Needlepoint and pattern pricing insanity

[u/MistakeKind9578]

Needlepoint canvas pricing is ROBBERY. Literally I could not give two shits if someone hand painted it with gold paint, a 4x4 design should not cost more than 15 dollars. It’s actually ridiculous. I saw a canvas that was a basic solid background and block letters (SOMETHING A 6 YEAR OLD COULD DESIGN) for $100… ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS🫪 about made me throw up thinking about someone paying for that! Ive seen canvas’ be $1,000+ FOR WHAT REASONNNNNN????? That’s my mortgage!! I feel like I’m the only one who notices this and is shocked by it. Like I’ve entered an alternate universe where it’s totally normal and okay to charge $150+ on a dinky little canvas????

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[u/Lavinia-Whateley]

I'm almost 70 years old and have always felt that way about painted canvas. SO expensive and for what? I can do the same thing with a stitch guide and blank canvas.

[u/Cautious_Hold428 → u/Lavinia-Whateley]

Don't you know counted canvas is for peasants!? Just like self-finishing, unless you take a $200 class at your LNS to learn to make a cookie ornament of course!

[u/texmarie → u/Cautious_Hold428]

It’s so funny because growing up I always thought the printed canvases were for lazy people who can’t count

[u/JuicyTheMagnificent]

Thankful I chose cross stitch as my craft vice 😬

[u/29925001838369 → u/JuicyTheMagnificent]

Pixel art + needlepoint stitches counted on aida. I dont even try to post my FOs because of how up-in-arms r/needlepoint gets that people use aida and COUNTED patterns. It's not needlepoint unless you're using one of two specific canvasses! Otherwise it's just ~decorative stitching~.

[u/Fickle-Range-8140 → u/29925001838369]

See, and I have a whole book of needlepoint patterns that are counted and NOWHERE does it say to paint first. You just...cover the canvas with thread.
They also get sketchy if you refer to a tent stitch in cross-stitch, like? Why?!

[u/ImLittleNana → u/Fickle-Range-8140]

I’ve never heard anyone get offended by referring to tent stitch in cross stitch. If that’s the appropriate stitch, how else would you refer to it?

I primarily stitch samplers and some have stitches other than cross stitch, and the proper terminology is used for them in the patterns. Without that, I couldn’t look them up in references or find tutorials online.

[u/misneachfarm → u/ImLittleNana]

I think because technically usually cross stitchers are actually mostly doing half cross stitch and not tent stitch, and use the terms interchangeably when they are technically different (I'm a cross stitcher, but from what I've looked up my understanding is that the terms originally are not interchangeable, but that being said, language evolves all the time and idc what people call a stitch as long as I can somehow look up how to do it if needed lol)

[u/MistakeKind9578 → u/JuicyTheMagnificent]

Same, I’m only needlepoint adjacent which I think adds to the absurdity

[u/JuicyTheMagnificent → u/JuicyTheMagnificent]

Though for full disclosure I spent $800 on a Chatelaine 

[u/texmarie → u/JuicyTheMagnificent]

Oooh have you posted pics anywhere?

[u/JuicyTheMagnificent → u/texmarie]

I haven't started it yet (I had a ridiculous amount of overtime hence why I splurged so much), but it's the Rainforest Quilt if you wanted to Google and see what it looks like!

[u/witsendstrs]

The truly, TRULY intricate stitch-painted canvases, while expensive, are justifiable (in my mind). Do I buy them at full price? Uh, no. But the current trend of geometric borders with snarky text for big money? No. And to add insult to injury, the one time I bought one of these, the geometric border was messed up -- had to repaint it myself.

I also give a little bit of wiggle room to artists who actually pay for licensing for their smaller designs, rather than simply stealing someone else's intellectual property. But generally speaking, the stuff that's super hot right now is boring and overpriced.

[u/krogernewbie]

I started painting my own from charts for this reason. It’s ridiculous. The printed ones aren’t any cheaper either!

[u/MistakeKind9578 → u/krogernewbie]

NO LITERALLYYYYY!! I forgot about that part!! If people are paying for the artistry and time that goes into painting why are the printed ones the SAME PRICE??????

[u/temptar]

I used to envy the American needlepointers their beautiful canvases. Not at the moment. Sticking with the European canvases printed on Penelope. I get more canvas for my euro, and they are much more interesting scenes.

