Over the past few months Judy Harper and I have been discussing the importance of introducing new people to needlepoint. There are very few designs that make it easy to teach the basic stitches to a new stitcher. Most designs are on 18 ct. canvas or are very detailed and not at all suitable. I came up with 12 designs that I hope will appeal to young stitchers as well as those who are older but still new to needlepoint.
For the very young, inexperienced stitcher I paint the designs on 10 ct. canvas. This makes it easy for them to work with the thread and follow the stitch patterns. They can also finish the piece fairly quickly without getting bored or tired. My hope is that shop owners will offer small classes to teach the basics of needlepoint to their future customers. This would be great to do over the summer when so many parents are looking for things to fill the long summer hours. Classes however, could be offered during any school break such as Christmas or Spring Break.
The designs are also available on 13 ct. canvas for someone who may have a bit of experience but is lacking in confidence. On 13 ct. canvas the thread choices are much wider. This ups the "fun factor" considerably. Beads and embellishments can also be added.
Sometimes it's not just a beginner who is looking for a simple design on which to practice new stitches or try out new threads. Judy took two of my designs (#177 Pink Flower and #178 Blue Flower) stitched them up beautifully, added beads and a border. Both of these would make beautiful pillow or purse insets. The unstitched canvases are shown above and you can see Judy's finished work on her blog. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-zHt5mt0wdajKHEZwLnZIZgo-;_ylt=Al.WYjTU25lbomwZ6TZrhrq_AOJ3?cq=1
Scroll down the page past the Bead Tutorial and you will see her two stitched pieces. I think she did a wonderful job on them.
Judy is also a popular feature writer for Needlepoint Now. Her article is titled Possibilities. In the January 2008 issue she discusses this very subject. Don't miss it.
The smaller picture above is of design #173 Ladybug. This one is worked on the 10 ct. canvas. I had it simply finished on a small tote bag. Just because it's a beginners design, it doesn't mean that the finished piece is useless...far from it.
