What's happened to all the cotton?
| A serious note to start our newsletter this month. As you may have read, cotton prices have gone through the roof over recent months. At a trade show in February, I chatted with the DMC VIPs, one of whom had come over especially from the USA to meet with all of us UK cross stitch manufacturers and to talk about the price of cotton. If you'd like to know more, have a look at http://realbusiness.co.uk/sales_and_marketing/cotton_prices_at_record_high , for an in depth look at the issue. Now as you can imagine, cross stitch manufacturers do use rather a lot of cotton-based products, from our threads to our fabrics so this price hike has unfortunately meant that we will have a small price rise at the beginning of April. Having absorbed the VAT rise here in the UK, we simply couldn't continue with the increases in all of our raw material prices. So, firstly, apologies for the rise, but secondly and more importantly, you have one month to get your Stitchtastic orders in before the price rise! |  Our most popular camper van designs, for the next 4 weeks part of our £27.95 range. |
Lorries and Vans...finally!
| Well, I've been promising to take a look at our lorry and van designs for several months now, and here they are. (For our US readers, you may prefer to call them trucks.) To start with, our most popular lorry design. The Eddie Stobart design is our best selling lorry and definitely the biggest and most colourful! Measuring 13.9" by 8.7", the design uses 20 DMC colours and certainly shows off the striking livery of an Eddie lorry in our trademark caricature style. The kit is priced at £33.95 for the rest of this month. A surprisingly popular design next, the Tesco fuel tanker. When I designed this, I wasn't expecting it to be a particular best seller, but it has proved me wrong! It measures 13.9" by 8.7" and uses 11 DMC colours. The kit costs £27.95, until the end of March. Let's move on now to look at vans. The Transit van must be the most popular van in the UK, and we have 2 available in stitched form on our website. Firstly, if you know a white van man (or woman), they'd love this take on their vehicle of choice from the rear, measuring 13.7" by 9" and using 16 colours. It's priced at £27.95 during March. The Transit is also available as a Police version, ready for any emergency. It measures 12.9" by 10.4" and uses 14 DMC colours. Finally, take a look at the DAF 92 Truck Rig, which I'm sure would appeal to any trucker. Measuring 11.7" by 13.9", it uses 15 DMC colours and is currently on sale at £27.95. There are many more designs in our lorries and van section, have a look at http://www.stitchtastic.com/catalog/caricature-lorries-vans.aspx for those I couldn't fit in here. |  Second month running for this stitched Eddie picture!  Surprising popular for a petrol tanker.  Stitch the transit for your very own white van man.  The Police Transit van is ready for anything.  Our DAF 92 design, one of a number of truck designs in our range. |
Stitchtastic Stitchers
| This month marks the return of Margaret, one of our previous contributors. Her father in law is the stitcher in the family and completed the brilliant Caterham 7 design pictured here as a Christmas present for Margaret's husband from him and his wife. Margaret says they're all very pleased with the way the design has come out - I think it looks fantastic! |  Thanks to Margaret's father in law, this stitched piece looks amazing. |
Stitching show time
It's now crazy time at Stitchtastic, as it always in in March. Following a very busy and successful trade show in February, our attention turns to the 2 major retail fairs in March, Stitch & Craft 2011 at Olympia, 17th - 20th March and Sewing for Pleasure at the NEC, 24th to 27th March. |  Come along and enjoy yourself at a stitching show this Spring. |
Next Month
| I have to be honest, right now I'm so busy preparing for the shows that I haven't a clue what will be in next month's newsletter! It may be a little late due to the shows, but I promise it will be filled with many more of our bright, colourful designs and maybe a star stitcher or two - could that be you? See you then! |  |
Questions or comments? E-mail me at sarah@stitchtastic.com or call +44 (0) 114 2353958
Until next time
Sarah
Designer