Easier on The Eyes: Needlework for Older Needlecrafters

Original quickpoint by Annake

Are you one of those people who once enjoyed needlework, but now find their eyes and hands do not respond as well as they once did? I belong to that group myself. Please don't give up an activity that you love. Find less physically demanding ways to work. I believe needlepointers and cross-stitchers together form the largest group of people doing stitchery today, so I will start with those pursuits.

Quickpoint is a form of needlework that I recommend to senior needlecrafters who are accustomed to doing counted cross-stitch or needlepoint. It is easy to do and the results are achieved quickly. Almost any kind of design can be adapted to the technique. Quickpoint is large and the canvas mesh is easy to see. The needles are large and have eyes that are easy to thread. The yarns are thick and cover the canvas quickly. Projects can be any size that is easy for you to hold. This wall hanging, "Are You Endangered, Too?", is done in quickpoint. The “point” part of quickpoint implies that it is only done in needlepoint. This is misleading. Although it is done on a canvas background, quickpoint is also lovely done in counted cross-stitch. The picture here is done in a combination of cross-stitch and tent stitch.

#3.75 (left) and #5 (right) rug canvas

Traditional quickpoint canvas has 4.5 stitches to the inch. I do not have a source for this canvas at the moment, so I cannot show it to you. I can, however, show you a larger-mesh and a smaller-mesh canvas, both of which work well for quickpoint. The canvas with the larger squares is #3.75 conventional latch-hook rug canvas. It can be worked in uncut rug yarn or one of many thick craft or novelty yarns. The canvas with the smaller mesh is also a rug canvas, but one which requires a special hook. It is #5 canvas. You can use two strands of knitting worsted yarn or several strands of crewel or tapestry yarn on this canvas. For the best results, do not double the yarn; instead, cut two or more separate strands the same length and thread all of them through the eye of the needle at the same time. Some of these materials can be hard to find. Good places to look for them are thrift stores, charity shops, and yard or garage sales. I know those are not available right now, but they will return.

“Let's Do Lunch”, quickpoint by Annake

Another of the "Close Encounter" series is “Let's Do Lunch”. It also has some star stitches in the more heavily textured areas. A star stitch is made by stitching a + (like a plus sign) over a completed cross-stitch. A conventional cross-stitch occupies four squares of mesh. A star stitch (which has many other names, including Double Cross and St. George and St. Andrew) occupies nine squares of mesh as you can see in the sample. As with cross-stitch, it does not matter which part of the ‘plus’ stitch you do first as long as you are consistent and do the stitch the same way every time.

Star stitch sample

If you are doing a framed picture or a wall hanging that you want to stay rigid and not sag, you need to work on jute canvas. To do a pillow or other soft object, you will need cotton canvas or a nylon mesh. Again, you may have to do some searching to find the appropriate materials.

Detail of cross-stitch butterfly wing

Here is another example of combined quickpoint. The butterfly was done in cross-stitch. The outlining is done in back-stitching with a single strand of crewel yarn, as are the “floating” lines that represent veins in the wings. The background is done in tent stitch. This is easier to see in the enlargement.

Butterfly, cross-stitch on canvas

Here is the completed butterfly framed under glass.  I had planned to go in with a single strand of yarn to cover the little white flecks left by stitches, but it seemed to me that they added some sparkle to the wing, like the butterflies' natural iridescence, so I left them there.

When I am planning a complicated piece with many different shades of color, I often make a detailed graph of the planned design before I begin stitching. On the “Close Encounter" pictures, I charted some features and simply outlined the rest. I did not chart the butterfly, just outlined it.

Original quickpoint by Annake

This quickpoint picture shows a bear in a field of sunflowers with a background of mountains and blue Colorado sky. The last step for the bear's head was to complete her features. The eyes, nose, and mouth were first done in tent stitch. Then some of the stitches were gone over in embroidery floss to give shine to the features. I tried to give the bear a startled expression. Tiny stitches show the reflections in her eyes. I exaggerated the size of the nose just a little because that is where the ‘close encounter’ will occur. I call these pictures “Close Encounters” because each shows a mammal encountering a very different kind of animal (in this case, a bee).

Waste canvas

In order to add the bee to the picture I had to make smaller stitches than the quickpoint canvas would allow. I used a special canvas, called waste canvas. Its threads can easily be removed after the needlepoint (or cross-stitch) is complete. It can be used on fabric as well as on canvas or completed stitches. Let me show you how it is done, starting with a picture of the waste canvas, which can be worked as either mono canvas or penelope canvas. Since I planned to do the bee in tent stitch, I chose the mono option.

