Stitching the Everyday: A Conversation with Frances Abel
Welcome to another episode of Stitching Conversations, my interview series exploring the people, ideas and stories shaping contemporary needlepoint.
For this episode, I spoke with Frances Abel of Frances Abel Studio, an American needlepoint designer living in Wimbledon, England. We talked about her journey from stitcher to designer, the growing needlepoint community in London, the challenges of finding resources in Europe, and what it means to build a creative business across borders.
From family tradition to designing her own
Needlepoint wasn't entirely new to Frances. Both of her grandmothers were fiber crafters, so making and working with textiles had always been part of her family background.
It was during COVID, however, that Frances really discovered needlepoint for herself. As she became increasingly hooked, she found herself frustrated by how difficult it could be to get new canvases quickly. So she started designing her own.
What began as a way to keep stitching soon became Frances Abel Studio. Her early work focused largely on custom pieces, particularly people's homes. Today, she has a growing collection of hand-painted canvases, many of which are stocked by needlepoint shops in the United States. In England, customers can also buy directly from Frances, with the canvases hand-painted by her.
Her inspiration comes largely from everyday life — her children's childhoods, sport, familiar places and the little moments that become meaningful memories.
Building a stitching community
Frances is also helping to grow the needlepoint community in London through The Cheeky Stitchers.
The group existed before COVID, but regular gatherings had fallen away. With encouragement from other stitchers, Frances helped bring the meet-ups back. Today, the group is a true collective effort, with members taking turns hosting and organising gatherings where they stitch, chat, laugh and exchange knowledge and resources.
It is a lovely example of how needlepoint is becoming increasingly social in Europe — not simply something we do at home, but something that brings people together.
When the resources aren't there yet
Our conversation also touched on one of the challenges of growing needlepoint in Europe: the infrastructure around the craft is still developing.
There is limited access to contemporary canvases, and finding materials beyond basic cotton fibres can be difficult. And then there is finishing.
In the United States, professional needlepoint finishers are a familiar part of the industry. In Europe, they are much harder to find. You may find a framer or someone willing to turn a piece into a pillow, but other types of specialist finishing can be difficult to source.
Frances has fortunately found a solution close to home through her friend Gosia (@needlepoint.notes.by.g) in London, who does flat finishing for her pieces.
Frances has also hosted a popular class teaching stitchers how to paint their own canvases from charts — another example of European stitchers finding creative ways around the gaps in the market.
The encouraging part is that things are changing. Designers are creating more contemporary work, stitchers are sharing knowledge, communities are forming and new resources are beginning to appear.
Stitching the things we want to remember
Perhaps what stayed with me most from our conversation was Frances' approach to design.
She takes inspiration from the life she is living: children growing up, favourite sports, familiar places and ordinary moments that might otherwise disappear with time.
A needlepoint piece can become a little memory to hold onto as we move into a new season of life.
And that is one of the things I find so exciting about contemporary needlepoint. We aren't only stitching beautiful objects. We are stitching pieces of our own lives.
This is exactly why I created Stitching Conversations — to explore the people and stories behind this changing craft, and to discover how designers, stitchers and communities are shaping its future.
In this episode, Frances and I talk about all of this and more: from starting to needlepoint during COVID to building Frances Abel Studio, from The Cheeky Stitchers to painting your own canvases, and from the realities of finding resources in Europe to running an international creative business.
Listen to the full conversation with Frances Abel in the latest episode of Stitching Conversations on the Maison Needlepoint YouTube Channel
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