INDEPENDENT NEEDLEWORK NEWS

Sage Stitchworks (Blogroll) is a discovery I have been wanting to share with you for months. In fact, I’ve had this post all prepared … but the WordPress software didn’t seem to like it. It just would NOT let me use the Publish button. I have no idea why. Until today, when I was looking at it again, about to give up and try copying and pasting it to a new post, and I heard my DH griping out loud to himself about consumerism and the over-commercialization of everything because of some ad he ran across that mentioned, “There are only so many shopping days until … !” My heart skipped a beat because usually my shopping is all done by the end of October, and I haven’t even thought about it this year. My finger twitched, meaning I hit that lefthand mouse button while the cursor was poised over “Publish” again, and suddenly, there it is. Add a dash of panic, and the Publish button suddenly worked! Then I had to go back in to add this paragraph … So I guess this Publish button was also a Panic button!

Sage Stitchworks creates needlework motto kits today using the same types of materials — perforated paper, variegated floss, and gold foil — which were used to make them in the Victorian era.

Enjoy exploring their website and you’ll find a wealth of information both on stitched mottoes from the past and on recreating them today, and I think you’ll also find your fingers itching to get started stitching one by the time you are done!

I was so excited about Sage Stitchworks that I called them the next day (it was the wee hours of the morning when I found their site the first time!) and spoke with Jennifer, who pretty much does everything as far as the business is concerned. I didn’t think to ask if she ever solicited any help from her family or anyone else as far as preparing kits or otherwise running the business, but it was wonderful to talk with someone who knew so much about how these kits were and are made, who was so willing to share information with me, and who seemed almost as excited to talk with me as I was to talk with her.

Below is a picture of what Jennifer would include in a typical kit for you: the pattern pre-printed on perforated paper, a Stitching Guide, plenty of variegated floss, gold foil backing, and a needle.

Stitchers who are already very familiar with stitching and have their own stash of variegated floss they would like to use may easily do so. Sage Stitchworks offers every standard kit they make in a “Pattern Only” option for $20 less than the full kit would cost. With the Pattern Only Option, you receive only the pattern pre-printed on perforated paper. However, you’ll always have access to the directions, which Sage Stitchworks calls their Stitching Guide, online from the comfort of your own home.

The Pattern Only option may also be preferred by stitchers who enjoy changing a design’s colors, which is a much easier undertaking when stitching a motto than when stitching a cross stitch pattern. Sage Stitchworks’ mottoes do not come with detailed directions for each particular design; rather, you rely on the Stitching Guide, the picture of the finished design if you want it to look like it does with those colors, and your own wishes with regard to how you want it to look. As Jennifer remarked, she could very easily stitch the same motto twice in a row with the same colors and have tiny variations in her stitching — the stitching of mottoes isn’t as … persnickety … as much cross stitching, although the outcome is just as lovely.

The only item you may have some difficulty finding if you choose the Pattern Only option is the gold foil. However, Jennifer said this hasn’t seemed to be a problem for any of her customers. She recommended checking the gift-wrapping sections of various craft stores, especially around holiday time. I am positive I’ve seen gold foil gift wrap pretty much year round in certain stores which are known for carrying “high quality” (maybe it’s just expensive?) gift-wrap — such as Hallmark stores. That would be a bit on the pricey side, but it would give you your gold foil if that’s what you were looking for and still be well under the $20 you saved by choosing the Pattern Only option. Aluminum foil is another option — and it’s an inexpensive and readily available one, too — if you prefer the silver look over gold, which several of Sage Stitchworks’ customers do. Silver foil is also an authentically Victorian choice, so there is nothing historically inaccurate about it. And then Jennifer says since she doesn’t get asked about the foil very often that she thinks a lot of her customers just don’t bother with it, perhaps for the same reason she skips it herself: she often feels it steals attention from the stitching.

