Christensen - The Needlepoint Book: New, Revised, and Updated Third Edition

ALSO BY JO IPPOLITO CHRISTENSEN

The Needlepoint Scraps Book

Needlepoint: The Third Dimension

Teach Yourself Needlepoint

Trapunto

WITH SONIE ASHNER

Appliqu and Reverse Appliqu

Cross Stitchery

Bargello Stitchery

Needlepoint Simplified

WITH HER HUSBAND, RALPH C. SMITH III; AS LONI SMITH

Worry-Free Retirement Living: Choosing a Full-Service Retirement Community

DRAWINGS BY

Lynn Lucas Jones

Theresia Travers Connell

Cindy Pendleton

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

James T. Long

Peter Christensen

Ralph C. Smith III

Ronald E. Grendysz

Touchstone

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 1976, 1999, 2015 by Yolanda I. Smith

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone hardcover edition April 2015

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Jacket photographs by Ronald E. Grendysz

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Christensen, Jo Ippolito.

The needlepoint book / Jo Ippolito Christensen. Third edition.

pagescm

A Touchstone Book.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1.Canvas embroidery.I.Title.

TT778.C3C478 2014

746.44'2dc23

2014023165

ISBN 978-1-4767-5408-6

ISBN 978-1-4767-5410-9 (ebook)

Jacket images credits: top row, left to right : Needlepointers Tote Bag: stitched by Pat Fifield-Saenz, Bernice Abernathy, Sara Galligan, Patricia Glynn, Virginia OBrien, Pat Wagner, Patricia Miles Barken, Kristin Thomas, Elaine Maffie, Vicky De Angelis, Mary Brandon, Elsie May Cary, Beth Kuzman, Joanne Lanning, Babs Miley, Marjorie Shelton, Nancy Wiener, Marian Barry, Barbara Bovee, Israela Harkham, Nancy Hewitt, Barbara Roemer, Sally Sulek, Pam Vose, Dee Benson, Mary Lou Gilbert, Beverly Little, Carole Mayo, Sue Schaar, and Virginia Vasiliou; designed by Jane Nichols; yarns and stitches selected by Bernice Abernathy, Pat Fifield-Saenz, and Pat Wagner [Smith]. Art Deco Cat: stitched by Heather Rinaldi, designed by Ruth Schmuff, stitch guide by Ruth Schmuff [Grendysz]. Alligator: stitched by Linda W. Juchatz, designed by JP Sligh, stitch guide by Linda W. Juchatz [Grendysz]. Bottom row, left to right : Striped Cats: designed and stitched by Patt (Patricia) Large [Grendysz]. Gooney Bird: stitched by Kimberly Smith, designed by Diane OLeary, stitch guide by Kimberly Smith [Grendysz].

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO

Perry Rosenthal, M.D., ophthalmologist,
Founder, Boston Foundation for Sight

For his gift of vision

PERRY ROSENTHAL, M.D., is the award-winning founder and former director of the Boston Foundation for Sight, Inc. He is also an assistant clinical professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. His career has been devoted to the study of contact lenses and corneal diseases that rob patients of vision. Dr. Rosenthal invented the plastic now used to make rigid gas permeable contact lenses. In so doing, he co-founded Polymer Technology Corporation, now a subsidiary of Bausch & Lomb.

Dr. Rosenthal developed the ocular surface prosthesis at the Boston Foundation for Sight; it restores vision to those suffering from a range of debilitating corneal conditions, such as keratoconus, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, graft-versus-host disease, extreme dry eye, failed Lasik surgery, and others. While I was at the foundations offices one summer, a woman came in for treatment, unable to even see light. Within two hours of being fitted for the device, she was seeing 20/40, and she left two days later with 20/20 vision.

The only laboratory in the world that makes the ocular surface prosthesis is located on site, in the Boston area. There, two special lathes that cost nearly a million dollars apiece produce these miracle appliances. The lathes were generously donated by Bausch & Lomb. The Boston Foundation for Sight, a nonprofit organization founded in 1992, relies on tax-deductible donations to treat everyone, including those unable to pay the high cost of the device.

I was diagnosed with keratoconus in 1972, while I was doing the research for The Needlepoint Book. I have had four corneal transplants since. In 1982, my third corneal graft took the close vision that I need for stitching. By 2007, the disease in my corneas had advanced to the point where contact lenses would no longer reliably stay on my lumpy corneas; the contacts popped out regularly, sometimes irretrievably. Without them, I was legally blind. In spite of the fact that my eye condition continues to decline, my vision with Dr. Rosenthals ocular surface prosthesis is now 20/20 in both eyes! Truly a miracle!

Though no longer seeing patients, Dr. Perry Rosenthal continues his research into eye pain through Boston Eye Pain Foundation, also nonprofit.

Canvassing Cuties! Life-sized soft sculpture. Designed and stitched by Elaine Warner .

THE HUSBANDS COMPLAINT

Ive heard of wives too musicaltoo talkativetoo quiet

Of scolding and of gaming wives and those too fond of riot;

But yet of all the errors I know, which to the women fall;

For ever doing fancy work, I think exceeds them all.

The other day when I went home no dinner was for me,

I asked my wife the reason; she answered, One, two, three.

I told her I was hungry and stamped upon the floor.

She never even looked at me, but murmured One green more.

If any lady comes to tea, her bag is first surveyed,

And if the pattern pleases her, a copy there is made.

She stares too at the gentlemen, and when I ask her why,

Tis, Oh my love, the pattern of his waistcoat struck my eye.

Ah? The misery of a working wife, with fancy work run wild;

And hands that never do aught else for husband or for child;

Our clothes are rent, our bills unpaid; my house is in disorder;

And all because my lady wife has taken to embroider.

M. T. MORRALL, A History of Needlemaking, 1852

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Amy Bunger

I was once asked, If you could have only three needlepoint books, which would you choose? Wow, that was a tall order, sort of like asking someone his favorite color. On what: a flower, clothing, the sky, a car, food... hmmmm? So I sat and thought about it while looking at my shelves. There are needlepoint how-to books (for the beginner to beginner-intermediate), enhancement suggestion books (where to use it), stitch discipline books (Bargello, etc.), stitch shape books, even coffee table books filled with beautiful color plates of artwork. How could I choose just three to be satisfied, inspired, and entertained?

From the moment you step outside the Tent Stitch box with your stitching, you will look for the perfect needlepoint book. There isnt one, of course, nor would we want there to be just one perfect needlepoint book. We needlepointers are collectors above all else. We collect canvas designs, threads, scissors, laying tools, magnets, scissor fobs, and moreincluding books. The bookshelves at my shop, as well as the bookshelves in my home office, groan with the weight of my books. I have books on specific techniques such as beading, Stumpwork, and ribbon embroidery. I have books filled with the antics of composite stitches. I have books on stitch applications with suggestions on where to put the stitches once you understand them. I even have stitch books I have written myself.