Remember when women spent their leisure time doing needlepoint, embroidery, crocheting, and knitting? Many still do, as it is a relaxing and contemplative creative hobby. Creating needlecraft is an art form. DMC is a historical company where you can purchase thread and yarn supplies as well as kits that allow you to stitch by numbers.
If you have been watching NBC’s reality series “Making It” with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, you may know who Robert Mahar is. He is an artist and designer who teaches imaginative crafts and do-it-yourself projects through in-person workshops and online video tutorials.
I recently watched him do an online demonstration of one of DMC’s new Designer Collections along with Celeste Johnson who is one of 11 designers that have created exclusive designs for the company. I also received two kits to work on. If my mother were still alive I know she would have loved them as she was very crafty.
The kits do not have numbers on them per se but are easy to follow with colors that match the yarn that comes with them.
Get started doing needlecraft
DMC’s Designer Collection kits contain everything a needlecrafter will need to create their masterpiece, including DMC’s Six-Strand Embroidery Floss, fabric with pre-printed designs, hoops, and embroidery needles. Ranging in price from $16.99 to $46.99, the Designer Collection features kits for a variety of techniques, including embroidery, tapestry and needlepoint, punch needle, and cross stitch. The kits are ranked from beginner to expert, so all needlecrafters can find a kit that fits their skill level.
The DMC website has an extensive digital library of video tutorials, articles, and illustrated stitch guides to take your hobby to the next level.
The DMC Designer Collection
Higuchi is one of 11 designers from around the world, including Austin, Texas-based designer Celeste Johnston and the United Kingdom’s Georgie Emery, who have created 30 exclusive designs for the collection using DMC’s iconic threads. The collection features kits for novice, intermediate, and advanced needlecrafters in classic and contemporary styles —from Victoria Rose Richards’s striking embroidery sunflower field under an expansive blue sky to Bethan Haf Jones’s tapestry, geometric waves in bright colors.
Designers who have contributed to the DMC Designer Collection include:
- Georgie K Emery is an embroidery artist from the UK whose colorful landscapes combine applique layering with decorative embroidery and take inspiration from the topography of the Cotswolds. Her designs for the collection include a moonlit winter scene and a romantic countryside landscape in pretty pastels.
- Celeste Johnston is an Austin, Texas-based embroidery artist known for her cheerful and uplifting pieces inspired by wildflowers’ colorful and gentle beauty. The author of two books for beginners, Freshly Stitched and Sunny Stitches, Johnston created two designs for the collection inspired by a Mediterranean garden and an English garden.
- Victoria Rose Richards is an Autistic biology graduate and embroidery artist from Devon, UK. The geometric shapes and textures she sees in nature inspire her abstract landscapes, such as her stunning seaside rain design for the Designer Collection.
- Marie-Dominique Procureur is a French designer for DMC. Inspired by flora and fauna, her kits include vivid and bold modern compositions of bowl-shaped flowers, dahlia blooms, and mimosa shrubs.
- Anna Matvieieva of Mr.Stitch & Mrs.Needle is a Ukrainian designer living in Germany. Her designs feature beautifully detailed Paris street scenes, including the Eiffel Tower, the idyllic pavement cafes from district Montmartre, and the Arc De Triomphe surrounded by magnolia blossoms.
- Yumiko Higuchi has published five books, with her upcoming release, Stitching Through the Seasons, slated for November 2023. Her kits feature hydrangeas in soft blue and pale green tones and charming birds and flowers in a classic muted palette of purple, mauve, and green, both with an elegant oval embroidery hoop that perfectly frames the composition.
Other artists in the collection include Christel Gouze, Bethan Haf Jones, Blanche Daramir, Nathalie Weinzaepflen, and Joanna Hateley.
Get your friends and family stitching
Women in ages past sat in circles doing needlework and socializing, but now men like Robert Mahar are joining in too. Stitching in a group setting can be a relaxing and fun way to spend time with family and friends. If you are someone who has experienced loneliness as you age, you can become a part of a global online community of crafters and meet new friends.
DMC was founded in 1746
The company is a renowned French needlecraft establishment that has been in business for 275 years. It still manufactures at its historic site in Mulhouse. Almost everyone who has practiced needlecraft for the last two centuries has likely used DMC materials. Nearly 296,000 miles of its flagship stranded embroidery floss is sold each year which you could wrap around the earth 20 times. I’m sure many cats have enjoyed it too.
I think it’s calming. I need to start doing again.
Calming is always a good thing. LOL