What is Needlepoint?
16 March 2009
Author: Catherine Matthews-Scanlon
Getting started in needlepoint is as easy as going to your local craft store or specialty shop and finding a kit that includes a pre-printed canvas and all the yarn and thread you’ll need to create your first work of art. Try a small design first to learn the fundamentals, then go on to the larger, more dramatic pieces.
Needlepoint, or some form of it, has been around for many centuries. The first sightings of this style of embroidery were as early as the 16th century. Though it began as a way for ladies to pass the time, it was also a popular way to replicate the look of a woven tapestry without having to use a loom to weave the pattern. Needlepoint has been popular in one way or another since its early beginnings; in the colonial times young ladies used the needlepoint stitch to make samplers, pillows and upholstery fabrics. Today, needlepoint is popular among people that enjoy having a project that is portable and for those wanting to create a work of art to display on their wall.
Needlepoint stitches are made on canvas using yarn and/or thread. As in cross stitch, needlepoint can be stitched on pre-printed canvases or stitched following a pattern. As there are choices in the types of yarn or thread, so are there many choices in canvas. You can choose from sizes that start at 5 threads per inch and go up to 24 threads per inch.
There are a wide variety of stitches one can use on a canvas from basic background stitches to textured stitches, including but not limited to: continental stitch, basket weave, half-cross stitch, brick, mosaic, and Parisian stitch. The most common stitch and the one that covers the canvas the best is the basket weave stitch. It also causes the least distortion of the canvas. While half-cross stitch is the easiest for a beginner to master, it doesn’t cover the canvas nearly as nicely as basket weave and is undesirable for other reasons as well. It’s easy to get started with needlepoint and learning all the stitches is half the fun. The more you know, the more enjoyable the needlepoint project.