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
It was originally posted to the Stitching Jubilee Yahoo Group, which is THE place to stay up to the second on news about the Stitching Jubilee.