This Stitching Guide from Sage Stitchworks is one of the best guides I have ever seen, by the way, for explaining how to use long and short stitches in the technique specifically used to stitch mottoes on perforated paper — with a fantastic close-up picture that just brings it all together, especially if you are a visual learner as I am. This technique also works on evenweave or linen, and mottoes can be stitched on those materials, although I think the technique is most easily mastered on perforated paper first — and certainly it is much more difficult to keep those long stitches nice and straight on evenweave or linen … and then a good framing job becomes imperative to keep them in place. But for those who wish to do it, it can be done.

Of course, once an experienced stitcher sees the above picture, something becomes really clear. Stitching a motto from Sage Stitchworks is an opportunity to have a happy dance in just a few days! It’s just a hop, a skip, and a jump from there to realizing these make FANTASTIC gifts, too, because they look like so much more work than they actually are … Of course, we stitchers have all mastered the art of saying, “Oh really, it didn’t take that long,” while everyone else who doesn’t stitch is thinking we are staying up until 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. every morning trying to get all our stitched gifts done for everyone. (Nevermind that in some cases we are; that’s because, in those cases, we’re having a darned good time! )

Sage Stitchworks also has taken the time to write up some of the history of mottoes I think you will enjoy reading.

You can also have special mottoes created for you. This option is shown specifically for a family last name, although the page mentions also having done first names in the past. Please keep in mind that the high price on this one is due to the individual typesetting required. I did ask Jennifer if it would be possible to order these in the Pattern Only option, and she said that is possible; however, the price would be reduced by $20 (just like with any of the other Pattern Only options) to $48.99, and again, this is to cover the typesetting required.

In fact, all you stitching grandparents out there might want to consider giving each of your grandchildren a kit with his or her name on it. These kits are actually advertised by Sage Stitchworks as being easy, satisfying, and addictive because they require absolutely no counting! What better way to get a child started loving needlework?

One of the things I talked with Jennifer about was the possibility of adding a new line of mottoes to the current product line she already has — something with a more modern feel. I don’t know for certain how well it would go over, but perhaps you all can make comments on this post to let Jennifer and me know what you think of the idea. It will be a bit of market research, although done rather haphazardly. Anyway, my thought was to have mottoes that say more modern things, but that are still designed with the textual look and feel of these recreated mottoes from yesteryear. I would just love to have something like, “Martha Who?” in a motto format, for instance. Or how about, “So it’s not Home Sweet Home; deal with it”? Jennifer and I had a few giggles coming up with other ideas of a similar nature, too, so if you have any suggestions along these lines, please feel free to add them as well. If you would prefer to contact Jennifer directly with your thoughts, she can be contacted through her website or emailed directly.

If you place an order or contact Jennifer with your thoughts, please be sure to mention that you heard about Sage Stitchworks through Independent Needlework News!

Oh … just in case you also look through the Gallery on Sage Stitchworks’ website like I did, and just in case you notice some of the gorgeous mottoes stitched on black perforated paper like I did, and just in case you think you’d like to order any of those like I did, they have all unfortunately been retired. It seems that most stitchers found them difficult to stitch on such that Jennifer was receiving more complaints than praise about them … So she decided to discontinue those lines. I specifically asked about the pineapple Welcome design, and it is definitely out of print.

Technorati Tags: Sage Stitchworks, motto, mottos, mottoes, Victorian, fancywork, sampler, door texts, embroidery on paper, perforated paper, punched paper

I had hoped to get a very explicit, accurate, and detailed retraction about the Needle Necessities/ThreadworX situation posted already. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way (those details will be covered later, too; right now I am simply drowning).

However, this post is immediately necessary in order to correct errors I made earlier regarding Dragonfly Dreams.

Earlier, I implied Dragonfly Dreams was not an authorized Needle Necessities supplier, I was wrong, WRONG, W-R-O-N-G.

