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the hand-painted needlepoint canvas

An embroidery chart published by Ludwig Wilhelm Wittich (1773–1832). Stadtmuseum Berlin, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The hand-painted needlepoint canvas

18 traced influences · 5 sources

dig the hand-painted needlepoint canvas

What it took directly

  1. documentedPenny Linn Designs comes from Krista LeRay's New York City apartment, in 2020"Krista LeRay, a needlepoint content creator with over 150K TikTok followers, who founded popular online needlepoint store Penny Linn Designs from her New York City apartment in 2020." Daisy Woodward, BBC Culture (June 2024)
  2. statedThe hand-painted canvas boom of the 2020s took from people trying to get off their phones and away from the news"I think it has a lot to do with the fact that people were looking for ways to get off their phones, to get away from the news" Krista LeRay, founder of Penny Linn Designs, to BBC Culture (2024)
  3. documentedToday's hand-painted canvases took from pop-culture one-liners, like Cher's "Mom, I am a rich man""including playful pictures of everything from food to flamingoes, and pithy statements like "Mom, I am a rich man" (the inimitable Cher quote) and "maid wanted"." Daisy Woodward, BBC Culture (June 2024)
  4. documentedBerlin woolwork comes from the first chart, issued in 1804"The first chart was issued in 1804, and between 1810 and 1840 no fewer than 14,000 different designs were published; by the latter year they had superseded practically all other embroidery patterns in England and the United States." Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Berlin woolwork"
  5. documentedBerlin charts took from Madame Wittich of Berlin, who in 1810 set out to get local artists making better ones"In 1810, a Madame Wittich of Berlin decided that better charts were needed, and she tried to interest local artists in this endeavor." Pat Berman, "Berlin Work", American Needlepoint Guild (1990, revised 2000)
  6. documentedThe painted Berlin canvas took from classic and popular paintings, copied onto canvas with the colours painted square by square (Herr Wittich)"Herr Wittich saw the commercial value of charts that were copies of classic or popular paintings with the colors actually painted on the canvas in the squares." Pat Berman, "Berlin Work", American Needlepoint Guild (1990, revised 2000)
  7. documentedBerlin work in England took from Mr. Wilks of Regent Street, London, who bought up designs and materials from Berlin and Paris in 1831"In 1831, a Mr. Wilks of Regent Street in London purchased as many good designs as he could find, as well as the patterns and working materials from Berlin and Paris." Pat Berman, "Berlin Work", American Needlepoint Guild (1990, revised 2000)

What it learned to do

  1. statedLettered needlepoint learned from the canvas grid's pixelated quality"Needlepoint works really well with typography because of its pixelated quality" Izzy Hunt, co-founder of Hunt & Hope, to BBC Culture (2024)
  2. documentedNeedlepoint learned from filling every hole of the canvas, so none of the ground shows"What you're trying to do is to fill all the canvas holes with thread, whether that's the foreground – the pretty bit – or the background," Dr Susan Kay-Williams, Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework, to BBC Culture (2024)
  3. statedBetty Dankowski learned from her mother, stitching one of Lycette's canvases"I found one of Lycette’s canvases, and I sat down with my mom, so she could teach me how to stitch." Betty Dankowski, to Sea Island Life magazine
  4. documentedBarbara Anderson, who paints her own line of needlepoint canvases learned from her Swedish grandmother"A lifelong lover of handcrafted art, Barbara Anderson was introduced to needlework at an early age by her Swedish grandmother." Sea Island Life magazine
  5. inferredThe lettered, pixel-style canvas comes from Berlin work's "point" paper, coloured block for block to match the canvas"One of the special characteristics of Berlin Work patterns was the use of “point” paper that showed colored blocks on the paper that corresponded to the squares on the canvas." inferred — Pat Berman (American Needlepoint Guild) describes point paper's coloured blocks matching the canvas squares; Izzy Hunt (BBC) calls the grid pixelated; neither connects the two

The tradition it sits in

  1. documentedThe pre-designed canvas comes from mid-18th-century European embroidery shops, which sold kits with the design already on the canvas"By the mid-18th century the number of professional embroiderers in Europe was so large that many opened shops where embroidery supplies were sold as well as needlepoint kits that included a designed canvas and all the materials needed to complete it." Encyclopaedia Britannica, "needlepoint"
  2. documentedThe colour-by-the-square canvas comes from Berlin work's coloured charts, which let any stitcher make work once reserved for the wealthy"Colored charts and patterns that dictated exactly how the work was to be done meant that the embroiderer could reproduce the type of work formerly reserved for the wealthy without requiring artistic input." Pat Berman, "Berlin Work", American Needlepoint Guild (1990, revised 2000)
  3. documentedNeedlepoint design comes from European pattern books of the 16th century, and professional embroiderers attached to courts"needlepoint designs were drawn either by the amateur embroiderer, often from pattern books published in Europe since the 16th century, or by professional embroiderers, who, until the 18th century, were mostly attached to a court or a wealthy family." Encyclopaedia Britannica, "needlepoint"
  4. inferredThe hand-painted canvas sold by today's needlepoint shops comes from Berlin work's canvases with the colours painted in the squares"Penny Linn and Lycette Designs sell hand-painted canvases that are very much geared towards this new generation of needlepointers" inferred — the American Needlepoint Guild documents the Wittich firm painting colours onto canvas in the 1810s, and BBC Culture documents today's shops selling hand-painted canvases; neither source draws the line between them

Where the whole form comes from

  1. documentedNeedlepoint comes from 17th-century embroidered upholstery, which needed a tougher foundation: canvas"Needlepoint as it is known today can be said to have originated in the 17th century, when the fashion for furniture upholstered with embroidered fabrics prompted the development of a more durable material, canvas, to serve as the foundation for the embroidery." Encyclopaedia Britannica, "needlepoint"
  2. documentedBerlin work comes from the tent-stitch embroideries of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries"According to Pamela Clabburn in The Needleworker’s Dictionary (Clabburn 29), Berlin Wood Work evolved from the Tent Stitch embroideries of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries." Pat Berman, American Needlepoint Guild, citing Pamela Clabburn's The Needleworker's Dictionary

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