Meet Matilda Mallstomper

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another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply

anne wrote:

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camera sigh



Love her!!!

Marg

Anne,

I loved seeing Maltilda Mallstomper your "original" embroidery......it
looks really good. This was an excellent, creative solution to your
embroidery wishes. You did a wonderful embroidered adaptation of the
chart!
I especially love the embellishments you added to the stitching.....that
really set off and enhanced the whole design!!

Now you've got me thinking about the subject of embroidery designs in
the needlework market........I've been in the needlework business full
time for over 20 years, first as a manager of a full service needlework
shop and then my own design business, that I opened in1985.......the
following comments are my own observations on the subject of embroidery.

I've always noticed there have been embroidery kits for sale through the
years and that embroidery was quite popular at one time in the past and
since then has always been around.
But I don't really know if embroidery has ever been as popular or as
commercially successful as the cross stitch craze in the last 20 years.

There have always been kits for "crewel" embroidery using wool yarns,
such as the well known ones from Elsa Williams, Erica Wilson and many
others through the years.......embroidery kits always seemed to be a
perennial commodity in needlework shops.

Erica Wilson is well known to have revived crewel embroidery and
needlework overall in the US.......it was because of Erica's whimsical
crewel designs that got me interested in stitching......I have several
of her crewel kits still unfinished among other embroidery kits.....

However, I've not noticed designers to strictly focus on producing
embroidery "charts" to sell, such as a line drawing with instructions
for embroidery stitches.

What I have noticed are designers doing charts with stitch guides using
various needlepoint and some embroidery stitches. Designers like Libby
Sturdy and Kimberly Crum come to mind but to be specific, these charts
fall under counted work more than actual embroidery.

Some other sources one might use for the purpose of embroidery is to use
"serious" coloring books, the well done series featuring historical
costumes, theater, botanicals, historical subjects and so
on........designs for Redwork, iron-on templates among many other
sources for line drawings.

Has anyone else noticed any designers or companies doing charts only for
embroidery?
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

anne wrote:

Largish file alert: http://home.comcast.net/~frugalfingers/recent.html

I need to buy a lottery ticket or two to win enough $$ to get a better digital
camera sigh

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply

I've always noticed there have been embroidery kits for sale through the
years and that embroidery was quite popular at one time in the past and
since then has always been around.
But I don't really know if embroidery has ever been as popular or as
commercially successful as the cross stitch craze in the last 20 years.


My mother taught me crewel work embroidery when I was about 9 or 10. At the
time (early 1970's) it was pretty much the only embroidery you saw in stores.
If there was cross stitch it was the stamped sort, not the counted cross stitch
which is so popular today.

Personally, I don't enjoy crewel all that much, it's as much a textile thing as
anything else. I don't like the way the threads feel in my fingers. I didn't
mind the speciality stitches, I was actually pretty good at most of them.

However, I enjoy doing counted cross stitch a lot more, which is why I design
for counted cross stitch. It's not because I don't think people who do crewel
work don't deserve nice patterns to stitch, but because it's not the format I
prefer myself.

Anne, I wish you luck finding patterns that suit you, your adaptation of
Matilda was wonderful!

Caryn
Blue Wizard Designs
http://hometown.aol.com/crzy4xst/index.html
Updated: 7/7/03 -- now available Dragon of the Stars
View WIPs at: http://community.webshots.com/user/carynlws (Caryn's UFO's)

When I was in Victoria on spring break, I saw some very charming little
embroidery kits by Jennifer Pudney, who is, I think, a New Zealand
designer??
She has done needlepoint kits, and I bought one of her kits for children,
which are marketted as Crafty Dog, to keep company with my hostess, who was
hemstitching some napkins. (my choice was a design called Drama Queen)
I love her stuff because it is modern, bright, and has woman-centered
themes--women reading, dancing, having tea etc. They have humour without
being "precious" or cutsey. Her embroidery kits are worked on felt. The
outlines are printed on. While I wondered if the designs were too small
for a beginning embroiderer, the other side of that is they would stitch up
quite quickly.
Dawne

I had to look her up - and I do like her stuff! The frocks
especially. For those who want to look:

http://www.jennifer-pudney.co.nz/wha...html#craftydog

No affiliation, etc.

Linda in Columbia, MO

"Linda Wright" wrote
I had to look her up - and I do like her stuff! The frocks
especially. For those who want to look:

http://www.jennifer-pudney.co.nz/wha...html#craftydog

She has a needlepoint design of a women being overcome by a Devonshire tea
that I want to do one day. The little Drama Queen I did (in one evening)
is one of the first things you see on this page--I added French knots to
mine for texture on the ermine and a few other places. I am taking her
into my LNS next time I'm in, as the owner liked the description, and I
would love to have some more of these terrifc designs near at hand.
DAwne

Jennifer is a New Zealand designer. Her designs are lovely and the
felt ones would be suitable for a beginner.

Design a stitching good day,
Janet
http://www.jmddesigns.co.nz
http://www.masterstitch.co.uk
Get the JMD Newsletter:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jmdnewsletter/

lula said

I've always noticed there have been embroidery kits for sale through the
years and that embroidery was quite popular at one time in the past and
since then has always been around.
But I don't really know if embroidery has ever been as popular or as
commercially successful as the cross stitch craze in the last 20 years.

When I did my first stitchings about 30 years ago (gawd, that makes me feel
old!), there seemed to be a lot of wool (crewel) and embroidery kits on the
market for more than just flowers and Jacobean designs. As a matter of fact,
one of my bedrooms is a 'shrine' to projects done during that period -- scenes
of Olde Williamsburg, Boston, Philadelphia, Salem, children riding bikes, etc.,
etc.