Here is how that mistake happened: I went by the information listed on Needle Necessities’ website. They listed one Australian distributor, and just two Australian shops who carried their threads. I took that to mean no other shops carried their products. While this assumption would generally be true if I had been making it about Needle Necessities’ US listings, it would not generally true regarding shops in Australia for a variety of reasons — only I didn’t learn that last bit of information, nor would it have ever crossed my mind to ask about it prior to this situation. I very incorrectly assumed shops from different countries were all treated the same by Needle Necessities.

You’ve probably heard the “joke” about why you should not assume? Because you might make an ass out of U and me? Well, I certainly made an ass out of myself this time.

A surprising result (at least to me) of this situation is that a good number of people (who have come to trust me when I mention copyright) found themselves even more disturbed than I was by the possible copyright infringement which I speculated might have been occurring. They actually wanted to do something about it and took it upon themselves to start contacting Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, to ask why she stocks, “counterfeit threads”!

The thing is, some investigation was required first in order to determine whether or not any copyright infringement had indeed occurred (much less whether or not there was an issue of counterfeit threads … which is laughable — except when it is directed at you). Karen wrote to me [emphasis mine]:

The thread image you displayed on your site was loaded when we were told that they were the same company, and I forgot to change the image when I was told two months later that they were not. I have since corrected this, as I correct all honest mistakes when they are brought to my attention.

Therefore, copyright infringement is also NOT an issue in this case.

In other words, to those individuals who are calling Karen at Dragonfly Dreams, it is time to STOP. I was WRONG. Karen did nothing wrong.

I am new to doing this specific kind of business (the journalism part of what I am doing now, that is) and so this is an educational process for me; it is from my readers that I learn and become more accurate in my journalistic efforts. In fact, Bernadette Huysing of the Needlework Boutique (a competitor of Dragonfly Dreams; Blogroll) was kind enough to contact me — not only in Karen’s and Dragonfly Dream’s defense, but also to explain to me some of the inner workings of the distributing of threads in Australia about which I was entirely unaware. Because of my lack of knowledge on that matter, my report was very inaccurate and contained some unintended but still negative reflection on Dragonfly Dreams.

I certainly did not intend to “condemn” any business or to direct any malice toward any business in any way . However, there is a LOT of information to get out to the public, so the upcoming article retracting my statements is taking some time to write.

I have twice called Karen Kirk, owner of Dragonfly Dreams, on the telephone in response to emails from her because I felt this situation was important enough to call her about rather than just send email back and forth. She deserved to hear my voice, and the sincerity in it. I have also received email or comments from some of her most loyal customers. Please accept my heartfelt apology to all of you as well.

Note to Bre: Both of your comments will be published, and in fact, I am utilizing your first comment to make sure my more extensive retraction post is correct and properly detailed. I am also cross-checking points 2 and 4 of your first comment with ThreadworX. Also, having talked by phone directly with Karen and with Travis Richmond, I am quite sure we are all in agreement that we don’t wish to incite any further argument; therefore, as soon as my full retraction is written, approved in advance by Karen Kirk of Dragonfly Dreams and Travis Richmond of ThreadworX, and posted here on Independent Needlework News, I will post your comments at that time.

Technorati Tags: Dragonfly Dreams, Karen Kirk, copyright

I have just received a lengthy email from a Travis Richmond, President of ThreadworX, which answers many of the questions I had personally raised as well as those I had read in various other forums or been contacted with by a number of readers.

As soon as I receive permission to post his email and/or a document intended specifically for public consumption, I will do so. Please consider it sufficient at this point that I DO consider ThreadworX to be a legitimate company located in Garden Grove, California. As a new company, ThreadworX is still working on its website and online storefront (a factor I can certainly understand, as mine is nowhere near where I would like it to be either ); however, they expect to have these up and running soon.

