lula said

I've always noticed there have been embroidery kits for sale through the
years and that embroidery was quite popular at one time in the past and
since then has always been around.
But I don't really know if embroidery has ever been as popular or as
commercially successful as the cross stitch craze in the last 20 years.

When I did my first stitchings about 30 years ago (gawd, that makes me feel
old!), there seemed to be a lot of wool (crewel) and embroidery kits on the
market for more than just flowers and Jacobean designs. As a matter of fact,
one of my bedrooms is a 'shrine' to projects done during that period -- scenes
of Olde Williamsburg, Boston, Philadelphia, Salem, children riding bikes, etc.,
etc.

About 2 years ago, I found that I was too antsy to sit and just read for
extended periods. Being a confirmed couch potato, I still wanted to sit but
wasn't sure my eyesight was good enough or fingers were nimble enough to do any
stitching. I knew that counted cross stitch wasn't for me and was appalled that
there wasn't much of a selection in pure, fill in all the spaces, as opposed to
merely embellishing artwork, floss or wool embroidery kits in the local stores.
There were more designs in the needlepoint section but the flat and somewhat
'jaggy' look of needlepoint has never appealed to me. I ended up with a
Jannlynn kit for 4 small pieces. Being frugal, the fact that the kit included
frames appealed to me ;-)

I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to fill in the blanks with little
trouble and then went back for more. Next, I tried my hand at long stitch --the
ever popular, balloon and seascape kits. I enjoyed doing them but felt a bit
constrained by the similarity of the stitching. I picked up quite a few
'vintage' kits (Hummels, candlewicking, etc) on Ebay. Even though I've got a
drawer that's overflowing with Ebay finds, I went into whimsy mode which got me
started on modifying cross stitch charts.

My sister has spent a fortune on handpainted needlepoint canvases, some of
which I actually like eg but as I said before, the look doesn't 'talk' to me.
Cutting to the chase, I don't have a clue as to whether there's a market for
non-traditional 'regular' embroidery but I know that I'd at least look at the
stuff ;-)


Some other sources one might use for the purpose of embroidery is to use
"serious" coloring books, the well done series featuring historical
costumes, theater, botanicals, historical subjects and so
on........designs for Redwork, iron-on templates among many other
sources for line drawings.

I've picked up a few of those at an art supply store and did one of a Japanese
vase and one of these days, I'll do a fan picture.

--
another Anne, add ingers to frugalf to reply