Stitchcrafts

[louiselux]

So, using the theory of friendlist knows all, and in the interests of research for my job: does anyone have any idea about the general growing or fading popularity of stitchcrafts (not including knitting)? By stitchcrafts I mean crosstitch, tapestry and needlepoint. I bandy these words but I'm by no means an expert.

This market isn't well covered (or actually, at all) by market research, mostly I think because it's so fragmented. A company I'm working with maintains that it's not a healthy market but it doesn't have much to back this up with, and now I'm curious. I know knitting has had a big resurgence in the last few years and so I'm faintly surprised he said this about stitchcrafts. That said, I have no idea how much knitters overlap with people who enjoy needlepoint or crosstitch, or vice versa.

As an aside, never having thought about doing anything of this kind before, I really rather like this William Morris tulip and rose design and could imagine sitting about in the evenings sewing it.

Comments

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

I'd think one good measure would be the sales figures for magazines such as Cross Stitcher (http://www.abc.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=nav/abc&noc=y).

At the Knitting and Stitching shows, there's definitely more of a buzz about knitting, and far more stalls of knitting stuff, but the embroidery stalls are thronging too.

I've been working on the same cross stitch viking ship for at least seven years now though, so it's certainly faded in popularity there.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's a really useful resource.

Seven years... oh dear!

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Cross-stitch (which is the bit of needlecraft I know) seems to be hanging on okay. There are about five monthly magazines, thriving online communities (eg, cross_stitch). Actual needlecraft shops aren't doing too well, as the online stores take a lot of their market, but that's a problem across the board, I think.

That said - it's not a trendy pastime. Where you can happily knit in public, knowing that you're being post-modern and ironic, cross-stitch is really not at that stage.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Aha, it really isn't, it seems. Although there are some really cool 'stitch your own tattoos' (onto cloth, not your body, I hasten to add!) on this site: http://www.sublimestitching.com/

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this was timely - Interweave Press just emailed me about this new book (http://www.interweave.com/needle/books/Stitch_Graffiti/preview.asp)with graffiti and tattoo inspired embroidery. Interweave have been responsible for some really lovely trendy knitting books, so it's also interesting to see the way they're pitching it (http://www.interweave.com/needle/books/Stitch_Graffiti/?utm_source=StitchGraffitiT2t&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=KP080221)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I think cross-stitch was actually much bigger (at least here in the States) ten or fifteen years ago, when I was doing it. There were some local x-stitch supply stores and now they're all gone.

A brian dump!

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the industry overall, but the two times I've been to one of these (http://www.stitchandcreativecrafts.co.uk/tickets_stitch.asp), they've been heaving.

My tuppence-worth:
I learned to sew (knit, etc) from Mum, who's incredibly crafty (um, in this sense of the word...). She learned from her Mum. I learned a bit at school, but didn't choose textiles as a GCSE. I'm not sure it's even offered these days at my old school.

The people at the craft fairs were mainly the middle-aged, rotund-types. There's an enormous amount of *not* stitch-craft out there (that's one area that's definitely seen an upturn), but the cross stitch stalls seem to be holding steady. There are certainly new kits out every year, at any rate, and it's slightly easier than it used to be to get realistic and tasteful designs instead of the twee stuff / dragons & Indians and Wolves junk that used to be everywhere.

I think part of the problem is that these things aren't very portable; if you're doing a large kit, you need to be able to open out the chart, sort through the threads, and keep track of everything you're doing without getting it damaged. I could just about manage it at a table on a train, but not in one of the paired seats.

Also, it's not very glamorous or exciting. Or sociable, come to think of it; if you're constantly counting and reciting "two across, then one down and another three across..." then it's hard to carry on a conversation.

Unless you have a *good* local stockist, who'll show you catalogues & order things in for you, you're constrained by what they think you should like. Which, since craft shops are usually run by more of these little old ladies, tends to be Forever Friends, cartoon cats with Witty Captions, and rainbow unicorns. You get sepia toned Elvis & Diana, or Anne Hathaway's Cottage if you're lucky.

