Updated May 31, 2019.
The videos about learning needlepoint, which teach Continental properly, have sparked some controversy among people who believe that “Plain Old Needlepoint” should always be done as Basketweave. While I prefer Basketweave, I think there are many good reasons to make it the first stitch you teach brand new stitchers.
First off, and let’s be honest about it, needlepoint suffers greatly from the image that it is hard to do and that it MUST be done one particular way. And that way is Basketweave. But, as many people point out, there are no needlepoint police. We will never, ever, make needlepoint popular as long as it viewed as an elitist craft and one which must be done a particular way.
If I think about knitting I see how true this can be. Being a lefty, my grandmother couldn’t teach me to knit because she knitted American style, which is a very right-handed style of knitting. Until I was almost 30 I thought knitting was a closed society to me because I was left-handed.
It’s no fun being on the outside looking in.
One day the owner of my company, who loved to knit, gave me a present of knitting lessons. The shop taught Continental style, which is two-handed, and I learned to knit. Even after I learned to knit and knitted in public, I was told I knitted “wrong” and that as a lefty I couldn’t knit.
Neither style is “right.” Neither style is “better.” Both, and the many other methods people use to knit, are correct.
The same holds true for needlepoint. If it has beautiful results and it is correctly made, then it is right, whether it is stitched entirely in Continental or entirely in Basketweave. I recently helped a lady with a stunning needlepoint pillow, all stitched in silk. She had changed the colors and needed help deciding on the border. I turned over her stunning canvas and found the whole thing was stitched in Continental! (You can always tell Continental by the oblique stitches on the back, below).
Today’s maker is not a person who wants to be told she must do something a certain way. She wants to learn quickly and she wants to explore for herself. No matter if needlepoint is new or old to her.
If you’re teaching a brand new stitcher needlepoint you should tell her not to stitch Half Cross Stitch (it doesn’t create a stable fabric because there isn’t enough thread on the back). From my experience with teaching beginners of all ages, Basketweave is simply too hard to understand. The new stitcher will give up quickly and then what have we accomplished?
Diddly squat. She doesn’t know how to needlepoint. She thinks it is “too hard” and “too rigid.” Instead of embracing her desire, we have reinforced the stereotype.
The video I watched, by Susan Battle, owner of The Point of It All in DC, isn’t doing that, she has found, and conveyed beautifully, a fast, simple way to get people stitching. It isn’t hard (it takes much less than five minutes to teach) and the viewer can make something beautiful right off the bat.
I know it works. I started stitching in 1970. I learned Basketweave successfully, after many false starts, in about 1982. I knew dozens of other stitches, made beautiful needlepoint, designed my own stuff, but I stitched Continental. It wasn’t wrong then and it isn’t wrong now, it’s just different.
It is also, a natural way to stitch, which is part of the reason it can be taught so quickly. People see straight lines and can quickly understand going up and down or right and left. But finding true diagonals is much harder. And remembering the way to stitch the row to keep on the grain is even worse.
How many of us still chant or little mnemonic for Basketweave while we stitch? I do, it’s how I remember and check if I’m stitching Basketweave correctly.
Continental is the answer for beginners. We want new stitchers, we don’t want frustrated people, we don’t want folks on the outside looking in.
Get then stitching, get them stitching fast, get them hooked on the thing they made so quickly. THEN, when they are hooked and want to learn more, teach them Basketweave.
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
In my (brief) experience with needlepoint, I’ve found many people saying “Hey, do it the way you enjoy, that results in something that makes you happy!” In other words, I’ve found many cheerleaders for having fun, and have had ZERO experience running into the Needlepoint Police.
So I’ve actually had something of the opposite experience, I guess — I tried stitching a really small test swatch, and it came out completely trapezoidal, so I knuckled down and learned basketweave. First, I tried to learn using a book that showed running stitch, but that was trying to learn two things at the same time (“the needle comes out WHERE!?!?”) but then I tried basketweave with stab-stitch and it just clicked.
