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Profile - Lanarte

The Dutch company Lanarte have produced many and varied designs. They produce quality large scale charts in black and white with detailed instructions in several languages.

In 1934, Augustinus (Guus) Vergnes opened a shop in Leeuwarden selling yarn and knitting wool. The range was gradually extended to include other needlecrafts, such as simple cross-stitch kits. Over the years, Guus managed to open numerous shops throughout the country under the name Naaldkunst (Needlecraft). As the range of needlecraft kits was not very broad at that time, Guus felt the need to design his own.

Lanarte, now grown into a family business was set up in 1973 and new business premises were built on the newly developed Schenkenschans industrial area in Leeuwarden, Holland.

Lanarte's collections consist of :-

• Art Nouveau - Stylish images from the golden age of art
  
• Home and Garden - beautiful flower pictures, individually, in bouquets and vases or in garden setting;
  
• Romance - delicate colours and subtle shades in pictures of beautiful women, children and flowers;
  
• Marjolein Bastin - designs of flowers, birds and samplers from the well known Dutch illustrator;
  
• Classic - from paintings, posters and Dutch tiles;
  
• Animals - styled, realistic and cartoons;
  
• Culture - Egyptian collages, oriental ladies, dark African beauties are all in this group;
  
• Holiday - lighthouses and seaside views and the country with fields of flowers;
  
• Just for Kids - cute teddies, toys and contemporary birth samplers;
  
• Maria van Scharrenburg - beautiful fantasy figures, romantic baby pictures and a cute nursery range.

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Having the right equipment will make your needlecraft a lot easier and much more fun.

The traditional image is of the embroideress holding a hoop in one hand while stitching with the other. Many people still work this way but many others prefer to have their workpiece held for them. This allows them to use other aids such as magnifiers (very useful for older eyes!).

Seat stands are also popular being portable and easy to set up and take down. Some of the larger floor stands allow lamps and magnifiers to be attached to them, as well as holding your workpiece for you.

A daylight lamp can help you match colours correctly at night or in poor light as well as providing good light to stitch by. If you stitch at a club you might consider a portable daylight lamp - either mains or battery/mains. The mains-only versions are lighter and cheaper but don't give you complete freedom on where you use them.

When your work is finished, you will want to show it off to its best effect! If it's a wall hanging then you can choose between traditional metal hangers or bellpulls and modern deco hangers.

Whatever you're stitching and however you work, the tools you use are very personal and we will be happy to advise you on the advantages or otherwise of any of them.