Needlepoint Seat Covers

Threads & Stitches

When you plan on making needlepoint seat covers, the needlepoint will get lots of wear.Because of thisneedlepoint in fragile threads or in highly textured or decorative stitches usually wears out long before the item.

You may think you are limited in stitch choice to Basketweave and for threads to wool -- but this doesn't have to be the case. While wool is by far the best choice for thread, you have a wide selection of colors and weights to choose from including tapestry wool, Persian Wool, and my favorite, Crewel Wool. Choosing a lightweight wool and using several strands allow you more control and variety in color. Mixing threads from several different manufacturers gives you even more choice. These can have as effective accents small areas of other threads, but the bulk of the piece should be in wool.

But what about stitch choice? besides Tent Stitch, a traditional choice for many items is Bargello. Because it uses long stitches (typically over four threads) it works up quickly and there are many patterns which provide variety.

In England, the variety of stitches used on prayer kneelers (which also get lots of wear) really surprised me. Besides Basketweave, Victorian Cross Stitch was the stitch I saw most often, with Gobelin coming in a close second. Long-armed Cross (Binding Stitch) used for many edges. Other stitches like Mosaic, Scotch, Rice and Upright Cross could also be found.

When choosing stitches look for ones which:

• have about as much thread on back as on front
• do not have lengths longer than about four threads
• distort the canvas as little as possible
• have low or no texture (consider Tent Stitch as no texture)
• completely cover the canvas

By following these guidelines in choosing your stitches and using wool as your thread, you will have needlepoint seat covers which will stand for the ages.