Inherited a Needlepoint Kit? How to Identify Its Maker and Era

It happens at our shop every few weeks: someone walks in with a printed canvas found at their mother's or grandmother's house, wanting to know what it is, when it was made, and whether it can still be finished. Good news: it almost always can. And identifying it is easier than you might think.

Start with the canvas margin

Serious French houses signed their prints. Look along the edges:

• SEG de Paris: the "SEG" mark, often with a reference number. Most active from the 1960s to the 2000s.
• Margot de Paris: a distinctive cursive logotype.
• Royal Paris: one of the oldest houses, founded in 1876; prints usually carry the full name.

Clues for dating your kit

• Packaging: boxes with cellophane and a printed photo point to the 80s-90s; kraft paper sleeves are usually earlier.
• The wools: skeins with numbered paper bands suggest a complete original kit.
• The subject: Klimt and Van Gogh reproductions boomed in the 90s; gallant scenes and still lifes point to the 60s-70s.

Missing wools? That's fixable

The most common issue with inherited kits. DMC Retors Mat Art. 89 is the standard substitute for tapestry wool: same coverage and 280+ colours to match the missing shade. Send us a photo of your canvas and remaining wools and we will help you identify the colours — we ship single skeins worldwide from Spain.

Prefer a complete one?

If your inherited canvas is too far gone, our discontinued kits collection has complete, unstarted kits from these very houses — most of them one final unit.