Anna Pearson's Needlepoint Blog

With my confined status due to my ankle fracture I am fortunate in having my needlepoint stitching, my finished pieces and an extensive out of print book collection around me. Time to reflect on all this and my many years of stitching has introduced a new series of one day classes Master Classes, each in a particular needlepoint technique. Various Tartans The idea for each day is to study the technique, Florentine, Basketweave Tent and Backgrounds, Patterned Darning etc with some historical background, making a personal stitched sampler and learning many tips and special techniques associated with that form of needlepoint.   The days so far offered are available at the end  of the blog. Basketweave & Backgrounds. I know everyone thinks they ‘know’ Basket weave Tent but there are many tips to help you get the best possible smooth and hard-wearing results.   Also, how to avoid kits that only allow for Half Cross that won’t wear satisfactorily. Au...

I know no-one who doesn’t love flowers, the colours the smell so little wonder, flowers have been a favourite subject with artists and embroiderers throughout the ages. My own Boots. Purchased in Turkey. In Elizabethan times, the English, well known for their love of gardening, have used flowers often in a naturalistic style than most other countries – vegetables and fruit   were almost as popular.   The larger pieces were often planned and sometimes worked by professional men but these too frequently hade flowers and foliage as part of the design. My favourite reference books The Needleworker’s Dictionary’   - Pamela Clabburn ‘The Embroiderer’s Flowers – Thomasina Beck. In Victorian times, with the increased leisure time among the middle classes, embroidery and watercolour painting   were practiced and flowers particularly popular.   Berlin wool work designs printed, hand coloured in the early days were worked with a special wool and sometimes ...

When searching for a title that both described a growing trend in needlepoint design and encouraged you to read it, ‘new’ was not perfect as ideas and techniques continue to grow and have always done so.   From my own designs you will see antique tiles, Tudor embroidery and Victorian Ladies journals have inspired me. My first designs that took the colour of the canvas as part of the design many years ago was a range, the Gazebo collection, stitches   worked in white and ecru on antique (brown) canvas, the individual stitches – including Skip Tent – allowing the deep shade of canvas to offset the design.    Nowadays the exciting range of coloured canvases would lend themselves beautifully to this simple idea – oh for the time to play. Next came two Patchwork designs, the canvas painted in a crazy patchwork of colours.   Each area has stitches, often old favourites in threads to compliment the painted area below.    Either the stitches had space...

Our trip to Tuscany was fabulous, just as much fun stitching as our previous visit and interest in wonderful places that they had organised for us to go. However, before I tell you, and hopefully tempt you to join us next year (we are working on dates around the end of April 2018) I must refer back to my last blog with tips for travel and mention some important items I forgot – When taking a floor frame (the Lowery is my favourite) do take the Allen key to help re-assemble it on arrival.    Before leaving home it is also a good moment to put a little Vaseline on all the screws; (this is recommended and makes swivelling to get to the back for finishing off much easier) When taking any magnification be sure to have some cover for the lens.   Some models have a ‘bag’ or metal disc but these strong magnifiers can easily cause a fire – even for short periods like a quick lunch! So, I do hope you found all these tips useful and I am sure that you have some of your ...

January and February are miserable months in England; all the excitement is over, all the rushing around should be done and I hate the cold, damp, grey days. So for a long time I have always hoped to spend at least a month somewhere warm, with sun, swimming and of course stitching and this year, for the first time we managed it and had a great month in Tortola, the British Virgin Islands (the BVIs) However I have always stressed the importance of planning well in advance for any trip but for a whole month it is even more important. Unfortunately planning seemed to go array this time, both my and my daughter’s birthdays to celebrate in December, Christmas and New Year and to finish off a rather nasty chesty cold that laid me low and lingered well into the holiday So, while it is still fresh in my mind I have made this list of needlepoint tools that I took and found really helpful that I managed to throw into my suitcase. First of all my design(s) to work on;   originally ...