The trend these days is to use fancy threads and stitches on painted canvases. In fact, the big needlepoint group on Facebook has at least one plea a day for help finding a stitch guide! Sadly, a lot of these quests for a guide come to nothing, the number of canvases available today being so large and the number of folks who do stitch guides professionally so small. Most folks will have to come up with their own guides to stitching a canvas. How do you know how to do that? Experience, my friend. You learn by doing. However, there is help available to get you started. ANG's website posted this article I wrote ages ago about how I choose threads and stitches for a painted canvas. I also wrote an article for ANG's magazine Needle Pointers about why I choose the threads I did for a Russian Santa canvas. If you have a friend who has the May 2014 issue, ask to borrow it, or keep an eye out on eBay for this issue.
http://www.needlepoint.org/FAQ/phobia.phpThe Stitches for Effect series of books are very very useful to someone who needs help choosing stitches for their canvas. Written by Suzanne Howren and the late Beth Robertson, there are three books in the series. They are organized by effect so that if you need a stitch for snowflakes, you can look in the index and find stitches recommended for snow and snowflakes. The front of each book talks about various threads and the companies that produce them which is helpful if you aren't familiar with them or don't have a shop nearby and have to mail order supplies.
http://www.threadneedlestreet.com/booksndptstitches.htm
Ruth Dilts's Needlepoint 101 and Needlepoint 202 books are also useful. They are not as helpful for looking things up but I think they are very inspirational for new stitchers as Ruth shows off a series of projects and explains what stitch (with diagrams!) she used and why. You can use Ruth's ideas for beards, clothes, houses, etc. over and over in your own projects. Her books are not as full of stitches as the Stitches for Effect series but they are cheaper if you aren't certain you want to learn embellishment and I think they are less intimidating to beginners.
http://www.newneedlepoint.com/content-product_info/product_id-2446/needlepoint_101_guide_to_painted_canvas_by_ruth_dilts.html
http://www.newneedlepoint.com/content-product_info/product_id-2447/needlepoint_202_embellishment_of_the_painted_canvas_by_ruth_dilts.html
Of course you can always ask your stitching friends and your local shop for ideas and help. However, many of us are rather isolated so I suggest you join online groups that are set up to allow posting of photographs so you can let people see your problem areas and make suggestions.
ANG's email list is run on Yahoo Groups which means you can post photographs there for folks to see and comment on.
http://www.needlepoint.org/MailingList.php
Facebook's Needlepoint Group also does the same thing. But don't worry. Both groups are thrilled to have traditional stitchers posting photographs of their beautiful basketweave as well.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NeedlepointNation/
Embellishment is fun. It takes some work and thought and you'll probably rip out things, but needlepoint is an adventure, after all. You don't want it to be too easy, right?
Hugs to all from Chilly Hollow,
Jane
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright September 4, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