Closeup of bear and bee

I had to work out the bee design on graph paper. There are hundreds of species of wild bees in our western mountains. Some of them have bodies as large as as the last joint on my thumb! (This design does not represent any particular wild species.) Since I expected the thickness of the stitches on the bear's nose to present some problems, I first tried the pattern on waste canvas over a piece of heavy felt. I first cut a piece of waste canvas larger all around than the design to be stitched. If the design is very large, it is then pinned or basted to the background. I prefer basting because it is more secure. This one was so small that it didn't need to be basted. Then the stitches were put in just as they would be on regular mono needlepoint canvas. I didn't pull the stitches quite as tight as I would do ordinarily. The next picture shows the finished design with some of both the horizontal and vertical threads pulled out. A pair of small tweezers is useful for this. The last picture shows the design on the felt with all waste canvas removed.

Bee, waste canvas test sequence

Quickpoint can be used for geometric or stylized designs as well. Here is a pillow that I stitched in a pattern meant to represent evergreen trees and a canvas designed to represent our autumn aspens.

Quickpoint pillowtops

Cross-stitch rose on check gingham

When I start a class on counted cross-stitch, Spanish blackwork, or similar techniques, I start with a project on quarter-inch checked gingham because it closely resembles graph paper. This makes it easy for students to follow simple graphs and encourages them to try their own graphs. Graphs are very versatile. It is possible to do the same design in a multitude of sizes, from a covered button to a king-sized quilt. The same chart can be used for many different techniques: afghan stitch, beading, mosaic, latch-hook, piecework, etc. A chart like the one you can download today works for a whole rainbow of color schemes. Charts are easy to file for future reference and, laminated, long-lasting. Another advantage of the quarter-inch checked gingham is that it is easier on both the eyes and the hands than most canvases, Aida cloth, etc.

Let's say you want to do a rose in cross-stitch or needlepoint. Prepare your background, choosing the color carefully so it does not overpower the rose. Fabric should be backed with inter-facing. Canvas, except for plastic, should be taped on the edges. Find the center of your material. Run a row of basting stitches through the center, both vertically and horizontally, using a bold color that does not appear in your version of the rose. Now select the colors of your rose.  This pattern will work for most colors. You will need a range of 7 shades of your main color, plus two greens. Shades of the main color are represented by numbers on the chart, with 1 being the palest one and 7 the darkest one. Capital G represents the darker green and small g the lighter green. Lay your 7 materials out in front of you in light-to-dark order. Tag them with the numbers if you like. (I'll admit I'm greedy when it comes to needles; I used a separate needle for each shade.)

To download, click here

Here is the pattern for you to download. The pattern is a forgiving one. If you place an occasional stitch in the wrong square, it should not spoil your rose. Small differences are to be expected in handmade items. If you run out of a color, continue with the closest match you can find. The vertical and horizontal center rows on the chart are marked. Start stitching at the center and work outward. When the rose is complete, pull out the basting threads.

Patterned stitches such as Spanish blackwork, Russian redwork, Scandinavian whitework, Holbein embroidery and Assisi embroidery also work well on quarter-inch gingham. Be sure the gingham pattern is woven into the cloth, not printed on it. Choose your background color carefully so that it does not overwhelm your design. Here is a simple blackwork butterfly on quarter-inch gingham.

Blackwork butterfly on check gingham

"Heritage Rose", latch hooked rug

Years after I made the rose design, I enlarged and modified it for the center of a latch-hook rug.  Latch-hook is another technique that is easy on the eyes. I once taught the technique to a lady who was legally blind but could still distinguish colors. Latch-hook uses packs of pre-cut rug yarn. what is used in kits works well enough on on #5 canvas, but you may need to use 2 strands of some colors on #3.75 canvas to make good coverage. Commercial rug yarn packets work well on either mesh.

Upright gobelin stitch sample

Another technique that works well on canvas is one of long straight stitches of varying lengths (commonly called French longstitch). You can see these well in the portrait of the bighorn ram below. You can see the stitches used horizontally as well as vertically. There are even a few used diagonally. I did the background in tent stitch, but it could have easily been done in rows of straight up-and-down stitches. Don't leave any blank canvas; the bottom of one stitch shares a square of mesh with the top of the stitch in the next row.

"Bighorn", original needlepoint by Annake

I deliberately ended with the bighorn ram's 'portrait' because it was finished about this time last year. I have done a number of projects since and there are several in various stages of development. I have been doing needlework now for more than seven decades, so I know what I am talking about. I have made many changes and adaptations as I have aged, in order to keep doing the work I love so much; so I hope you will believe me when I say, "And you can do it, too!"

With love,

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.