Can you needlepoint on burlap, linen or fabric?

What you can stitch on, and whether it is needlepoint

Nothing soft stands in for canvas. What can is another stiff material with holes: plastic canvas or perforated paper.

Why needlepoint is stitched on canvas

Needlepoint is the American name for canvas embroidery: embroidery stitched on canvas and not on cloth. Three things set canvas apart from cloth.

• It is stiff. Its threads, usually cotton, carry sizing, a starchy coating.
• It is open. The holes are easy to see, and a blunt needle, called a tapestry needle, passes through them without splitting the canvas threads. The grid keeps the stitches the same size. The number of holes to the inch is the mesh: see canvas and mesh sizes.
• It is made to be covered. Most designs cover the canvas completely, in thread chosen to suit the mesh: thicker where there are fewer holes to the inch. The basic stitch is tent stitch, one small slanted stitch over one crossing of the canvas threads: what is needlepoint has a drawing of one.

Worked from a chart, needlepoint is counted embroidery: each stitch has its own place on the grid, found by counting canvas threads.

Burlap

Yarn can be stitched into burlap, and the work goes by both names, needlepoint and embroidery. Strictly it is embroidery in yarn on a coarse cloth: burlap is not canvas.

Burlap, also called hessian, is a strong, coarse, loosely woven cloth, most often of jute. It is the cloth of sacks for grain and potatoes, and a gunny sack is the same sack by another name.

There are two ways to stitch it:

• By the holes. Place needlepoint stitches in the holes of the weave, as on plastic canvas. Cross stitch in chunky yarn is one thing to try on a cloth this loose.
• By drawn lines. Draw the design on the cloth with a soft pencil and follow the lines in plain embroidery stitches such as running stitch and backstitch, with nothing counted.

Burlap has its drawbacks: its cut edges unravel, and its coarse, uneven fiber sheds dust and lint. It stays out of the washing machine and the dryer: spot clean it, and do not hang it in the sun.

To stitch on it:

1. Pull out one thread of the burlap where the cut is to go, then cut along the gap it leaves, which gives a straight edge.
2. Bind the cut edges. Fold masking tape over each one, as on canvas, or sew a line of stitching just inside it, or use fabric glue.
3. Stretch the burlap in a frame so that it stays taut.
4. Thread a blunt needle with thick yarn: chunky yarn or tapestry wool.
5. Work from the middle outward and do not pull the stitches tight, so that the piece is less likely to pucker.

If big stitches in thick wool are the aim, use 10 or 12 mesh canvas, or rug canvas: see Plastic canvas and rug canvas, below.

Linen

Needlepoint on linen can mean three things.

• Linen canvas. Canvas is woven of linen as well as cotton, and stitching on it is needlepoint.
• Linen woven for counted embroidery. Its lengthwise and crosswise threads are the same size and evenly spaced, so that they can be counted, and it is sold by the number of threads to the inch. Some needlepoint stitches can be worked on it, each one placed by counting the threads of the cloth, and the cloth shows between the stitches. It is softer than canvas, and it is stretched in a frame while it is stitched. This is counted-thread embroidery on cloth, the family cross stitch belongs to: see needlepoint vs cross stitch and needlepoint vs embroidery.
• Everyday linen. A tightly woven napkin or shirt has threads too close to be counted. Treat it like any other plain cloth: see waste canvas, below.

Congress cloth, for all its name, is canvas: a very fine mono canvas, which is canvas of single threads, with 24 threads to the inch and a feel between cloth and canvas. Stitching on it is needlepoint on a very small scale.

Cross stitch cloth

The cloth made for cross stitch, called Aida, is woven in small blocks of threads, which makes it a grid of squares with a clear hole at each corner. It is usually cotton, and it is sold by the number of squares, and so of stitches, to the inch.

Tent stitch can be placed on it, one stitch to a square, and the work is then counted embroidery on cloth. A cross stitch is two slanted stitches, one over the other, from corner to corner of a square. Tent stitch is one slanted stitch, the same as the first half of a cross, and one way of working it is called half cross stitch. Cross stitchers call the single slanted stitch a half stitch, and work it with the same number of strands of thread as a full cross, usually two on cloth with 14 squares to the inch.

To stitch the same design as needlepoint, use canvas with as many holes to the inch as the cloth has squares: 14 mesh canvas for a chart planned for 14 squares to the inch, 18 mesh for 18. On both, the stitched size is the number of stitches divided by that number, so the design comes out the same size. The thread guide says which thread covers which mesh, and needlepoint vs cross stitch says what else changes when a cross stitch chart is used this way.

Monk's cloth

Monk's cloth does not stand in for canvas. It is a soft, loosely woven cloth, usually cotton, in a basket weave: its threads run in groups, not singly. It is softer than cross stitch cloth. Two kinds are sold, each for another craft.

• For punch needle and rug hooking, in which loops of yarn are pushed or pulled through a backing cloth. This monk's cloth has its threads in pairs and 12 to 14 holes to the inch.
• For Swedish weaving, also called huck weaving, in which a blunt needle carries yarn under the small raised threads on the face of the cloth without piercing it. This monk's cloth is coarser, with 7 holes to the inch. It can shrink by as much as 15 percent in the wash, so sew its cut edges, then wash and dry it, before you stitch.