Mr. Richmond states ThreadworX is an independent company which is not affiliated with Needle Necessities in any way. It is not yet clear to me why ThreadworX is duplicating at least some Needle Necessities colors; however, from some of the comments (especially two very enlightening comments made by Dale Rollerson and Rob — thanks so much to you both!) made to my earlier post, as well as some of Travis Richmond’s points, it seems there were some type of contract arrangements made (of which Debbie BuSteed was never made aware) between Needle Necessities and ThreadworX since ThreadworX is filling Needle Necessities’ overdue orders.

I hope to speak with Mr. Richmond soon to get more information and clarification on some of these matters, and of course, I will pass on to you whatever I learn. Please do keep in mind that the specifics of any contract issues between Needle Necessities and ThreadworX really are private issues, so anything Mr. Richmond may choose to share with me would be at his discretion.

My main interest along those lines is trying to get some answers regarding the color lines ThreadworX will have as compared to those we all were familiar with and loved from Needle Necessities, answers about when outstanding Needle Necessities orders are expected to ship to stores, and what the plan is going forward as far as keeping or dropping any specific colors from the Needle Necessities color line. I think these are some of the questions that are at the top of stitchers’ and shop owners’ lists, which is why I want to focus on those.

Please feel free to leave comments or email me with any specific questions you would like answered, and I’ll try to work them in to the conversation if time allows, and if Mr. Richmond isn’t too angry with me for my previously rather negative article.

Technorati Tags: ThreadworX, Needle Necessities, Travis Richmond, needlework

I apologize for disappearing, or seeming to, for a while here recently. I had actually gone up to Michigan for what should be routine medical care (pain management) but isn’t because no Illinois doctors have been willing to provide it — which I know because I’ve been trying to obtain it for over five years while becoming exceedingly worse in the meantime. In fact, only six physicians in the entire state of Illinois are apparently ever willing to provide it, and that includes not just for patients with missing limbs, chronic pain, and so on, but also for those dying from cancer or AIDS. Unfortunately, my friend Creel’s mother never encountered one of those six before dying of two different types of cancer.

I swear, Illinois is the state where all the doctors who just barely manage NOT to flunk out of medical school come to practice. Well, they have to go somewhere, you know! You don’t think they paid all that money to just barely get medical degrees and then aren’t using them, do you? Yes, of course, the students who only graduated to MDs and ODs because of a curve — and barely made it through medical school that way — are out there practicing on people like you and me! How else can they pay off their massive school loans?

One of the reasons this situation is so awfully horrible is because there are only two reasons a doctor can lose his or her license. One is to kill a patient. The other is to over-prescribe narcotics. The really pathetic thing is that most doctors are so far under-prescribing narcotics that they are killing patients by way of suicide instead … but society hasn’t figured out a good way to prove that type of case yet. I believe we WILL figure it out; we just aren’t there yet.

Anyway, infuriated with extremely good reason, depressed by the situation but NOT chemically depressed (as insisted upon by so many doctors, and even by quite a few of my friends — quite incorrectly … and I DO know what the difference is, having been severely chemically AND situationally depressed back in 2000), in pretty close to absolute desperation, frustrated into giving up on Illinois but unwilling to give up on myself, and still FAR from suicidal because I have way too much left to stitch, I chose to go to Michigan to a real state-of-the-art hospital and medical organization to see the doctor of a friend with some of the same health issues I have whose doctor readily prescribes REAL pain relievers for her as needed.

By “REAL pain relievers,” yes, I do mean narcotics — those wonderful pills which are so much less damaging to your liver than Tylenol, and so much less damaging to your digestive system than Ibuprofen. My liver is half again as big as it should be from Tylenol abuse because doctors here won’t prescribe — and Tylenol was barely working anyway. I was going through the 250 pill bottle every week at one point just to take the edge off! The Ibuprofen was just as bad for me — and just as ineffective.

Did you know the addictive potential of narcotics is almost exclusive to healthy individuals who have no pain to start with, while people who take narcotics for pain never experience a “high” from them because the medication simply relieves their pain (which is all the “high” a person who lives in chronic pain seeks)?

