| Basic Needlepoint |
From "DIY Crafts"
episode DIC-160 |
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Erica Wilson, the queen of stitchery, visited with Carol Duvall, host of HGTV's The Carol Duvall Show, to show off a number of needlework kits, designs and books. One of Erica's recent designs is an oval rug patterned from a 17th-century French painting called Bouquet of Roses. Erica's design features detailed shading but is printed on 12-mesh to make the needlework easier (figure A). Erica designed a crewel embroidery kit as a correspondence course for some ladies in Williamsburg. The design featured a beautiful bouquet of flowers. One ad for the course was placed in a magazine, and the response was overwhelming (figure B). Erica's latest design, the Four-Footed Beast, is based on a 17th-century English book about all the four-footed animals in the Garden of Eden (figure C). Two pillows Erica displayed were stitched in crewel and needlepoint. Erica pointed out the differences between the stitches and textures (figure D): Needlepoint uses open-mesh canvas, and all stitches are made in one direction and in the same size. Crewel embroidery uses wool yarn on fabric, with a variety of stitch types and sizes. Erica showed Carol the Serenity Prayer, a traditional crewel pattern on linen, before demonstrating the technique known as crewelpoint, which combines crewel embroidery stitches on needlepoint mesh canvas (figure E). Erica had thought this was a new idea until she noticed some 18th-century crewelpoint pieces at a museum in Boston. The stitches are done in a freeform way on mesh canvas as if they were being stitched on linen. The difference between crewel embroidery and regular embroidery is that the former uses yarn instead of embroidery floss. Erica suggests that those new to needlepoint practice on a sampler in order to learn all the stitches. Although many of Erica's kits look complex, the instructions include all the directions for basic stitches so beginners as well as needlework experts can use the kits. Erica demonstrated a simple stitch she calls the "uppy down" stitch. With mesh stretched on a frame, she places one hand above the canvas and one hand under it. She uses two strands of wool and feeds the needle from below the canvas up through to the top. She pulls the needle through with her other hand on top, skips a few holes in the mesh and feeds the needle back down (figure F). Erica has also invented some stitches of her own. In the "French knot on a stalk," she brings the needle up from underneath, twists the wool once around the needle and holds the wool taut. Then, rather than go back down in the same place she came up, as for a regular French knot, she moves the stitch over a little and goes back down. The result is a French knot at the end of a stitch, or "stalk."
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