Perforated paper

Perforated paper is stiff card with a grid of small punched holes, sold in sheets. Needlepoint stitches can be worked on it: tent stitch goes from hole to hole as it does on canvas, and the holes of the paper are counted in place of canvas threads. It is paper, not canvas, and the work goes by its own name, perforated paper needlework.

Most of it has 14 holes to the inch and some has 18, and most designs for it are cross stitch. Some sheets are now a plastic made to match the paper. From about 1840 to 1900 it was much stitched, in tent stitch as well as cross stitch, for bookmarks, needle cases and mottoes to hang on the wall.

Keep the paper flat while it is stitched: do not roll or fold it. Hold a small piece in the hand. Lay a large one on a table with a weight on each top corner and the part being stitched hanging over the near edge. It is heavy enough to need no frame.

Plastic canvas and rug canvas

Both are canvas, and stitching on either is needlepoint.

• Plastic canvas is a sheet of plastic with square holes, made to stand in for woven canvas, with 5, 7, 10 or 14 holes to the inch. See plastic canvas needlepoint.
• Rug canvas is a heavily starched canvas with 3.3 to 7 holes to the inch, woven of threads in pairs. Each pair is stitched over as one. Needlepoint on canvas this coarse is called quick point. The same canvas is used for latch hook, in which short lengths of yarn are knotted on: that is not needlepoint.

Waste canvas: counted stitches on a T-shirt, a towel or other cloth

Counted stitches need a grid, and everyday cloth offers none that can be counted: T-shirt cloth stretches, and on smooth cloth such as denim or plain cotton the weave is hard to see.

Waste canvas lends such cloth a grid. It is a light canvas whose threads are held together by a glue that water loosens. The design is stitched through canvas and cloth together, and then the canvas threads are pulled out, which leaves the stitches on the cloth. It is sold by the number of holes to the inch, and 14 suits a T-shirt.

What stays on the garment is counted embroidery, most often cross stitch. It is not needlepoint, because none of the canvas is left. Waste canvas is made to be thrown away: do not use it as the canvas of a piece that is to be kept.

Before you start:

• Test the colors. A garment will be washed again and again, so the thread must hold its color, and so must the garment. Put a drop of water on a hidden spot of the garment and on each thread color, press white blotting paper or a white cloth on it, and look for color on the white. Look again after a few minutes. Do not use a thread whose color moves, or a garment whose color does.
• Wash the garment before you stitch. Cloth that shrinks after it is stitched can pucker the design.
• Choose the needle. Use a blunt needle on knitted cloth such as a T-shirt and a sharp one on firmly woven cloth.

Then:

1. Cut the waste canvas 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) larger than the design.
2. Pin it where the design is to go.
3. Baste it: sew it down around the edge with long stitches of sewing thread, which come out later. Keep them clear of where the design will be stitched.
4. Fit the cloth and the canvas together into an embroidery hoop, the round frame of two rings that fit together and grip the cloth. Lay the cloth in it flat, without stretching it. On stretchy cloth the hoop keeps the stitches even.
5. Stitch the design through both layers, starting at the center of the canvas. Pass the needle through the holes of the canvas, never through its threads, and keep the stitches firm, not tight: a pierced thread or a tight stitch makes the canvas hard to draw out.
6. Take out the basting.
7. Dampen the canvas: spray a small piece with cold water, or soak a larger one for a few minutes. The threads can also be pulled out dry.
8. Pull out the canvas threads one at a time with tweezers, gently, holding the stitches down with a thumb.

Another kind of canvas dissolves in water, with no threads to pull. It suits delicate cloth, and both thread and cloth must be washable for it.

Embroidery that does not follow the weave needs no grid at all, and felt and T-shirt cloth both take it: see needlepoint vs embroidery.

Knitting and crochet

Knitting has its own stitch for adding a design afterward: duplicate stitch, also called Swiss darning. Each knitted stitch shows on the surface as a small V. Yarn in another color, on a blunt needle, is sewn over a V so that it lies on top and hides it, one knitted stitch at a time. A chart shows which stitches to cover, and they are counted on the knitting. Use yarn at least as thick as the yarn of the knitting: a thinner one lets the knitting show.

On crochet, cross stitch can be added to a fabric of single crochet stitches. Each X can be worked around one crochet stitch, with a blunt needle passing through the gaps the crochet leaves at the corners of the stitch.

Needlepoint on clothing or a bag

Needlepoint goes onto clothing and bags the other way around: it is stitched on canvas first and attached afterward.

• As a patch. A finished canvas is made into a patch and sewn to a tote, a jean jacket or a hat with a needle and thread. Block the canvas first, that is, pull it back into square: see how to block needlepoint. The edge of a patch can be finished with binding stitch, which wraps the folded edge of the canvas in thread and keeps it from fraying, and the back is best covered with fabric. A finisher will make a patch to order: ask before you bind the edge.
• Sewn in by a finisher. Finished needlepoint is also set into clothing, on the back of a jean jacket or on a pocket, and made into bag handles. See needlepoint finishing for what a finisher does and how to send a piece to one.

Once needlepoint is sewn to a garment, the garment no longer goes in the washing machine or the dryer: needlepoint is kept out of both. Read how to clean needlepoint before cleaning it.