Blog

Cindy Johnson, a new Subversive stitcher, told us about her Zoom stitching group and also about the tradition of Home Bureau. So fascinating that I asked her to write a blog post to share the idea. I think we should all revive the idea of Home Bureau and make it Subversive! During the pandemic of 2020, the National Nordic Museum in Seattle hosted monthly “Craft & Cocktail” zoom nights where a docent described an art exhibit, a bartender shared a recipe, and a legit artist guided speed lessons in watercolor painting, papercut art, colored pencil cubism, among others. Living in...

This review was written by Mr. Stevers—he is an enormous fan of Meg’s so he dug right into the book! Pick up the book through Meg's site. “Witchy Stitching” is a book that covers cross stitching start to finish and is good for the first timers as well as the experienced stitchers.  Author Meg Black has included not only the how-to basics but also a section on “Being Extra” which goes over the use of beads, antiquing your fabric and various customizations (which this stitcher is inspired to try in the near future!)  This volume is chock full of stunning photographs...

I kept seeing this design on Instagram, and one day, it hit me that this person needed to join our team. Luckily, she agreed--meet guest contributor Chantelle Daigle of OddlySpecificXStitch! We have created a kit of this design, though the colors are slightly different as they're in our palette--see more on the kit page. Chantelle is a Registered Nurse by day and a cross-stitcher by night. She lives in Canada with her partner, two kids, and a little dog named Bean. She’s obsessed with pop culture, kitsch, dead malls, video stores, and any vintage collectables. As for cross stitch, she...

We’ve seen some crazy things over the years, like dogs or even goats eating your kits or patterns, but this is a new twist—from Subversive stitcher Karen: Hi there! I'm sharing this just because it is so ridiculous. I received my "postmenopausal female" pillow kit the other day. I sat down to work on it tonight and after finishing ONE LETTER, I accidentally stuck the corner of the case into a candle and set the damn thing on fire. Hence an order for additional pillowcases. Sigh. Of course I asked for photos to show you! Yikes! Don’t stitch too close...

Three GREAT New Books on Craftivism from the BEST!   Craftivist Collective Handbook by Sarah Corbett of Craftivist Collective Crafting A Better World by Diana Weymar of Tiny Pricks Project Let’s Move The Needle by Shannon Downey of Badass Cross Stitch It’s astounding that THE three people I think of when I think of craftivism have ALL come out with books within the past month or so. And they’re each as unique as their creators, all of which I have considered my sisters in stitching for a long time. With her empathetic angle and thorough instructions, Sarah Corbett shows you the real art...