Anyway, I was gone just over ten days and my time while away in Michigan wasn’t too spotty as far as keeping up with Independent Needlework News was concerned. It was extremely frustrating, however, and not quite up to my own wishes or standards because I was fighting with a 24K dial-up (even though she has a 56K modem, she doesn’t think there’s any reason to call her ISP and have them check the situation out, and no amount of trying to explain to her why she should be getting better service would change her bullheaded mind) at the house of the friend I was staying with while in Michigan.

You’d think it would have been really great to get home, but while I was away, my dear father-in-law unfortunately had to be admitted to the hospital, where he later became a victim of medical malpractice, dying senselessly, needlessly, and quite unexpectedly while at one of the most well-known hospitals in this area of the country.

So perhaps you can imagine my frustration at receiving the following comment at this particular time from reader Amy Frost:

To whom it my [sic] concern,

I heard about 6 months ago that my favorite thread company Needle Necessities [sic] is going out of business. I have been trying to get some answers on this for months. The place I normally buy my thread told me that she has been waiting for her back-orders for about 10 months now. I have been online looking for the Floss and Pearls that I normally use for my class that I have been teaching for 10 years. I cannot understand why no one has what I’m looking for! I have tried other brands but nothing looks as nice as the Needle Necessities brand.

Today I finaly [sic] called Needle Necessities myself for the 1st time and spoke with the manager, Debbie. She told me that they are no longer in business. I cannot believe this! What makes me upset is that on your website it reads the following information “Needle Necessities NOT, Repeat NOT, Going Out of Business”. [sic] Who do you think you are? your [sic] readers are relying on you for accurate information. This is so disappointing!!!!

Sincerely,
Amy Frost

When I wrote my first article titled Needle Necessities NOT, Repeat NOT, Going Out of Business at the behest of a reader who wished to remain anonymous, I also spoke with the front Office Manager, Debbie BuSteed, just as Amy did. At that time, on Tuesday, August 21, 2007, Debbie vehemently insisted Needle Necessities was NOT going out of business, and that if it were, she would know. Accordingly, that is what I reported.

Unfortunately, Needle Necessities has had some difficulties in the past year or so, including employee transitions which resulting in falling behind on numerous orders. Apparently, these difficulties eventually resulted in the owner of Needle Necessities making the decision to actually close the business. Debbie BuSteed, whom I spoke with again after receiving your comment, Amy, confirmed that the owner had informed her on Monday, September 10, 2007, that the business would be closing. She did not intentionally mislead or lie to me, nor did I intentionally mislead or lie to you. I trusted my source, who was the best source of information I could get at the time — and who still remained the best source of information even when you contacted her and then when I contacted her again. The only “problem” is that Debbie is perhaps a more optimistic person than she should have been in this particular situation — but with a company which had been in business as long as Needle Necessities has, I think I would have tended to err in the same direction myself.

Debbie’s priority since then has been on finding a new job, combined with finishing up the work which remains for her to complete at Needle Necessities (which sounds like quite a bit, actually, especially as there are only two remaining employees) which is one reason she did not inform me so that I could inform you instead of your informing me.

My priority has been on first my father-in-law, and then after his death on supporting my husband and the rest of his family, along with taking care of my own health instead of rushing to inform the rest of the public.

As for your wholly inappropriate and offensive question, “Who do you think you are?” I am the sole owner, investigative reporter, and writer of Independent Needlework News. So far, all the work I’ve done here at Independent Needlework News has been for FREE because I haven’t figured out how to place the ads onto the site, and the person who said she’d help out with that kind of technical support stuff has apparently not had time to work on any of those things. Just because my tag line says, “It’s like CNN, but all needlework news, all the time!” doesn’t mean I’m working 24-7-365 or that various individuals are working for me to cover things 24-7-365. Needlework is important, but not that important. What the tag line actually means is that you can come to Independent Needlework News 24-7-365 for needlework news … and I think pretty much everyone except you understood that prior to this; if not, they will now.

