Local needler launches stitching business
VERNON — A local needler is cross stitching her way around the world and teaching plenty of others her art in the process.
Janis Note of the Highland Lakes section of Vernon launched Noteworthy Needle in 2013 with the intent of leaving banking behind and embarking on a business that allowed her to keep irregular hours while lounging out in her pajamas.
Cross Eyes
The product that started her on her way is called Cross Eyes, pre-drilled glasses ready for you to embroider a beautiful floral design. Note explains that the idea was inspired by Russian designer, Ulyana Sergeenko.
“She had these embroidered glasses during a runway show and I thought what a cute idea,” Note said.
But Sergeenko only made six of the glasses and they were several thousand dollars apiece. Note wanted to bring a more practical version of the bulky glasses to the masses, so she started making them herself and giving them out as gifts.
Soon people were asking Note how they could make their own. But it wasn’t until another designer offered Note space in her booth at a trade show that she erupted onto the tight knit cross stitching scene. Within two hours, Note says she had sold 500 pairs to an international catalogue.
“So I immediately went from are these going to sell to, Oh my God!" Note said. " How am I going to drill 500 in a month?”
But she managed, working 14 hour days, drilling hole after hole, to get the daunting task done. For two weeks straight, she kept up a steady pace, drilling as many as 11,000 holes in one day.
Note’s glasses are scaled down, wearable and made into a kit. Note’s background in construction and love of power tools came in handy.
“I had to machine my own jig to create them with a 1/64th inch drill bit," Note said.
A jig is a template used to guide the drill as Note makes multiple holes in many pairs of glasses. So basically, the hole will be in the same location in every pair of glasses because she made the jig. Note explains that she couldn’t get the glasses cut with a laser because the surface is curved.
The glasses are available as readers, sunglasses and even as a pair of sunglasses made to fit over prescription lenses. Note’s products are available at specialty embroidery stores in 19 states and in the United Kingdom and Australia as well as on her website, www.noteworthyneedle.com.
New products
Noteworthy Needle’s newest product, the Rusty Bucket, is a bucket featuring an floral embroidered message with the saying, “The rain that rusts the bucket, makes the flowers grow.”
Note says she only made 30 of the Rusty Buckets but she’s sold 60 of them and people don’t even really know about them yet.
Another product that is doing well are the antique reproduction samplers. Note found one design made by seven year old Sara Eliza Livermore in England in 1819. Another reproduction sampler called Mary Ann Read and the Injured Lion also dates back to 1819 and features a message by poet Alexander Pope. Note explains that some people like modern designs and others like reproduction. While she didn’t create the reproduction designs herself, she does enjoy feeling the connection to history.
The other thing that Note really loves about cross stitch is its orderly rhythm. She explains that she has turned to cross stitch in times of grief and other periods of turmoil in her life including when she lost her twin daughters.
“It’s rhythmic, so orderly, making x’s so your mind can wander to a certain extent,” Note said.
Through her experiences as a member of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America, Note says she has made friends who have helped her make a solitary hobby into a group event where you get together and stitch. Note says the women meet at the Stanhope Library from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Friday. There’s always a stitcher on hand willing to pass their knowledge down to the next generation.
Cross stitch is not as popular as knitting and Note fears they are in danger of dying out.
“That’s the reason I want to do the glasses and buckets and some more modern design to appeal to young stitchers and make it exciting for young people," Note said.
Learning to knit
Note taught herself the art of knitting.
“I was probably in sixth grade and I brought a crafting kit to make a pillow with this plain fabric," Note said. "I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t put anything on the back. So I stitched a note on the back to my mom.”
She later purchased a cross stitch kit from JC Penney.
And years later, her knack for design is attracting all sorts of attention. Note’s design for a Halloween ornament will be featured in the October issue of Just Cross Stitch Magazine. The spooky ornament features pumpkins and skulls and seeing it in print for the first time left Note "giddy as a kid in a candy store," as she remarked in a Facebook post for her business.
More good things for Noteworthy Needle could also be on the horizon after Note recently met with some distributors, she is hoping to get her products into even more cross stitch stores around the country. For now though, the products can be found at the Edwardian Needle in Fairfield and also at Where Victoria’s Angels Stitch in Clifton.
For enthusiasts who are willing to travel, you can also catch Note at the upcoming Celebrations of Needlework event in St. Charles, Missouri. The event takes place in the St. Charles Embassy Suites from October 8 to 12.
Note explains that people come from all over the country and even beyond to see the displays and learn from the stitchers who take over an entire floor of the hotel as people go from room to room to see and sell their wares. Note says that she is primarily a teacher at these events.
“I will go anywhere in the country to teach others how to stitch my design," Note said. "I don’t want to see the art die out.”