HOW SQUARE HOOPS BEGAN

This is my daughter's stitched      piece from her Camp Fire Girls time.  I'm amazed at how creative she was using Stem Stitches, Chain Stitches, Couching Stitches, and French Knots.     

Bruna Jones

         Years ago when my younger daughter was in Camp Fire Girls,  I taught her group different embroidery stitches.  Once a week the girls would come to our house, sit around our large round oak kitchen table, and learn to stitch.  The girls had doodle cloths on which they practiced different stitches.  The goal, after several weeks, was for each girl to create a design and then stitch it using the embroidery stitches she had learned.




      For the girls to have creative workspace, I made a "canvas" for each of them.  On   rectangular wooden frames, I stretched woven fabric by pulling it tight and stapling it to the backside of each frame.  After finishing, I wondered, "Why doesn't someone invent a square embroidery hoop?" And that's how the idea started.

     Creating a SQUARE Embroidery Hoop was not easy.  There were many steps involved. I joined Inventors Workshop, received great advice from expert engineers, had a prototype made,  and found a mold-maker.  It was so exciting when the first                5"x 7" rectangle "hoops" were produced.  Because the hoops could also be used as frames, we called them Hoop-Frames.  I still had lots more to learn, though! I had to learn about packaging and marketing, and displaying my products at national Needlework Trade Shows.  As sales increased, we started making different sized hoops, including 5"x 5",   8"x 10",  and Hexagon 6 1/8"x 7".


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   SQUARE EMBROIDERY HOOP-FRAMES

  

     A popular needlework company once produced cross-stitch Christmas ornaments framed in small wooden frames shaped like donuts.  On one side was the cross-stitch design.  On the backside was a piece of felt that hid the back of the stitching.  I liked the idea of these hanging ornaments, but didn't like seeing the uninteresting back side of them.

That's how the idea came to create the double-sided ornament frames.  I had molds made, and we were soon producing Circles, Ovals, Bells, Hearts, and Squares.  And since they were to be hanging, we called them "Sweet Suspensions".  We hope you will agree that they make wonderful and versatile little ornaments.

Many craft and stitchery artists wanted to use our frames for their designs, and we soon found ourselves in the publishing business.  For many years, we produced several cross-stitch design and instruction books with a variety of wonderful themes.  I think you'll agree that our cross-stitch designs and craft projects are inspirational and fun, and I encourage you to try one, or several of the many designs created especially for our Hoop-Frames and Sweet Suspensions frames.

  

      At first, all the Hoop-Frames were cream colored.  Later the smaller Hoop-Frames were produced in bright Reds, Yellows, and Blues.  We asked a cross-stitch designer, whose work we admired, to create simple designs for beginner cross-stitch kits.  When the kits were produced, each included a colorful Hoop-Frame for stitching and framing, plus everything needed to complete the stitchery (except for scissors).  We found that young children (8+ years) are very interested in learning  to embroider and to cross-stitch.  And, their Grandmas want to teach them! I taught each of my six grandchildren to cross-stitch. The girls loved it, and the two boys thought it was fun.

We at Easy Street Crafts wish to thank all our customers for continuing to purchase our products and for sending us their enthusiastic responses.

BEGINNER CROSS-STITCH KITS

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TWO-SIDED ORNAMENT FRAMES