NEEDLEWORDS was begun in 1983 by me (Meg) and Ginnie Thompson (Mom). It no longer exists but the articles are too good to pass into obscurity. I'm going tojump ahead on the history series to the early days of Ginnie's career in needlework, reprinted from the February 1985 issue. She has presented a lecture that I like better than the NEEDLEWORDS history series (it's more personal and has great pictures with it) so we will resume the history series with that, as soon as Ginnie has had a chance to write it down for us.

Cross Stitch Evolution

In 1971, the cross stitcher wishing to buy a pattern book had 15 choices. Of these, five were excellent, five mediocre, and five were of designs no one wanted to stitch. Ever. All of them sold like Michael Jackson records. I know because, one, I bought every available book that included even one "X", and two, at the Hammock Shop I sold every book I could find containing cross stitch charts.

Even so, my personal library of cross stitch books took up about 5 inches of shelf space. The books on sale at the shop included the very same six or seven DMC Marking Stitch Series books that my great grandmother had used. Number three and number five were the favorites as they had been in her day. Scandinavian Cross Stitch, a more recent DMC publication, was the best seller.

In spare moments I designed and mimeographed small patterns which evolved into a free pattern sheet. DMC provided free patterns in color for my customers. My husband and I created the label Pawleys Island Originals and sold kits oflocal scenes. Adalee Winter, Charles Joyner and Doris Drake represented American designers and single printed sheets of designs in black and white sold well. Joan Toggitt. in New York, was the source for esoteric, out-of- print and otherwise unobtainable books from Europe . The Danish Handcraft Guild issued a new calendar of designs every year. Clara Weaver offered two books. Carolina Cross Stitch printed sheets of Christmas charts tbat opened up a popular new avenue for cross stitch. That was about the sum total of pattern books in the first year of the cross stitch revival.

At that time, if anyone had said that 1984 would record some 3000-plus cross stitch books, I would have been unable to con:1Prehend it. In a way it still ranks with those other 1arge numbers I cannot relate to, such as the national debt. Thirty new books would have made the shopkeeperin me ecstatic.

What else did we lack in 1972? Accessoiries. Embroidery hoops were wooden with a screw, metal with a spring. The wooden ones were very nice at first, then very bad for a long time. Finally, plastic hoops came onto the market. Frames were available only as photograph frames.

In 1971 the average sale at the Hammock shop was $1.50 for cross stitch and $3 for a frame, indicating that the customer had taken either our 10-second course (no questions allowed) or the 20-second course (questions okay), had then purchased a small square of evenweave cotton, a few skeins of thread, and a hoop, and had been given a free pattern sheet. The frame was 1 1/2" square, meant for school photos, and I ordered them by the gross. For Christmas ornaments we used wooden curtain rings that the customer painted or stained. The customer also glued and backed the cross stitch to the ring. Hobby catalogues provided glass paperweights which were also glued and backed by the customer. Magnifying lamps were ordered from woodworking and watchmakers catalogues. There were no magnetic boards for keeping one's place on a chart and no systems for organizing thread. No evenweave cotton fabric was made in the US.

At a national trade show in 1973, Cross Stitch Country (that's Carolina Cross Stitch and Ginnie Thompson Originals combined) was the only cross stitch company. A year later there were four (Designs by Gloria & Pat was one.) In succeeding years the numbers jumped to 19, then 47, then 94. Last year's big show had over 300 cross stitch exhibitors!

Now, in 1984, there is little a cross stitcher could desire that cannot be provided. Who or what caused the present abundance? The sharing customers, that's who. Cross stitch filled a need for the needleworker and in turn cross stitch needs were filled, often by dedicated amateurs. They were the missionaries and the first suppliers. Only recently have business professionals entered the field.

What lies ahead? Cross stitch overabundance will undoubtedlv go through a weeding-out process. The best of the cute and comical wlll survive for the beginner market but the main thrust of the serious cross stitcher will be toward excellence and elegance. The secret will still be to listen and serve the sharing needleworker who built the market.

The first picture at the beginning of the article is Ginnie's cross stitch design of the Hammock Shop, where Ginnie began a cross stitch department at a time when it was virtually unknown. The last photo is Ginnie, circa 1970.