Eugenia Uhl
At shops like Needle Arts, in Mid-City New Orleans, needlepoint appeals to a new demographic.
It started with Biggie Smalls. On my Instagram feed, amid restaurant specials and pouting babies, I spied a work-in-progress needlepoint canvas portrait of the deceased rapper. Curiosity led me from Biggie to a website called tessandthorn.com (now pewterandpine.com and thornalexander.com), where the inventory of canvases featured hand-painted designs of Chanel fragrance bottles or bright rectangles containing snappy phrases like “You have as many hours in the day as Beyoncé” and “No Bad Vibes.” There were other portraits too: Audrey Hepburn, Prince, and interior design icon, Iris Apfel. Digging deep down the Internet rabbit-hole, it became clear to this self-professed needle arts geek that needlework, specifically needlepoint, is currently captivating another generation, many of whom have been taught to sew by their grandmothers. And across Louisiana, shops dedicated to needlepoint and other forms of embroidery now cater to all ages and don’t skimp on the local flair.
For enthusiasts and novices alike, there’s The Elegant Needle in Baton Rouge’s increasingly artsy Mid City neighborhood; in Broussard, Stitch and Frame of Acadiana; and up in Shreveport, Hanging by a Thread. In New Orleans, thread hunters frequent The Quarter Stitch (French Quarter), Needlework Vault (Lower Garden District), and Needle Arts (Mid-City). At The Quarter Stitch, owner Michelle “Chelle” Wabrek works with local artists Dr. Bob, Simon, and Alex Beard (to name a few), transferring their beloved and popular art onto needlepoint canvas. Re-prints of folkart works by Clementine Hunter and modern, whimsical, and even humorous animal portraits from Louisiana and Southern regional designers can be purchased with or without wool thread. (Though they stock a limited amount of embroidery fibers, The Quarter Stitch’s go-to is wool, for a more traditional stitching experience. Wabrek is fairly emphatic about keeping it simple with yarn and stitch.)
Wabrek and her staff are generous with information, friendly, and helpful in choosing colors, canvases and offering guidance. Of the resurgence of needlepoint, one staffer said, “A lot of people are coming back to needlepoint because there are new, more modern canvases that pull them in. Most who walk in learned from their grandmother and have the basic skills, needing only a refresher. Needlepoint is generational, and it seems to skip a generation. Why? I don’t know. Every now and then we’ll get someone who is a first-timer. They’re rare, though, but get pulled in by the artsy-fun canvases and wanting to do something with their hands that they can share with their children or grandchildren.”
It’s a bit like being in an art museum with exhibits of past and present to wander through—gawking, laughing, and gasping at all the interesting needlepoint canvases to be stitched and finished. There is old and new. There are people with whom to engage. It’s fun.
An ancient art, needlepoint dates back to the Egyptians. Their tents were sewn with small, slanted stitches, it’s believed, and among the artifacts in King Tut’s tomb, archaeologist Howard Carter found garments sewn with animal and floral designs. Embroidery, the general name for needlework, appears on thirteenth-century European coarse linen and tapestries and was originally worked with yarn threaded on thorns, before the advent of steel needles. But it wasn’t until the seventeenth century that upholstered furniture and embroidered fabrics came into vogue and formed the foundation for the needlepoint we know and sew today.
Needlepoint with a Louisiana flair is easy to come by on the canvases of Jude Designs. Photo courtesy Stitch and Frame of Acadiana.
Needlepoint is fairly easy to do. Stitching is worked on a stiff, open-weave mono canvas found in mesh sizes ranging from large (10 stitches per inch) to very fine “petit point” of 22 or 24 stitches per inch. The most common sizes of mesh mono canvas are 13 and 18. Canvases are usually hand-painted (a growing art form) or screen printed, with designs, styles, and sizes wildly varied. Likewise, the threads (“fibers,” as needlepoint pros call them) used for stitching are available in riotous colors, and in materials from silk, wool, and bamboo to ribbon, raffia and metallic braid. There are needlepoint kits complete with canvas and fibers, or canvases can be purchased un-kitted so the stitcher can choose a fiber type and, in some cases, embellishments, like beading or found objects. Like any art, needlepoint continually evolves with new stitches and techniques.
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Traditionally, needlepoint canvases are worked in a small slant called “tent stitch,” also known as basketweave or “Continental.” The repetitive motion of needlepointing is meditative, relaxing, and as Florida’s Stitches by the Sea shop owner coined, “Yoga for the mind.” There is a flow to sewing a painted or printed canvas that’s similar to guided meditation, “painting” with each stitch like a brush stroke. When the last stitch is done, the sewer is left with a piece of art done by their own hands, to be finished into a pillow, framed wall art, belt, purse, ornament, etc. There is a decidedly utilitarian nature to the craft.
After some time and several canvases, many people move onto experimenting with different stitches and embellishments to create texture and dimension. Creative liberties can be taken, and some needlepointers find as much joy in painting canvases as stitching. It’s fascinating to talk with long-time needlepointers about their own evolution in the craft, what they stitch, and the many paths up the needlepointing mountain.
Clementine Hunter designs at the Quarter Stitch.
Step into a shop to get swept up in the matter. Each store has its own stitching style, theories, opinions, and advice; available canvas designs reflect varying demographics, but there are always staples, especially Louisiana’s iconic images: food, music, Mardi Gras, architecture, and symbols (think fleur de lis) by local artists like Jude Designs (who has the exclusive on Tabasco designs), Annie and Co., and Shelia Dial. Typically, walls are plastered top to bottom with stunning, hand-painted canvases, and there are racks filled with skeins of colorful fibers, scissors and other bits and bobs. It’s a bit like being in an art museum with exhibits of past and present to wander through—gawking, laughing, and gasping at all the interesting needlepoint canvases to be stitched and finished. There is old and new. There are people with whom to engage. It’s fun.
And because it is the climate of the time, there is the internet, another rich source for images, social media groups, stitch guides, tutorials, fibers, and of course, a zillion canvases. There’s a lot of information out there, along with a growing group of young designers and stitchers taking a stab at needlepoint, entrepreneurship, and finding tangible entertainment in a digital world. These modern makers are diving into canvases with contemporary style, quips, colors, and creativity, grabbing moments of zen sewing a Warhol-esque image of Tupac or a Bowie-inspired belt, reviving a threatened art through a new lens and adding some humor, leaving everyone in stitches.
The Elegant Needle
6641 Government Street
Baton Rouge, La.
(225) 925-8920
Stitch and Frame of Acadiana
817 Albertson Parkway, Suite K
Broussard, La.
(337) 330-2636
“Stitch and Frame of Acadiana LLC” on Facebook
Hanging by a Thread
6505 Line Avenue, Suite 22
Shreveport, La.
(318) 865-7878
hangingbyathreadshreveport.com
The Quarter Stitch
629 Chartres Street
New Orleans, La.
(504) 522-4451
Needlework Vault
1927 Sophie Wright Place
New Orleans, La.
(504) 528-9797
Needle Arts
5301 Canal Boulevard
New Orleans, La.
(504) 832-3050
facebook.com/needleartsstudio