Since then, I’ve been doing pretty much everything basketweave, and it’s a fun puzzle figuring out the entry and exit points that will let me do a diagonal to fill up a space. I’m aware that there’s lots more to learn (I’m foggy on the whole “match your direction so your stitches “sandwich” the mono canvas correctly” thing), but everyone has been really supportive, which has given me the freedom to explore easy stuff, hard stuff, whatever — as long as it’s fun and it makes something you like, go for it.
So here’s a vote from a beginning crafter that actually liked the challenge of learning basketweave relatively early, but my intention is just to reinforce your point — it should be FUN, otherwise what’s the point, and when everyone feels free to find what’s fun, then it’s a hobby. Not a, you know, chore 🙂
I am alway encouraged when I read your blog. I have yet to pick up the material to start needlepoint. The closest I got is a counted cross stitch. When I have not finished because i keep counting it our wrong.
Since I have started reading your blog you alway say the most encouraging things that keep my interest but I have always been afraid to start anything.
Thanks for helping me to realize what my approach should be. Having Fun! I sew clothing and crafts because I enjoy it and I have always wanted to put some needlework on my creations.
I am determine to finish the cross stitch because i do not want to add to my pile of wip’s.
Thanks for the encouraging words and I will had fun with needlework.
Gail —
Thanks for the wonderful comment, it made my day.
I’m with you on the counting thing. I did cross stitch for awhile and I always mess up the counting as well. I sometimes think I can’t make 10 stitches in a straight line without messing up.
You are going to love the tutorial starting Friday, you take a drawing, trace it onto canvas and start stiching,
A great incentive to beginners! Needlepoint is supposed to be relaxing…so relax everyone and work it your own way…Although it should be noted, you should attempt to use the stitches that are recommended in kits, because there are usually good reasons for specific stitches. It’s also a good chance to learn new stitches! You can never learn too many stitches…hmmm….guess what kind of website I own? Yup! A needlepoint stitch site! HA!
Carolyn
https://www.stitchopedia.com
An encyclopedia of needlepoint stitches…
Thank you for this post. I’m not happy with recent comments I’ve received from the needlepoint police. I get my pieces done and they are lovely. In some areas only Continental will do, in the rest I use basketweave or decorative stitches. I hate having to get defensive about something I do for fun and relaxation.
The whole snobbery around needlepoint is what has driven me away from local shops. I get my canvases and fibers on ebay where I don’t have to listen to “expert” opinions or feel inferior to anybody.
I was in a needlepoint/yarn shop talking with the owner. I complained – “needlepoint has so many different stitches now; you have to buy stitch guides to go with your canvas – it’s so complicated”. The owner said “you know, you can always do just continental”. We think things have to be complex. “Just” continental can be very meditative and the joy comes from the design on the canvas. So I’ll work on learning those other stitches (good for the brain). But I’m also happy with “just” continental.
I think each has its own place. Continental is my stitch of choice for small areas, complicated designs, and filling in details. Basketweave is great for larger areas simply because it doeesn’t cause the massive distortion which can be difficult to block. (Also, basketweave takes more fiber, so can be a factor if you’re running short.)
I recently took a large tapestry to the finisher — a complicated Ehrman charted design about 26×34 inches — and the woman in the shop looked down her nose and said something about how distorted the borders were (with only about 4 rows of continental.) She turned it over, sort of turned her nose up, and her (older and wiser colleague) noted that I didn’t have much choice as the design was so complex — that Continental really was the best/only choice. I, too, am happy with “just” continental — with some basketweave thrown in to make big spaces better!
Also, FYI, the neumonic doesn’t always work — interlock canvas doesn’t have the different in warp/weft that mono does.
That’s right the mnemonic does not work on Interlock, that’s because the nature of the weave is such that there are no horizontal or vertical intersections on Interlock. The best thing to do for keeping your place on Interlock is to always stop near, but not at, the end or beginning of a row. That way you know the direction to make the row.
Keep stitching,
Janet