We introduced Stitches CD Volume I in June at the Indianapolis tradeshow. We are delighted to say it was a huge success.

We’ve received wonderful feedback from the shops and stitchers who are using it. Several have asked us how we came up with this idea.

Just 20 years ago we were lucky to have a few great needlepoint books. Jo Ippolito Christensen’s book was the bible for stitchers and then there was Pageant of Pattern which is today, still a classic. The techniques were there and we were doing some cool stuff.

But now!!! There are more and more books on the horizon and new and different techniques to be explored. So the question in my mind was what’s next? So many designers publish stitch books and do a fabulous job. I wanted to do something different. Look at things outside the box.

So, Stitches CD was born. This is a joint collaboration with Kathy Holicky. She loves to draw stitches. I don’t. I however, like to use stitches. I wanted all my stitches to look alike. So, we worked out a system and created our 300 favorite stitches. We then saved them all as single page cds and put them on a single cd for your enjoyment.

All the stitches are arranged in a series of pdfs by name and again by stitch type. That’s a handy feature.

Okay, so you are saying but, I don’t want to stitch in front of my computer. I like my big comfy chair. True. So, print out your stitches for this project, nice and big so you don’t have to squint and toss them in the project bag with that project. No big heavy book to carry around. Just a couple of sheets of paper. Doodle on them. Take notes on them. Toss them when your done. Print new copies when you need them. Do you travel for work, copy the cd to your laptop and never be without. Now this idea is starting to excite me.

Once we had that much done, we decided to take it a step further. The illustrations existed so why not give everyone access to them? It’s just like clip art for your computer. Why not stitch clip art?

There’s so much talk about copyright these days and designers should be protected. You can’t copyright a stitch or a sequence of stitches. You can however copyright a diagram. All of our diagrams are original. Once you buy a copy of the cd you are free to use the sttiches however you like. You may put them in a newsletter, put them in a stitch guide, print them on a t shirt. All we ask is that you respect our copyright on the illustration and give us credit. A simple tagline “Stitches CD Volume 1 © Ruth Schmuff” will do the trick.

There you have it, the birth of a new idea – Stitches CD.

We’re working on Stitches CD Volume II now with even more stitches. It will debut in January, so stay tuned as that project comes to fruition. Could you have imagined 20 years ago getting your stitches on cd? Next we’ll be able to beam them into open air like in the matrix.