Brick Stitch

Sometimes I think we overcomplicate things in needlepoint. Recently I’ve been teaching the brick stitch and it’s amazing how much you can do with such a simple stitch. Why there is the brick stitch, obviously, straight up and over two canvas threads. Simple right? But imagine the possibilities it presents in today’s needlepoint store given all the different threads. I mean at Rittenhouse Needlepoint we have cottons, wools, silks, synthetics, linen, soy, bamboo, metallics – of all shapes and sizes. We’ve got solids and variegated. We have colors and colors and more colors! Thread lines with more than 500 options. And that’s just one thread line. And you’ve got strandable and non-strandable threads. Fuzzy and furry and ribbon and matte. With glitter, without glitter. Natural and highly unnatural. And all those choices with just the plain old Brick stitch. Now let’s talk about options for the Brick stitch. You can do it over two threads. You can do it over four threads. You can do it over six threads (I personally wouldn’t but I suppose you could). You can do two together (Double Brick). You can do three together (Triple Brick). You can do one row one color and then another row a different color. You can line up the long stitches so that there is a skipped stitch between each row under/over the short stitches where you can choose to put a bead or a different colored thread (a bit of sparkle perhaps?)

So many possibilities and just one simple stitch. Why do we need book after book, pattern after pattern – each one more complicated than the next? I mean sometimes I feel like there must be something wrong with me when I recommend the Brick stitch to someone, like I need to come up with something more difficult, something more complicated lest they think I am some kind of dolt who simply doesn’t know my Jessica from my Smyrna. But, really, I think often needlepointers tend to overdo it. Discretion, I was always told, is the better part of valor. There is value in restraint. In holding back. In not overdoing things. Especially when it comes to stitch work. The sign of a well-stitched project is the appropriateness of the stitch to the task, not the razzmatazz of the stitcher. The stitcher’s skill and ability should come second, the work first.

Plus, it’s fun to stitch simply. It’s more relaxing and as Russell says “meditative.” Recently, I have also been doing a fair amount of laying thread and that’s been enjoyable as well. There is pleasure to be had in doing a simple task well. Repeatedly. Slowly. With precision. Over and over. I enjoy it. It makes me breathe more slowly. Move more slowly. Calm down. And the result are stitches that look peaceful and well-placed. Serene and deliberate. Needlework for me is about the process and not necessarily about the goal, the product. The goal is nice, of course, don’t get me wrong. I’m human after all. But the process is where it’s at. If you don’t have the process, well, you might as well be watching TV or playing backgammon. It’s the feel of the thread, the tug of the needle, the reflection of the light on the thread, the pleasing pace, the peaceful atmosphere, the time out of time that rewards. That’s needlepoint and if you don’t have that you don’t have nothin’. And for me sometimes that ‘s a lot easier to achieve with the Brick stitch than it is with multiple Fleur de Lys and whoop-de-do’s.