Random Thoughts on Needlepoint

Updated August 8, 2023.

Here’s another batch of great needlepoint tips:

~ Early samplers often had unstitched canvas surrounding the motifs.

~ In England brown needlepoint canvas is called antique in the US it’s called ecru.

~ When combining overdyed & solid threads, check the entire length for clashes in tone or color.

~ When using muti-colored threads, make sure the color with which you want to start is at the knotted end.

~ If you are adding buttons to a project, pick a thread color that matches the button.

~ If you are attaching a charm to your needlepoint, pick a thread color that matches the canvas or the stitching directly below the charm.

~ Don’t feel that just because the background is painted a single color, you must use that color throughout. You can make parts of the background stand out by choosing a different thread or color.

~ Often a contrast in thread can make a piece. Doing the focal point in shiny threads? Think about using a matte or wooly thread for the background.

~ A great tip from a book by Sylvia Sidney. If you are having problems with a part of your focal point, add some leaves, flowers, or grass in front of it on your design to hide the problem.

~ Look to books for other needlecrafts and other types of design for inspiration for stitch patterns. Books on architecture, weaving, knitting, and lots of others are full of wonderful ideas you can translate to needlepoint.

~ Make a needlepoint to commemorate any special event. My daughter is getting the needlepoint ornament I was working on while I waited for her to pass her driver’s test. It has nothing to do with cars but will be remembered.

~ This tip comes from Linda, one of our readers, who took a very small, inexpensive Rubbermaid-type container. It’s square and probably only 3 inches by 3 inches. I cut out an opening in the top, allowing me to push my orts in easily, yet if turned upside down, they don’t fall out. And the top pops off easily for emptying. It’s plastic so it won’t break and weighs next to nothing so it carries in my bag very well.

~ If you are used to stitching on a fabric canvas, it can be hard to stitch when the plastic canvas is cut out first. I generally stitch first and then cut.

~ If you are padding a stitch and using floss or silk as the top, don’t pad with the same thread, pad with wool; you will get a nicer finish.

~ Always stitch from light to dark when you are using fibers that are fuzzy, not just with wool.

~ It’s easy to get off base when you are doing a stitch like Rice Stitch. Avoid this by only stitching in horizontal or vertical rows. Pick a direction and stick with it. Then you won’t get off by half a stitch.

~ Use some of those colorful coffee mugs or small creamer and syrup jugs to store permanent markers and stitching tools.

~ This tip comes from one of our readers, Charlene: I was told to purchase one of those touch lights you see for closets that take batteries (that are all over TV at night) and put it on your lap and turn it on and that way you will
be able to see what you are doing.

~ Make a lap cloth for under your needlepoint. Make a pillowcase with one white side and one dark side; put the dark side up when working on light canvas and the light side up when working on dark. Since it’s a pillowcase, you can store your needlepoint in it.

~ I’ve been doing a piece that uses black thread on black canvas –not always fun. In daylight it is not too bad, but at night, my hand casts a shadow, making it even harder to see. To prevent this, I move my floor lamp around with my hand on the canvas. One way to prevent this is to put the light n the opposite side from the hand on top of the canvas; the shadow will fall in the other direction.

~ Have a small project you are stalled stitching? Make it your “car project” and take it with you to work on in your little bits of time. I’ve finished many small projects this way. See a stitch you like but aren’t ready to use? Save your
scraps of canvas and start a stitch notebook. Use up odds and ends of thread and keep the canvases in plastic page protectors to start your own notebook. You can use dividers to divide according to stitch type. Index cards work well for keeping notes.

~ If you are working on a very large project, take a day off every now and again and work on something small to keep
yourself from getting bored.

~ Some metallic threads work better if you stitch more slowly.

~ There is evidence from the time of the ancient Egyptians that they were doing needlepoint.

~ Did you know that Turkeywork got its name because the finished look of the stitch is like Persian (or Turkish)
carpets?

~ Is the head of your stand too thin to accommodate stretcher bars? Go to the hardware store with your current bolts in hand and buy some which are an inch longer. An inexpensive repair to make.

~ Buy inexpensive flexible clamps from the hardware store to have a quick and easy clamp for taking to class.

~ I wondered just how many needlepoint do I finish in a year? So I got a small notebook and keep a running log of the stitched projects I finish — it’s lots more than I suspected. I just note the date the project, who designed it and who gets it.

~ To keep them from staining your embroidery, clean metal charms with a paper towel & coat the backs with clear nail polish.

~ If you are stitching a chart in beads, first pull the threads & then match the beads to the threads. This makes it easier to match.

~ Be careful when using bright yellow or orange beads; they often overwhelm the other colors.

~ Add names or dates to a piece to make it unique.

~ Make labels to put on the back of your work to sign it.

~ Make copies of your charts (if you are using one) and put stitching notes on it.

~ Stumped by chenille? Only use it on the surface — couch it or work it over other surface stitches.

~ Using a sharp needle instead of a blunted one to couch, makes it easier to get a smooth curve and invisible stitches.

~ Needlepoint is the strongest and longest-wearing of all forms of embroidery, and also one of the oldest.

~ You can challenge yourself by taking a canvas from your stash and threads from your stash and completing the canvas without buying new threads.

~ The four elements of design are color, balance, scale & texture. Does your piece have a balance of all of them?

~ For instant art, stretch old, unfinished needlepoint on a frame and hang it — you might get inspired to finish it!

~ You can use those plastic boxes comforters come in to store large needlepoint projects.

~ Short stitches wear better than longer ones, so chose them for any piece which will get lots of handling.

~ Other names for Double Running Stitch are Holbein Stitch or Romanian Stitch.

~ Sampler comes from the Latin word exemplum, meaning an example to be followed.

~ Samplers with little motifs scattered all over them are called “spot samplers.”

~ Outline an area with Whipped Backstitch to make the edges look smoother & to give it an edge that stands out from the canvas.

~ Crewel wool gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “cleowen,” meaning a ball of yarn.

~ You can clean needlepoint with raised areas by using a sable paintbrush.

~ Look at tag and estate sales for unfinished needlepoint. Great for covering chairs, footstools & benches from flea markets.

~ “Pricking the ground” is the technical term for splitting apart the threads of Penelope (double thread) canvas.

~ Before stitching that canvas, trace over the outline so you have a paper template to follow for blocking to size.

~ While all needlepoint canvas ravels (except for interlock), older canvas ravels more than newer canvas.

If you liked these tips and want more, why not get a copy of my book, Needlepoint Trade Secrets? It’s packed full of tips about needlepoint from start to finish. You can buy it from my Etsy shop or from Amazon.com (here).