As for me, I still do not feel particularly up to regular blogging for Independent Needlework News or anywhere else. It seemed the doctor in Michigan had been a big help, but then Dad died and now nothing is working. I’m not really sleeping well or eating. I’m grieving and barely holding it together for my husband. This threw a financial wrench into things also that is making life extremely difficult, and I have another trip to Michigan in a couple of weeks that I don’t know how I’m going to manage … except I know it will cost more than the last one did for a shorter stay because I’ll need a hotel, rental car, and so on.

But getting back to work on Independent Needlework News is probably a good idea. That will help restore a sense of normalcy. Maybe I’ll feel like stitching, which always makes me feel good.

Perhaps some of you will let me know of big sales of Needle Necessities floss.

Technorati Tags: Needle Necessities, rumor, out of business, needlework, pain management, health care, medical malpractice, routine medical care, Illinois, narcotic, opioid

Distributor Norden Crafts has a very informative article called Copyrights and Copywrongs on their website.  It gives you the basics on copyright law as it pertains to the needlework industry.

This article is about as close as you can get to finding copyright information pertaining to the needlework industry “in a nutshell.” Even though I have been studying copyright law with regard to needlework for many years now, even I still find it confusing at times. 

In fact, that is one of the biggest problems with copyright law, in my opinion – that it is so confusing.  I focus on it often here on Independent Needlework News as a service  to you and to the industry I love because, most of the time, understanding is the key to compliance.  It is difficult to follow a law you don’t understand because you don’t know if what you are doing is correct or not.  However, ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law, and the penalties for copyright infringement are too high — this is DEFINITELY one law you do NOT want to break for a MULTITUDE of reasons.   

Norden Craft’s article helps answer some of the more confusing questions in a fairly clear way. I recommend it to you as something to read today, and then as something to review perhaps once every six months or so — just to keep these thoughts fresh in your own mind so that your actions are always clearly in line with copyright laws.

Bookmark this site, too, for those times when you have questions!

By the way, if you are wondering why a needlework distributor is interested in copyright law, it is because needlework distributors are affected by the illegal copying of needlework patterns, too.  Copyright infringement hurts the needlework industry AT EVERY SINGLE LEVEL.

Let’s say this distributor normally sells ten copies each of ten different patterns to each shop (100 patterns total). If one customer from each shop buys one copy of each of those ten different patterns and makes ten illegal copies of each of those patterns, which they then illegally give to ten different friends, then those friends do not need to buy the original patterns (which means the shop loses their business).  Now the other nine of each of those patterns waiting to be bought by customers are still sitting on the shop’s shelves …

And let’s not forget to do the math, either.  Suppose each of those ten different patterns retails for $10, which is getting to be a fairly average price nowadays.  Just one set of those ten patterns at retail value would be $100! With just one customer from each shop giving away ten copies of ten patterns to ten friends, the shop would lose $1000!  Nine more shops around the country would also lose $1000 each!

When the shops don’t sell the patterns they expect to sell, they don’t reorder as soon as they expected to and/or they don’t have the funds to place new orders for other products. This means the distributors are now not receiving orders like they used to — either they are receiving smaller orders, or their orders are coming in farther and farther apart.

It took a little while, but in the end, both the shop AND the distributor lost business, and that is why Norden Crafts has made this article available to you. They want you to understand that if you make a copy of a pattern for a friend or accept a copy of a pattern from a friend, it is hurting their business, too.

What’s more important, perhaps, at least to you, is that Norden Crafts wants you to understand that when you cause your shop to lose business in this way, then you give your shop two choices, neither of which is particularly appealing: raise their prices or go out of business. Which one do you prefer?

I prefer my shop stay in business AND be able to keep their prices lower, so I refuse to make or accept illegal copies of patterns. Please do the same.

JUST SAY NO TO COPYWRONGS !!!

Technorati Tags: Norden Crafts, copyrights, copywrongs, needlework, copyright, infringement