Updated February 15, 2019.
If you are a cross stitcher, new to needlepoint, or someone who has been doing lots of charted canvas projects, you may be thinking that hand-painted canvas is the tippy top of the needlepoint heap.
Like many, many needlepointers, I love to stitch these canvases. I find it a real challenge to convert the artist’s idea (on the canvas) to threads and stitches. When I do this I not only complete the work but I add my own talent and creativity to the mix.
I stitched for a long time before I tried my hand at these canvases and I often worried about messing them up. To be quite honest, I still do.
One factor that causes this is the price. The handwork involved in painting a canvas makes them expensive.
But if you’re looking to try these delights out, here’s a way to begin easily and inexpensively.
1. Pick a small canvas, preferably one that has large, simple areas without tons of realistic detail or shading.
2. Pick something in 13 or 14 mesh if possible, but never pick a mesh smaller than 18 (most canvases these days are on 18 mesh)
3. Stitch in an inexpensive thread. Your stash is the cheapest of all, but if you need to buy thread think of pearl cotton of floss which are the most economical choices.
4. Look for inexpensive canvases. Right now one of my favorite sites, Canvases Be Gone is having a 50% off sale. Most needlepoint shops have a sale bin, and there are several other consignment shops/sites, including Almost Paradise from Needlepoint in Paradise. You can find more canvases on eBay. While looking through the many consignment sites recently, I was struck by how many simply wonderful canvases were there, especially how many of them would make perfect first canvases.
My stash is full to bursting, but I still bought a few, including one I have been wanting for years.
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
What happened to the owners recentlY?
I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything, but I see their site is temporarily closed.
Anyone know anything?
Keep stitching,
Janet
WOW. I did not realize the love and support was spread so wide and far for CanvasesBeGone. I am so very very sorry and saddened to say that the owners, Dale & David, passed away late in August.
The business and the website had to be shutdown at that time, and the family wasn’t looking to ever reopen it.
With that said, I myself – the developer of the website, and manager of the marketing for the business as well as friend of Dale & David (honored to be so) – offered to take over the business in order to pay homage to such wonderful people and the passion that they put into the needlework world.
At this time, there is an elongated process going on in order to clear up any legal obligations with canvas consignors, etc.
Some time in 2020 though, I will have the opportunity to put the website back online and safely stock any canvases that consignors opt-in to let me keep selling (thus waiving any liability on the inventory being handled by me).
I don’t know very much about needlepoint aside from what I learned from Dale & David and what I retained through helping to market, manage and operate the business prior to the unfortunate news that was received. But I am learning, and fast. I am even signing up for a beginners class later this year to try my hand at it; a courageous leap for a 30yr old fellow like me.
I was trying to find more information on something and came upon this post and the comments and felt I had to reach out.
My name is Aaron Tucci. I am the web director at Tucci Creative – an advertising agency out of AZ. Dale & David were the kindest, most caring and most honest clients that I’ve ever had in my tenure at the agency (which I am to become owner of also in 2020…) and we had a special relationship. Dale would even text me pictures of her new puppy. They were the only client I would drop everything for on a weekend if they reached out, even if they weren’t expecting help until Monday. I was absolutely heartbroken when I got the call to put a pause on everything…
As I mentioned though – my only goal in undertaking the operations of CanvasesBeGone is to pay homage to such a sweet and loving couple, and I intend to do exactly that.
I would love to get to know each and every one of their customers and hear what they loved about Dale & David, or even about the website shop and why it was something they always enjoyed.
I have this comment set to notify me of follow-up comments. Perhaps I will hear back and perhaps we could exchange information and say hello. That would certainly make a young man like myself happy.
I knew Dale & David were special, and I knew they were prominent in the needlepoint community, but I did not know that their shop would be so sorely missed. I wish to bring that back next year.
In the meantime, I am in the process of liquidating non-consignment/unlisted threads through my own eBay account (I’d be happy to let you all know what shop that is if you happen to read this and are in need of some affordable threads). I did not want to spark any worry right away in August as it wasn’t my place to divulge any information while the family was surely still grieving, but I think it is about time that word got around a bit.
I have the intention to send out a notice to all the email subscribers when things are copacetic once again. But at this time the consignors themselves have not even received their legal letters to determine what they would like to do moving forward with any of their inventory I have on hand (and even then there will be a holding period of 120-180days); so I have my hands tied a bit on when I can open up shop again.
Hopefully you can stay patient and bear with me as I make this transition, but I promise I will not let the wonder that was CanvasesBeGone fizzle away.
My regards to you all and I hope this finds some of you well and we can connect soon.
If it does, and you want to talk, please feel free to comment such and we can figure out an okay way to exchange info (I don’t want to step on the site administrator’s toes here and go posting my email and requesting email addresses to be listed in the comments unless it is approved).
Love & Stitches,
Aaron