What is Needlepoint?

Where it was once commonplace to walk in to a haberdashery shop in the UK and ask for a ‘tapestry kit’, these days you’re much more likely to see them named needlepoint kits.

‘Needlepoint’ was readily used as a term in the USA and as the craft world has become more globally accessible, with designers taking to platforms like Etsy, the smaller UK and European markets have adopted the language of our crafting cousins in the USA.

It’s the name for stitches worked on open weave canvas; and though you’ll find most needlepoint kits are worked in a form of Tent Stitch, any stitch on an open weave canvas is considered needlepoint. That includes cross stitches and the variety of long form stitches you see in bargello kits, these all belong to the needlepoint family. And more often than not you’ll find them stitched in tapestry wool.