I recently became a homeowner, and have since begun to discover the many joys (sarcastic and actual) of owning my own house. Cutting the lawn, battling weeds in the driveway, creaky floorboards, retrofit installations, closet engineering, picture hanging… the list goes on! One actual joy is that I now have an extra room for use as a study and stitching location, with high horizontal windows letting in lots of natural lighting and enough space and closet room for projects.

New Stitching Room!

The problem is: I don’t know what kind of chair to get! I know it may sound silly, but I’ve never actually had that perfect, wonderful chair that most people seem to have. My grandmother had one: a wooden sliding rocker with a distinct ‘clack’ and removable tie-on cushions. My mother has been through a few club chairs, recliners, and wing-backs, and now has a wonderful buttery soft set of recliners with high-backs and big, cushy armrests. But not me! I’ve browsed and perused and just can’t seem to put my finger on the one that is just right. I’ve also troubled myself over wanting it to be too comfortable, since I tend to go into stitching comas where I won’t move or get up for hours and I know that can’t be too healthy for me. Does that mean the chair should be moderately comfortable, but not so much that I don’t get the urge to get up every once in a while? I seem to remember an episode of Better Off Ted where they designed a horribly uncomfortable office chair that ended up increasing productivity because workers wouldn’t go into day-time lulls due to the discomfort. Yikes. I don’t want to be aching my back though either. Well, hopefully you can detect my confuzzlement with such a seemingly simple acquisition. So, I turn to you, my fellow stitchers! Recliner? Club chair? Armrests? High back? Fabric? Leather? Microfiber? Cushy? Hard? Aack, too many options! Please help!

What’s your favorite stitching chair like? What do you like most about it? Recommendations?

Written by: Ryan

A hot topic around Nordic these days is how to keep the stitching arts alive through education. When I started working here the only “stitching” I did was knitting and machine, and then it was only as far as simple sweaters, scarves, and the occasional article of clothing. I had no idea how vast the world of stitching was! What I thought would be a very low-key retail job turned into this (nearing 5 year long) epic adventure into the world of needlework. That got me thinking: if I had no idea what these techniques were until serendipitously stumbling into this position, then there were millions of others who were just as ignorant as myself out there! What to do? It seems like the major following and “continuing” stitchers are the wiser and experienced lot, not the young crowd of go-go-getters and next-cool-thingers none the wiser to the traditional techniques of our mother generations. What I found disheartening was that my mother had, at one time, been into embroidery, and she still enjoys Crewel (and wants to learn cross stitch), but growing up she was just too busy being a single mother of two for stitching, so I never had the opportunity to be interested. How many other 20-somethings out there were in the same position growing up? Probably a lot.

Now, as the generation gap continues to widen, it seems like more and more needlearts are becoming stuck, almost corralled within their age groups of those few and amazing dedicated stitchers. So, how do we get the word out? How do we create the resurgence in traditional embroidery techniques that knitting and sewing had several years ago? Or is it all just adapting to modern use and form?

It seems like it would be easier to share all these wonderful techniques utilizing the new technological tools like the internet and social media, but it still seems difficult to GRAB that attention. Especially when fighting against video games and the general fast-paced lifestyles that so many of us have.

So, with all that being said, we’re looking to you to share your opinions and insight with us:

If you have children:
• Did/do you share your embroidery knowledge with them?
• If so, are they still embroidering now?
• What have you taught? What was it like? What did you learn?
• What type of art do you think kids/young adults are interested in these days?
• Who’s the youngest person you know who stitches? What type of projects do they do?
• What kind of projects do you think middle schoolers would be interested in? High schoolers? College students?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

So sure, maybe the doilies of yore aren’t going to be as exciting as the free-form embroidery of new, but I still think traditional Hardanger runners, tablecloths, and tatted table centers (plus so many more techniques I just adore) still have the flare and beauty to dress my tables (and walls, and counters, and dressers… =). We hope to create more opportunities for the younger generations to experience these lovely techniques, through clubs and reaching out within our own community, but we want your feedback too! Let us know what you think, share your ideas for keeping these beautiful techniques strong, and how you envision them either having a modern makeover or marketing their vintage prestige.

Written by: Ryan

To welcome in Thanksgiving, Debi wrote a fantastic newsletter dedicated to the first Thanksgiving dinner – in stitches! She charted each stitch herself with amazing descriptions and variations. Check out the article »

Written by: Ryan