September 12

Christmas is coming

Sorry. I really am sorry that I have to mention Christmas already. For those readers in the UK, we don't seem to have started summer yet (maybe it's bypassed us altogether!) and we are talking about Christmas. Well, that's what comes of being a stitcher. In fact, working in the stitching industry means that you have to think about Christmas ridiculously early. I hadn't even been on my summer holidays when I designed the brand new additions to our Christmas range, more brilliant designs from Kate Mawdsley, perfectly suited to all stitching abilities. Have a look below at the new designs, I'm sure you'll love them.

I've just finished my yearly stocktake, I've just walked in from adding the final bits of data to our database. It's a job I quite enjoy (?) as it reminds me of the bestsellers in our range, as well as those that I had forgotten about, as it was quite a long time since I designed and stitched them. So I'm going to show you a few of our original best sellers, those that were some of our first popular designs.

Another yearly job - my usual reminder to you to send in your photos of completed Stitchtastic stitched pieces, I'd love to feature them in our next newsletter.
The lovely British weather
4 British Seasons

Merry Stitching!

It's a little early to start wishing you a Merry Christmas, the shops aren't even playing Christmas music yet (for those in the UK, not even 'Merry Christmas everybody' by Slade!) and there are no decorations anywhere. However, as stitchers, we need more time than most to prepare for Christmas. Our Christmas range was launched late last year and consisted of 3 designs, 1 a little larger than the other 2. This year we're adding to the range with 2 new designs, so why not have a go at a couple?

Last year's Christmas Cat and Christmas Dog were big hits, so I've supplemented them this year with 2 new animals, Christmas Brown Dog and Christmas Grey Cat. They keep the same theme of simple, colourful stitching, with extra definition added by the fluffy backstitch effect. All 4 animal designs cost £24.95 and come supplied with Zweigart aida and DMC threads, all presorted onto printed threadcards.



Grey Christmas Cat Cross Stitch 
Our brand new Grey Christmas Cat Cross Stitch.

Brown Christmas Dog Cross Stitch 
The second new design, Brown Christmas Dog.

Original Stitchtastic

We began Stitchtastic at the very end of 2006, with a much smaller range than we have now of mostly motorbikes and cars. Whilst we still stock all of our original range, we've supplemented it massively since then with several hundred new and unique designs, some based on the work of artists such as Ann Edwards and Kate Mawdsley, others designed as crossstitch by members of our team.

I thought I'd have a look back this month at some of our best sellers from our first couple of years of trading, before we launched our Designers by Stitchtastic range.

Our first ever best selling design continues to be popular now, and I suspect will always be that way. It formed the basis of our VW Camper range and is now available in 11 different colours. The Volkswagen Camper Van Bay Window Cross Stitch is available as a kit (£29.95) or a chart (£8.95) and measures 34cm by 23cm (13" by 9"), using 11 DMC colours. This was one of the first designs we had stitched up for us and when it arrived it looked amazing! We still display it at shows and it still receives admiring glances. Have a look at http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/volkswagen-camper-van-bay-window-cross-stitch-chart.aspx for more information.

At around the time we started Stitchtastic, the Harry Potter films were very popular and one of our early popular designs featured the flying Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets....well, it featured a Ford Anglia anyway! Available in red, blue or white (the Harry Potter version was blue, fact fans), our Ford Anglia Kit was a striking addition to our early range. Measuring 22cm by 17cm (9" by 7"), the design uses just 9 DMC colours and is a brilliant piece for a beginner, or if you'd like a simple stitch to have a go at in front of the TV! You'll find the kit (£24.95) and chart (£6.95) at http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/ford-anglia-cross-stitch-kit.aspx .

We started our range with a large number of Harley Davidson motorbike crossstitches, these are eternally popular and sell well all over the world. The early best selling Harleys has been one of our best sellers throughout the 6 years of Stitchtastic, and is now our most popular motorbike design across all manufacturers. It's the Harley Davidson Ultra Glide Anniversary Edition and I think the reason for its popularity stems from the fact that it looks like a really complicated stitch, but is actually quite straightforward to stitch - aren't all the best kits like that? The design measures 39cm by 23cm (15" x 9") and uses 16 DMC colours, presorted onto threadcards as part of the kit. Have a look at  http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/harley-davidson-ultra-glide-anniversary-edition-cross-stitch-kit.aspx if you'd like to buy the kit at £29.95 or chart at £8.95, or if you'd simply like to have a good look.

Also in the motorbike section, we developed a range of KTM motocross style bikes very early on and they were immediate hits, have a look at http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/ktm-450-exec-2003-motorcycle-cross-stitch-kit.aspx for the best selling KTM 450 Exec 2003 design. Measuring 38cm by 22cm (15" by 9"), the colourful orange bike design is very striking, as are all the KTM designs and costs £29.95 for the kit or £8.95 for the chart.

In early 2007, we began to develop our range of caricatures and one of our early hits was featured as a giveaway in a popular crossstitch magazine. The Rescue Helicopter design is now part of a range of 10 aircraft designs and is still a crowd pleaser. Measuring 36cm by 26cm (14" by 10"), it uses 15 DMC colours and costs £29.95. Have a look at http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/rescue-helicopter-cross-stitch-kit.aspx .

We quickly expanded our caricature range and our TV and Film designs were instant hits. The most popular was definitely the Del Boy Reliant Regal Van (for none-UK readers, this was from a TV comedy programme called Only Fools and Horses which was incredibly popular in the UK throughout the 80s and 90s). Del Boy's distinctive van always made stitchers stop and laugh at stitching shows, and often they would buy too, especially at London shows! The design measures 36cm by 25cm (14" by 10") and costs £35.95 for a kit, £10.95 for a chart. Its can be found at http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/del-boy-reliant-robin-cross-stitch-kit.aspx .

If you've stitched any of our early best sellers, we'd love to see a photo of your completed work, no matter how long it took you to stitch it! If you haven't stitched them, it's never too late.......


Volkswagen Camper Van Bay Window Cross Stitch Kit 
The original and the best - VW Bay Window Camper.

Ford Anglia Cross Stitch Kit 
Ford Anglia, available in blue, red and white.

Harley Davidson Ultra Glide Anniversary Edition Cross Stitch Kit 
Our most popular motorbike - The Harley Ultra Glide.

KTM 450 Exec 2003 Motorcycle Cross Stitch Kit 
Our top selling KTM.

Rescue Helicopter Cross Stitch Kit 
Our Rescue Helicopter design.

Del Boy Reliant Regal Van Cross Stitch Kit 
Only Fools and Horses would miss out on this one!

Facebook fans

We now have over 150 facebook fans, but we'd love to reach 200. If you haven't already, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Stitchtastic and click on 'Like'. You'll be treated to some special offers and all the exciting news that you receive in your newsletter, but a bit faster. If you're not on facebook, then join up now and make our page the first one you 'like'! Our facebook page 
Have a look at our facebook page.

Next Time

Oh, good gracious, as our newsletter is now bi-monthly our next newsletter will be at the beginning of November! I'm afraid by then we will be embarking on the Christmas season, so it will be our Christmas special. Expect lots of tinsel and carols, so if you want to get ahead of the Christmas rush, order now!

See you then!
Next Time

Questions or comments? E-mail me at sarah@stitchtastic.com or call +44 (0) 114 2353958

Until next time
Sarah
Designer


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