AROUND HOME : On Needlepoint

OF ALL THE needle arts ever invented, needlepoint is arguably the most aristocratic--not because it looks any classier than lace or beading but because it is purely decorative; a needlepointed canvas won’t keep anyone warm, and the project requires special materials not easily manufactured on the old homestead. Mary Queen of Scots whiled away her captivity with needlepoint, and later Victorian ladies kept needlepoint frames in their parlors. Needlepoint was the one craft a gentlewoman was allowed--encouraged, even--to do. All others were done for her.

A cynic might say that needlepoint is so easy even an aristocrat can learn it. Crewel, Persian or tapestry wool yarn (knitting yarn isn’t strong enough to pull through all those holes) is stitched over the intersections of threads in a fairly stiff piece of fabric called a canvas, on which a design, usually in color, has been painted or printed. Just match a strand of yarn to a color on the canvas and fill in the blanks.

Most canvases have single horizontal and vertical threads, called mono canvas. Penelope canvas has double threads and is used when finer detail is needed in part, but not all, of the overall design (chair seats, for instance, where flowers may be surrounded by a plain background). Canvas comes with as many as 40 threads per inch, called petit point, and as few as seven for rugs.

There are hundreds of needlepoint stitches, but the most commonly used are the continental and the basket (the former worked back and forth, the latter worked on the diagonal), both of which make very plain, flat surfaces--and both of which distort the canvas so that it has to be tortured back into its original shape. There are raised stitches for textural contrast, with wonderful names like Byzantine and Leviathan, and many unusual background stitches. (Bargello, a needlepoint technique that covers several intersections per stitch, is a column unto itself.)

A decade ago, it was possible to find affordable, original hand-painted designs on canvas for about $25 or $30; mass-producer needlepoint kits, with stamped designs, were $5 to $10. Today, a pillow-size, hand-painted (but not necessarily original) design can cost close to $100. This includes canvas and yarn only; it still has to be stitched and stuffed.

The most popular needlepoint designs have been flowers, but my personal favorites are Oriental designs, especially those in Maggie Lane’s books. An exhortation: Don’t limit yourself to predesigned canvases. It is enormously satisfyng (and quite a bit cheaper) to create your own design on canvas, or to copy a design from another source--book or picture or Ming vase. I made five of Maggie Lane’s pillows, and whole the process nearly drove me crazy at first (always mark the grid; don’t be a fool such as I), the results were quite wonderful.

Needlepoint supplies, books and classes are available at Nettie’s Needlepoint in Beverly Hills; Petit Point Junction in West Hollywood; Needlework Connection in Torrance; The Elegant Needle in Villa Park; Craf-T-Mac’s in La Habra; Needlepoints Ltd. in Garden Grove; Needlework Patch in Tarzana; JB Unique Needlework in Woodland Hills ; The Craft Cellar in Sierra Madre; Natalie in Los Angeles, and Lace & Needle Art in West Hills.

“Needlepoint by Design,” and “Gold and Silver Needlepoint,” by Maggie Lane are published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. “More Needlepoint by Design” is out of print, but copies may be found in libraries or used-book stores.