Cross-Stitching

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Too Much!
Sat, Jun 13, 2015 10:25 PM
Posted by Tam
Hello!
I have been stitching for over 30 yrs. & am wondering if anyone else notices the same things I am noticing on many designers selling their goods. It is so exciting to see new things coming out all the time but everything is getting so extremely expensive!! By the time you get your pattern, threads, linen, etc. you have so much money tied up in just one project!! I think that is one of the reasons people are not taking up this art form &'it is dyeing out.
Also, I have noticed a few popular designers who don't even acknowledge email. It is so frustrating to me when you pay for something you don't even get any response back especially when you have contacted the designer several times. It seems to me it is just a big money maker anymore. Anyone else feel this way?
  • Reply from Pamn
    Thursday, June 18, 2015 2:47 PM
    Hi there, Pamn here. I feel your pain. While I don't think designers are making big bucks at this, their time and creativity is worth something as well. That being said, I wonder if some are "in bed" as they say, with thread/embellishment companies. I find the cost of kitting up as design with the recommended fabric and fibers is oftentimes excessive. I find myself using a less expensive fabric and good ol' DMC floss or pearl cotton instead of the recommended fibers, more often than not. Yes, the end result is different from the "picture", but usually not very much. I recently stitched a needlepoint piece, "Heavenly Cats". If I'd used the recommended threads from Rainbow Gallery and other more expensive thread houses, the threads would have been over $200.00!! Instead, I used (mostly) DMC Variations Pearl Cotton, and a very few skeins of Watercolors I had on hand. I spent less than $25.00 for the whole thing. And..the result was spectacular, I must say. I will be soon working on a needlepoint piece that calls for (among many other things) three skeins of Gloriana silk at over $7.00 a skein. I will tell you right now, I am not going there. I intend on substituting some overdyed cotton floss in a similar color. I know that the world will continue to spin on it's axis and the sun will come up tomorrow even though I will be substituting cotton for silk. (I don't like stitching with silk anyway.) I also know that the end result will be lovely, just the same.

    I don't believe this art is dying out, but I do feel it is evolving--from more of a "craft" to more of an "art". I believe this is a good thing. But, I also believe it is cyclical and the pendulum will eventually swing back. Needlework is what you make it, and if you enjoy the process as much as the product, love will find a way. This is coming from someone of very limited means, by the way.

    Live long and prosper,Pamn. Go to top