About 2 years ago, I found that I was too antsy to sit and just read for
extended periods. Being a confirmed couch potato, I still wanted to sit but
wasn't sure my eyesight was good enough or fingers were nimble enough to do any
stitching. I knew that counted cross stitch wasn't for me and was appalled that
there wasn't much of a selection in pure, fill in all the spaces, as opposed to
merely embellishing artwork, floss or wool embroidery kits in the local stores.
There were more designs in the needlepoint section but the flat and somewhat
'jaggy' look of needlepoint has never appealed to me. I ended up with a
Jannlynn kit for 4 small pieces. Being frugal, the fact that the kit included
frames appealed to me ;-)

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to fill in the blanks with little
trouble and then went back for more. Next, I tried my hand at long stitch --the
ever popular, balloon and seascape kits. I enjoyed doing them but felt a bit
constrained by the similarity of the stitching. I picked up quite a few
'vintage' kits (Hummels, candlewicking, etc) on Ebay. Even though I've got a
drawer that's overflowing with Ebay finds, I went into whimsy mode which got me
started on modifying cross stitch charts.

My sister has spent a fortune on handpainted needlepoint canvases, some of
which I actually like eg but as I said before, the look doesn't 'talk' to me.
Cutting to the chase, I don't have a clue as to whether there's a market for
non-traditional 'regular' embroidery but I know that I'd at least look at the
stuff ;-)


Some other sources one might use for the purpose of embroidery is to use
"serious" coloring books, the well done series featuring historical
costumes, theater, botanicals, historical subjects and so
on........designs for Redwork, iron-on templates among many other
sources for line drawings.

I've picked up a few of those at an art supply store and did one of a Japanese
vase and one of these days, I'll do a fan picture.

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply

Anne,

An embroidered fan design would be very elegant! I've seen some gorgeous
painted fans in a variey of subjects......so many ideas to choose from!

I agree, there's a limit to creative stitching from designs based on
grids.....charted designs and canvas mesh don't allow for natural curves
and spacing........this limits how figures, faces and such small details
can be rendered or drawn. In some cases, details have to be sacrificed
or simplified and the design reduced to a "shorthand" style of art.
Basic dots and slashes for eyes and noses for example.

Unfortunately, pesky jaggies are a fact of life in gridded
designs......a skilled artist can minimize jaggies up to a point where
it wouldn't be as noticeable but gridded designs will always have an
angular look.

Similare to you, I've been drawn more and more towards embroidery as a
means of being able to draw more expressive designs, where I can stitch
more details and make real curved lines!

Embroidery is definitely a more artistic way to stitch......lots of
variety in stitches too without worry of compensating stitches as in
needlepoint or half and quarter stitches in XS.

Even more exciting is using embroidery as part of a bigger
"picture".....as you've done with Matilda with the addition of other fun
details using embellishments, decorative fonts or text and using all
sorts of threads.
You were very clever in how you adapted a chart to embroidery!
I'm looking forward to seeing more of your embroideries!
---
Lula
http://www.woolydream.com
Needlework Adventures

anne wrote:

lula said

I've always noticed there have been embroidery kits for sale through the
years and that embroidery was quite popular at one time in the past and
since then has always been around.
But I don't really know if embroidery has ever been as popular or as
commercially successful as the cross stitch craze in the last 20 years.

When I did my first stitchings about 30 years ago (gawd, that makes me feel
old!), there seemed to be a lot of wool (crewel) and embroidery kits on the
market for more than just flowers and Jacobean designs. As a matter of fact,
one of my bedrooms is a 'shrine' to projects done during that period -- scenes
of Olde Williamsburg, Boston, Philadelphia, Salem, children riding bikes, etc.,
etc.

About 2 years ago, I found that I was too antsy to sit and just read for
extended periods. Being a confirmed couch potato, I still wanted to sit but
wasn't sure my eyesight was good enough or fingers were nimble enough to do any
stitching. I knew that counted cross stitch wasn't for me and was appalled that
there wasn't much of a selection in pure, fill in all the spaces, as opposed to
merely embellishing artwork, floss or wool embroidery kits in the local stores.
There were more designs in the needlepoint section but the flat and somewhat
'jaggy' look of needlepoint has never appealed to me. I ended up with a
Jannlynn kit for 4 small pieces. Being frugal, the fact that the kit included
frames appealed to me ;-)

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to fill in the blanks with little
trouble and then went back for more. Next, I tried my hand at long stitch --the
ever popular, balloon and seascape kits. I enjoyed doing them but felt a bit
constrained by the similarity of the stitching. I picked up quite a few
'vintage' kits (Hummels, candlewicking, etc) on Ebay. Even though I've got a
drawer that's overflowing with Ebay finds, I went into whimsy mode which got me
started on modifying cross stitch charts.

My sister has spent a fortune on handpainted needlepoint canvases, some of
which I actually like eg but as I said before, the look doesn't 'talk' to me.
Cutting to the chase, I don't have a clue as to whether there's a market for
non-traditional 'regular' embroidery but I know that I'd at least look at the
stuff ;-)


Some other sources one might use for the purpose of embroidery is to use
"serious" coloring books, the well done series featuring historical
costumes, theater, botanicals, historical subjects and so
on........designs for Redwork, iron-on templates among many other
sources for line drawings.

I've picked up a few of those at an art supply store and did one of a Japanese
vase and one of these days, I'll do a fan picture.

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply