In late 1980, I decided that I was mostly through with needlepoint. That was because I was tired of stitching backgrounds. The wonderful opportunity of not stitching backgrounds drew me to cross stitch.
But it didn’t last long because I quickly learned that along with the good of no backgrounds came the bad of charts. Since I stitched on my commute, juggling thread, and hoop, and fabric, and the chart was just too much. I went back to needlepoint.
About the same time, I learned a great needlepoint life hack that’s kept me company for nearly 40 years — I let my canvas tell me the stitch to do, what thread to use, and where to put it. Doing this when I commuted meant that I didn’t have to juggle stitch dictionaries along with the thread and canvas.
It also has another benefit, it frees my mind. I can pay more attention to the lecture or TV show. I can think about the canvas. And I can skip from place to place on the canvas without worrying that I will forget what goes where. It’s part of my philosophy of letting things remember for you. It’s a needlepoint equivalent of always putting your keys in the same place. If they are always in that place, then you no longer need to wonder where are my keys; the keys do the remembering for you.
On needlepoint canvas, this process is really simple. After you put together your threads in your project, you start to stitch your project. You stitch a bit, at least enough to understand how the stitch gores in the area where it will be. Don’t worry about not completing a stitch when the thread runs out, you’ll pick it up later. Just place the stitch. Do as many areas as you like or have time for.
You can see the results in my current project a Stitch-Along for the Needlepoint Forum to benefit Hearts for Hospice, in the picture at the top of the article.
Those of you who have taken workshops, Seminar classes, and done canvas enhancement sessions will probably have done something like this in that context. But do you bring it to your everyday stitching life?
I started doing this to make my commuting easier. I keep doing it because it makes my stitching life easier.
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
Roberta Sue Hart says
Thanks for stitching for Hearts for Hospice. This project has really expanded.
What and/or where is the Needlepoint Forum?
Janet M Perry says
The Needlepoint Forum is a six-month email program I run each year from March to September that focuses on learning about the basics of needlepoint. In the twice-weekly emails we cover stitches (dozens of them) threads, tools, and techniques. There are three labs covering three painted canvases as well as monthly projects or stitch-alongs.
Although it as started for this year if folks want to join, contact me and I’ll get you caught up.
Keep stitching,
Janet
Chris Hartley says
I have my own idea (hack) for “letting the canvas tell you what to do” but tell me more about your technique of letting the canvas tell you. Especially when it comes to stitch selection. Thank you.
Janet M Perry says
That’s a good question, there are some posts about stitch selection already here, but I’ll address what I did with this project specifically in Thurday’s post.
Keep stitching,
Janet