Grafitec: large-format needlepoint kits (and how to tackle one)

There are kits you finish in three evenings and kits that are a winter project. Grafitec's are the second kind. It is the Greek house of large-format needlepoint pictures: pharaohs, savannah animals, still lifes with flower vases at almost life size. If one tempts you, here is what's worth knowing before you start.

What a Grafitec kit includes

The canvas is screen-printed in several passes, which gives that sharp, shaded print where every colour area is clear without counting anything. The base is a 10-count double-thread canvas (about 4 stitches per centimetre), the standard for needlepoint on printed canvas. Complete kits also include the threads already sorted by colour and a tapestry needle. They are worked in half cross stitch, covering everything.

Its subjects are the ones you see least in the French houses: The Pharaoh and Nefertiti, Savannah Animals, tigers, horses, and a series of classic-style flower vases. These are pictures for a wall, not for a cushion.

How long it takes

A 50 × 70 cm Grafitec at 4 stitches per centimetre is around 56,000 stitches. At a relaxed pace of an hour a day, that's two or three months; with long weekend afternoons, quite a bit less. We have the detailed numbers in how long it takes to stitch a needlepoint piece. The figure matters when choosing: a large format rewards consistency, not speed.

How to organise yourself to finish it

• A frame or scroll frame. On a 70 cm canvas, half cross stitch gradually skews it; a scroll frame lets you stitch in bands and keeps the picture square. Here's how to mount your fabric on the frame without wrinkles.
• Start with the motif, not the background. Watching the pharaoh appear in week two is what keeps you going; the plain background is left for the end, when there's no turning back.
• A spare skein of the big colours. Backgrounds take most of the thread, and at this size a different dye lot shows. If a colour runs out, DMC Retors Mat Art. 89 by the single skein is the substitute we use in the shop.
• Organise the threads before the first stitch. With twenty or thirty colours, an organiser saves you hours: how to organise your thread skeins.

And when you finish

A picture this size deserves proper framing: a gentle wash, stretching over a rigid board and a frame without glass so the texture shows. We explain it step by step in how to wash and frame your finished piece.

The Grafitec kits we have right now are in the Grafitec collection. Most are down to a single unit, so if one calls to you, don't leave it for next winter.