ve almost tossed this particular piece three times now, but I keep on going because it was an expensive gift when you account for the canvas, guide, threads, and beads. I won’t keep it when it’s done because all I’ll be able to think about it when I see it is how frustrating it was to do the work.