The last issue, imo, is the cost & time; an A4 picture can cost up to £50 if it's detailed enough, and can take *ages* to do.


I'm trying to think back to when I audited Coats Viyella (as it was then); Coats Crafts was always a stable part of the business, and from looking at their website now it seems to be doing well, but... I don't know. Embroidery just isn't *cool*; I get the same reactions to admitting to it as I do when I say I play tabletop roleplaying games. Very few people make things because they can't afford to buy any more (as did Mum & Gran; they'd windowshop at Jenners, then go home & make the things they liked).


Um. Not sure how helpful that is! I like that seat cover, though... ;)

Re: A brian dump!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Hoorah for brian dumps! Thanks! I think you make some very good points, especially about it not being glamorous or the designs stylish. I know knitting has reinvented itself but cross-stich or tapestry? Hmmm, maybe not yet.

I love that about your mum and grandma looking in shop windows and going home to make what they saw. I'd love to be able to do that. Although they did it out of necessity probably. I'd do it just to have things that fitted right.

Re: A brian dump!

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at the big manufacturers' financial statements? They're al biased, but have bits of relevant industry background information (like Coats plc (http://www.coats.com/financial.htm) - the first few pages of waffle before the audit report in the 2006 accounts.)


I'd do it just to have things that fitted right
Mum did a pattern cutting City & Guilds for just that reason!

Also, I'll be going to see designbyclaire soon to be measured for a Gerard & Jacques coat! I could ask her if she has time to see you as well, if you're interested?

Re: A brian dump!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Gerard and Jaques coat! I would love to come along! I love her 50s dresses - one for the summmer would spur me on to tone my arm muscles.

Also, thanks for the tip and the link, I should have a look at those.

[luthien.livejournal.com]

I used to be pretty heavily into needlecraft about ten years ago, when I did a two year course with the Embroiderers' Guild, but my interest has dropped off in the past few years. I get the impression that it's not as popular as it was ten years ago, and certainly there seem to be fewer magazines devoted to it now than there were then. The primary embroidery magazine in Australia has certainly cut back content and incorporated other stuff in the past five years or so. I get the impression there are still a vast array of different crafts that are popular - it's definitely more major craft fairs than specific embroidery type fairs that I'm seeing happening these days. Sorry, I don't have any actual data to help you though.

I love Beth Russell's interpretations of Wilseveral of them. I was always more into canvaswork/needlepoint than cross stitch, anyway.

[luthien.livejournal.com]

Huh, my computer ate part of that last sentence. Sorry.

I love Beth Russell's interpretations of William Morris and have worked several of them.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thanks though, because that's still useful. It backs up what he said, scpailly what's happening in the magazine. From what other people say, crafts in general are very popular.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was supposed to say specially - I have no idea what my fingers did there!

[indelicateink]

Yeah... I have no good numbers for you. XD But I can offer brain/internet dump, too.

It seems like there's been a steady resurgence in needlework via the trend of DIY/maker/craft culture? Which I'm basing on a vibe, I can't seem to track down any numbers from teh internets.

Resources: Craft magazine, craftster.org, whipup.net, craftmafia, Etsy... sadly, none of these are needlework-dedicated, only inclusive, but might possibly give you a lead to follow...

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I'll investigate them. I think crafts in themselves seem to be growing in popularity. However, it's hard to tease stitchcrafts out from the general mass of craft activities, which is probably why market researches have not found it worthwhile.

