Would your winter design have to be done on black, though? Couldn't your color scheme work on another color fabric as well.
I do not really understand why the publishers have a problem publishing something that is stitched on black unless they print the patterns in full color, but even that could be worked around. Why not publish it with a neutral background with a notation to the effect of "Designer recommends this pattern be stitched on ....."
There's no rule that says one must stitch a design with exactly the fabric and fibers the designer uses if you have others you would like to try out or you think would fit your style better. If there was, I would be a career criminal.
"StitchingNut" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
Tapestry is actually a misnomer, tapestry is a woven fabric, needlepoint is done with a needle and usually wool. However, needlepoint has had it's revolution and is now more canvas work done with a multitude of stitches and threads combined sometimes with and sometimes not, wool. Anything goes.
There is a whole Guild in the USA devoted to stitching on canvas, The American Needlepoint Guild.
strong resurgance of interest in doing handcrafts in almost all forms; lots of twenty-something women (and men!) starting to learn the textile arts. The most interesting thing, though, is that the renaisance is taking place outside the traditional sources of materials and information -- i.e., EGA and ANG chapters, LNS (and Portland boasts excellent examples of these, though some are rather club-like in their atmosphere). Crochet, for example, is huge, though mostly among young men; no snowboarder on Mt. Hood is truly cool these days unless he has a crochet hook in his pocket. Stamped surface embroidery is garnering much interest; at the wonderful Powell's City of Books, the classic Dover transfer pamphlets and even chart packs are edging out the traditional bound books in the huge needlecrafts section. And, in the hippier/younger neighborhoods, I've noted with pleasure gift shops offering books on embroidery (usually English imports, for some reason). Learning to sew clothes with dressmaker details like hand worked buttonholes is also booming, especially among Yuppies here.
It might not be too much longer before these youngsters discover hardanger -- particularly using variegated threads, because it is a relatively easy and fast technique, where you get a lot of wow for the effort, compared to cross or tent stitch.
So, I don't think its so much what techniques are in or out of fashion; it's what people are doing with them. Wearables are where market growth is at the moment, not household textiles or things to hang on the wall. If you are designing Hardanger, I'd urge you to think about presenting your models as scarves to be worn rather than laid on the top of a dresser; bellpull type stuff as something that could be made into a small purse to carry around town, etc.
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
I'm glad to hear the males are getting into it, when my elder grandson did some xstitch we all had to be silent about it as he didn't want friends to find out about it. I had told him all about my father, his greatgrandfather, who made extra cash aboard ship as a fourteen year old darning other sailors socks lol
I also think the accent is now on usefulness, I know I have no more wall space and want things of practical use.
My father-in-law did a lot of exquisite cross-stitch during WW2. I don't think anyone would have dared to comment on what he was doing as he was a Warrant Officer First Class (WO1) Royal Marine Commando physical training instructor (PTI).
the usefulness is an important part, and I have already started to think about things like scarfs e.g. There is no need to use Hardanger only in Doilies. I have just finished a glass case for example, it is really cute.
How about wrong person? Anyone who would belittle your work is not someone you should waste time talking to, imho. We do needlework because we enjoy it and you should do what pleases you, not what is in fashion.
Back many years ago, when DH went through a period of unemployment, he did some cross stitching. He's a big fan of the USAF Thunderbirds, and I had stitched him one of their planes. He wanted a design with four of the planes in their diamond formation. I just told him there was no way I was stitching that airplane four more times, so he got himself a huge piece of light blue fabric, and he did it -- adjusting along the way for perspective, which I would never have even attempted.
To this day, that beautiful piece hangs in his office. He's not one bit embarrassed about it. In fact, when people ask if I did it, he's quick to correct them.
The other pieces he did were mostly tigers, which he has always liked too.
He doesn't stitch any more, mostly because of his work load, but when he did, he found it very relaxing.
It is! But, how about calling it by another (alas, hipper) name -- a cell phone case? Or doing a version sized to work as an iPod carrier -- and marketed that way? Or, maybe, worked in bright variegated threads, avoiding curves in the edging, a Har Danger Crochet hook caddie? ("Har Danger" being an unusual pronunciation of the term, but capturing the "Har, Har, we laugh at Danger" ethos of those snowboarders on Mt. Hood, and providing a product their mothers or grandmothers can make for them.)
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