The Devil is in the Details...of Designing

Ever wondered why the (good) readymade needlepoint designs are so darn expensive? I did (and do), but one starts to understand why, when one carefully executes designs. Leaving aside for the moment other costs,...More......such as paying royalties to the museum or artist holding image rights, physical production & storage & shipping, personnel, PR & advertising, a bit of good old-fashioned profit and who knows what else, the design and proofing process is a lot more exacting and painstaking and time-consuming than you may have thought.

Take a look at my diagrams: at the top is the plain canvas, in the middle a design, at the bottom a simulated needlepoint of the colored "O" of the design. Note how, in the design, the "O" looks completely closed, yet, in the simulated needlepoint, there are gaps.

Remember I mentioned earlier to pay attention to materials and technique? This is an excellent example: the thickness and thinness of the lines (much more visible in real stitching), as well as the gaps, are produced by the bottom left to upper right direction of my right handed stitching (the gaps are on the opposite side for lefties).

When these thickness variations and gaps are not desirable, it takes eye-straining care and great concentration to hunt for these areas in the design, and, even then, some pop up during execution (hence, for commercial purposes, samples have to be worked). To get rid of these variances and gaps, extra stitches have to be added where you may not want them.

On the other hand these variations in thickness and gaps also can be part of your original design. Keep them in mind, too, when using Cross Stitch patterns for needlepoint.