Wednesday, March 7, 2012

My new hobby: Needlepoint!

Friends, I am a needlepointer. I've never done it before...so why wouldn't I take on a pillow as a first project? It's going surprisingly well...at least I think it is. If you're an expert needlepointer, you may need to look away.

I was inspired by Jonathan Adler, who sells fantastic (and pricey!) needlepoint pillows. You really should check them out. The Bargello ones are amazing. Anyways, I decided to try my hand at it. Dave got me a couple of really old and really awesome needlepoint books from a used book store (THE used book/comic store that he frequents regularly!) and I found another good one at the library. Then I visited a knitting shop and bought some canvas, tapestry wool, a needle, and a needle threader and I was in business. My friend Alissa lent me a scroll frame, which is awesome. You ready for this?:


I'm making a rectangular pillow with what is called a byzantine stitch. I dig zigzag. I am doing 3 shades of grey (which you can see in the pic) and will keep repeating them in that pattern of dark, medium, and light. The canvas is wrapped around the scroll frame so you can't see the top but there's a few more inches. I drew the size of the rectangle that I wanted with a pen (actually Dave did because I was a chicken!). And if you're wondering, the green strip is just painter's tape so the cut edge of the canvas doesn't unravel. The book actually said to use masking tape but I couldn't find any!

Here's a closer shot:


And closer:


Hey, why not even closer?:


You may have seen that I started drawing out the step pattern with pencil which makes it so easy to follow. I just draw out 11 holes up and 11 holes over repeatedly. The only tricky thing is starting out at the bottom to make sure you have the pattern right. But once I finally figure it out (after a lot of staring and perhaps some tense words), it goes pretty quickly.

There you have it. My needlepoint which will soon be an awesome pillow for my white chair. I'm thinking of backing the pillow with grey velvet. Oh yeah!

3 comments:

  1. Hey Kelly!!! Love that we both posted on needlepoint on the same day. Imagine that?! Love the zigzag pattern you're playing around with. What a fab way to modernize an old art form. Cheers!

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  2. I love the zigzag... you could almost stop where you are and call it a stair case... very modern take on it!
    Just a thought.

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  3. Hi Amy! Can I say great minds think alike?!? Thanks for the comment!

    Hey NJM! I love the zigzag too! I honestly haven't worked on it since I took the pics but I want to keep going!!!

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