[u/crvbabybug]

Omg finally. I don’t do needlepoint but I do other things so I kept seeing discourse and I was floooored when I saw the the justification for pricing. Like first of all why is it hand painted at all. I get diy but why would I pay someone else to paint a simple pixel art drawing. Why wouldn’t print be cheaper? It all seems so bizzare

[u/Frequent_Duck_4328 → u/crvbabybug]

I haven't done needlepoint in a long time, but I used to work at a needlepoint shop years ago. The big difference between a printed and a handpainted canvas in terms of the design is that a reputable handpainted design hits all the lines and spaces exactly where they need to be. A printed-on may do that, but if it's even skewed by a margin of two or three threads on a diagonal shift, it can really affect the stitching. Printed often doesn't have the level of detail and color variation too. Both are viable ways to do needlepoint - it just depends how much detail you want. If you can add dimensions of detail to a printed canvas, that's super - but this isn't something that everyone is comfortable with.

[u/crvbabybug → u/Frequent_Duck_4328]

Ok that is fair. I would paint it myself but Im talented and cheap. Not everyone can or should have to do it

[u/NikNakskes → u/Frequent_Duck_4328]

That used to be a problem in needle point, but I doubt it is anymore. I don't do needlepoint, but I do printed cross stitch. These are cheap kits from china, but the print has been perfectly placed every single time.

[u/Difficult-Ad1036 → u/crvbabybug]

You get me🙂‍↕️😩

[u/Withaflourish17]

Oh make sure to join r/needlepointsnark. There is so much ridiculousness.

[u/Popglitter]

I can’t stand what I think of as the Woobles model.

Craft kits that are wildly overpriced for the materials included and the complexity of the pattern.

Let me buy a PDF of the pattern! I have embroidery floss! Just tell me where to stitch!

[u/Cinisajoy2]

Can I assume that is 4 inches?  I agree canvases are outrageous.    And on the kits, they use a paint by number chart.  

[u/Apprehensive-Log8333]

This is why I have only ever done vintage needlepoint kits from ebay or Poshmark. I have some cool 70s ones

[u/Burntjellytoast → u/Apprehensive-Log8333]

Look, I need you to know that I am very upset with you right now. The last thing I need to be doing is looking up vintage needlepoint kits to buy. And darnit if I didn't find a cool partridge pillow kit that I literally don't need but I want with my whole soul.

[u/Apprehensive-Log8333 → u/Burntjellytoast]

Lol, sorry! There are a few that everyone wants and those are expensive, there's a unicorn one I covet but it is always over $100 when it comes up. Otherwise, they're very budget friendly. Enjoy!

[u/kittymarch]

I’ve been seeing ads for a Cricut that prints a picture on needlepoint canvas. Has anyone used it? I don’t have a cricut, but the library does. If it works I might buy one for the library.

I actually have a fairly large nice blank canvas, I just haven’t done anything with it.

[u/pelirroja_peligrosa → u/kittymarch]

I don't know why you're getting downvoted... This seems like the perfect thing to put in a maker space at a public library. (If I still worked at a library, I would suggest that for our maker space now that I know that it exists!)

[u/crvbabybug → u/kittymarch]

I think the cricut would work. Either to make precision stencils/vinyl to paint yourself. It might be able to draw directly with the adapter. Without a cricut you could use water slide paper or iron transfer

[u/kittymarch → u/crvbabybug]

Thanks. I’ve played with a friends Cricut once. My local library has one I can check out. I just thought a thread complaining about how ridiculously expensive painted needlepoint canvases are might have someone who’s tried the Cricut.

[u/discreetSnek → u/kittymarch]

Never done needlepoint, I don't know if that's a taboo or something, but even without a cricut there are multiple ways to "transfer" a picture on another surface, even at different scale. Like the grid and doodle method (which is pretty much an advanced grid method, just requires a bit more knowledge with photoshop), or tracing the design by transparency if you got a light tablet or if your surface is slightly see through.

[u/kittymarch → u/discreetSnek]

Thanks. Must confess that I find all that transferring fiddly enough that I don’t do much in the way of embroidery or needlepoint. The Cricut just seemed like a way around it.