Also, on a non related note, I need to email you about my stories ideas for sweet charity!! I seem to have far too many. :D

[indelicateink]

Oh yay! *flails and runs in circle, bouncing* Too many ideas sounds most wonderful! I'm very excited! :D

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

I enjoy cross stitch, tapestry, knitting and quilting, it's very zen, you just sit quietly in the corner
but my housemate says i should live with 40 cats (I have 1 dog)
I dressmake as well
but for saying that it's easier to buy craft things like cross stitches and whatnot online, they have a selection, and the price of them from the states is amazing, it's 7c for something that costs us 50p
the tapestry is nice but I'd advise picking up a bookmark or something first because you might not like doing it. I hate rugging for example.
www.sewandso.co.uk is a great site, daniel who has run it for the last ten years has shown no sign of being poor.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice - I have looked at sew and so. Do you tend to buy from a range of sites, out of interest?

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

there aren't many sites in the uk, and the american ones tend to be vile or won't ship, ebay sucks because they are usually either missing one thread or worse yet have no instructions on the listing so you think you've just forked out for a 32x32 and got 14x14 or worse, the reverse.

www.johnlewis.com is great for simple pass the day stuff without the overwhelming omg sewandso can inspire
but I either get my stuff from there, in store, a little dressmaker's shop down an alleyway, or from here
http://www.twdesignworks.com/
but I'm all hardcore with my crossstitch and do patterns that take me months

[cynbaby.livejournal.com]

I cross-stitch, and have for years. I also crochet like the devil, but that may be too close to knitting.

[kaynyne.livejournal.com]

Well, I can speak from the point of view of someone who works at an arts college, and our 'creative studies' section (which is TrendySpeak! for stitchcraft, fabric design etc) has pretty much flatlined this past couple of years. It's mostly older, mature students doing fabric design, embroidery, tapestry types of courses, with only the more trendy fashion design courses pulling in under 40's. Many of the stitching/ weaving/ felting courses have been dropped, and only the knitting/crochet courses seem to be showing any signs of improvement.
The problem seems to be that people's attention span has dropped so severely in recent years that hobbies like stitchcraft are just too slow for many. We see the problem every day from students who want to learn the techniques but don't want to spend 6 months on a piece of embroidery!

Much of the market for stitchcraft supplies is now online and small independent companies have hit rock bottom because they can't compete with the low prices from countries like India and China.

Don't know if that helps? :)

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

I'm a big knitter but I also cross-stitch. That being said, I've also been working on the same 8 1/2x11 counted cross-stitch for... ummm... 6 years or so. I don't work on it constantly. Sort of when I'm between knitting projects and don't know yet what I'll knit next.

Knitting is also much more portable than cross-stitch in that you generally only have one ball of yarn to keep track of for most work (unless you're colour blocking) and don't have to switch colours frequently.

I still enjoy cross-stitching and like the results when I'm finished. I think because cross-stitching is also more decorative than functional (like knitting), it doesn't have as big a following. People may also see it as something your old aunt does while surrounded by a half dozen cats.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

It's funny, other people have said that too, about having seriously long term cross stitches that they go back to from time to time. I think the portable knitting aspect is important and also it does seem more sociable than cross stitch. I agree with you about the functionality of knitting too. You can't do much with a cross stitch other than frame it, I suppose. Unless you have it as a book mark or a cushion or something.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Well, I sew, knit, crochet, and do embroidery and beadwork in a wide range of different techniques, and have been doing these sorts of crafty things since I was a child -- pretty much everyone in my family does some sort of handicrafts. So for what it's worth, here are totally unscientific impressions based on thirty-plus years of crafty experience and shopping for supplies in the US. Judging by the presence of specialty shops, items stocked in more general craft shops, and changing trends in what's stocked in the specialty catalogs -- I'd agree with all the folks saying that knitting/crochet is definitely the biggest deal in textile crafts right now, and that seems to have been an increasing trend for the last decade. Crewel embroidery (I think this might be what you meant by tapestry?) and needlepoint seemed to be more in vogue in the late 60s/early 70s, counted cross stitch had a huge upsurge in popularity in the mid-to-late-80s through the early 90s, and currently I'd judge that the biggest crafts of the moment are quilting, scrapbooking, beadwork (of the simplest strung-on-wire-and-crimped sort, not so much the really painstaking sewn/loomed tiny sead bead work or hand-knotted-on-silk-cord sort), and knitting/crochet.

I can't really speak to scrapbooking as I know nothing about it, except that it seems to continually eat up increasing amounts of shelf/display space in my local craft shops -- but the other three all seem to have some common elements in that the end result is something usable/wearable, and there's a lot of emphasis in kits/books/patterns on new techniques that produce faster results -- "quilt in a day" booklets, knitting designs worked up on jumbo needles, and so forth. (Even in the embroidery catalogs, I'm seeing a lot more selection of small "weekended" projects or large kits where the design is actually screened in full color onto the fabric, with only relatively small areas left to be embellished by hand embroidery).

Knitting/crochet and quilting seemed to have much more of that "little old lady" vibe when I was young, but they seem to have shaken some of that in recent years from the increasing attention to quilts/patchwork as art, and greater availability of books/patterns featuring more modern, artsy, and/or youthful designs, and for knitting/crochet in particular, the upsurge in books like the Stitch N' Bitch, Happy Hooker, and Yarn Harlot series presenting more modern designs with a very young, irreverent tone. On the embroidery side of the fence, while there are some folks like Sublime Stitching or Subversive Cross Stitch (http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/) working that same sort of ironic hipster tone, they don't seem to have reached the same sort of visibility as the hip-yarncraft folks. Plus as folks have noted, yarnwork is typically more portable than fussing about with hoops and charts and multiple colors of floss, and when you've reached sufficient skill levels at knit or crochet, it's not even something where you need to watch your fingers quite so closely as you work; so knit/crochet is better suited than many other crafts to multitasking while watching TV, attending lectures, chatting with friends at the pub, etc.

The one subset of embroidery that seems to me to be booming the most in recent years is machine embroidery -- the patterns, specialty threads, computer accessories, etc. available for the high-end embroidery machines has been increasing steadily for the last few years as the machines get more and more sophisticated. That's bound to be an odd little corner of the market, though, as the initial investment in equipment is much, much higher than hand embroidery, where you could easily pick up a small beginner's kit with all supplies included for just a few dollars.

(Personally, I've always got a squillion different sewing/jewelry/crochet/needlework projects going at any particular moment...the one most relevant to this discussion, inspired jointly by Subversive Cross Stitch and Terry Pratchett, is this sweet, little-old-ladyish motto (http://smillaraaq.deviantart.com/art/Sampler-Snark-63785445) with hearts and flowers...)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Bwaahaha! That is wonderful! I think we all need one of those. Thanks also for the hugely useful info on trends. It's interesting to spot some of the ones you mentioned, like people wanting smaller quicker projects. I'd never heard of scrapbooking before starting this conversation, but I happened to flick to the shopping channel last night and there was a whole two hour slot on paper crafts and scrapbooking and related things, including crafting holidays where people do it en masse.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

*grins* I'd be glad to scan my sloppy little hand-drawn chart for any Pterry fans who want to join in on the fun. While I plotted it out with counted cross stitch in mind, it's just a basic gridded design in flat colors and can thus be easily adapted for needlepoint or any other sort of stitchery worked from a chart, and the colors can all be tweaked to suit...

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would be great if you could. I can think of at least two people I'd like to stitch it for.

[hfnuala.livejournal.com]

I saw this and though of your question:

http://www.interweave.com/needle/books/Stitch_Graffiti/?utm_source=StitchGraffitiT2t&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=KP080221

In general, at multi-craft shows, I tend not to see cross stitch in colours/designs I'd be interested in. Except for the occasional extremely expensive Willima Morris rip off kit :)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

snowballjane just linked me to that too. It's a refreshing change from the dross I've seen on a lot of sites. Hmm, maybe cross stitch is going to get all sexy like knitting?

Re: A brian dump!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

One of the ways I 'track' what's hot and what isn't is going to the craft stores. Knitting seems to be peaking or have peaked; papercrafts are still hot, and I think jewelry is going up.