Finishing Add-Ons
Every Finishing order includes blocking, a complementary backing fabric, and hand-twisted cording. The treatments below may be added to an order for a canvas that asks for something more: a ruffle or a fabric border on a pillow, boxed sides for a firmer shape, a hanger for a door, a pocket for a tooth, or a charm or ribbon of your own.
Add the treatment to your basket alongside the Finishing order it belongs to, and tell us in the order notes which canvas it is for. If you are unsure whether a treatment suits your piece, write to us with a photograph and we will advise before you post it.
What each adds. A single ruffle runs along the outer edge of a pillow; a double ruffle layers two. A fabric border sets a band of fabric, mitered at the corners, between the canvas and the edge. Boxed sides give a pillow a flat band of fabric around its depth, and pleated sides gather that band into soft folds. Ruffles and fabric borders are made for square and rectangular pillows and are not combined with boxed sides; ruffles are made in cotton rather than velvet. A door hanger adds a loop or ribbon for hanging; a tooth pocket adds a small pocket to the back of a pillow. Monogram alignment centers a monogram exactly within the finished piece. Charms, tassels, and ribbons are attached where you ask; please send the piece with your canvas. Extra-puffy batting gives an ornament more dimension; magnets turn a small ornament into one for the refrigerator. Cording in a chosen color lets you name the color rather than leave it to us.
Choose options
Included in Your Pierrepont Kit
We include everything you need to begin your canvas right away — no extra trips to the needlework shop, no guessing about colors or quantities. Just open, thread your needle, and enjoy.
- Hand-Selected Threads in every color your design calls for
- A Printed Color Key with thread guide and strand count
- A Tapestry Needle sized to your canvas mesh
- A Classic Needle Threader
- A pair of Golden Stork Embroidery Scissors
- A Mesh Stash Bag to keep your project organized
Kitting Your Canvas
At Pierrepont, we offer three thread lines, each with its own character
DMC Pearl Cotton
Our standard kit features DMC's beloved long-staple Egyptian cotton, trusted by needleworkers for generations. With over 500 colors — the widest palette available — every subtle variation in your design is matched with precision, so the richness of each canvas truly comes through. DMC is also the most cost-effective option, making it an especially wonderful choice for beginners and anyone building a collection.
Pepper Pot Silk
Our silk kit graces your canvas with Pepper Pot Silk from Planet Earth Fibers, a single strand of pure silk with a shine that surpasses most of its silk counterparts. Each of its 285 colors is dyed by hand, holding a tonal depth no machine-dyed thread can offer, and its lustrous coverage lends your finished piece the soft gleam of satin. Durable and effortless in hand, it is beloved by beginners and expert needleworkers alike.
Radiance Metallic
Our metallic kit features Radiance from The Meredith Collection, a high-sheen thread with a smooth, softly twisted hand. Across its classic and jewel palettes, the shimmer lives in the thread itself — radiance glimmers the way candlelight does and glides through 18-mesh canvas without the coiling that gives metallics their reputation. Radiance is the choice for holiday canvases and celebration pieces, or for any needleworker who wants their finished work to catch the light.
Terms 101
Needlepoint has a quiet vocabulary of its own. Mesh count is the number of holes to the inch: the higher the number, the finer the canvas and the smaller the finished detail. Eighteen mesh is our most common, and it holds fine painterly work beautifully.
The design size is the stitched area itself. The canvas size is the whole piece of mesh you receive, including the bare margin around the design, which your finisher needs in order to block and construct the piece.
Choosing Your Thread
We offer three thread lines, and the choice is less about difficulty than about the character you want the finished piece to have.
DMC Pearl Cotton is the classic: over five hundred colors, wonderfully forgiving, and the most economical way to build a collection. Pepper Pot Silk is hand-dyed and lustrous, and lends a finished piece the soft gleam of satin. Radiance Metallics catch the light the way candlelight does, and are the choice for holiday and celebration canvases.
Every kit arrives with a printed color key, so nothing is left to guesswork.
When the Last Stitch Is Done
A worked canvas is not yet a finished object. Blocking returns the piece to true, and construction turns it into the thing it was always meant to be — an ornament, a pillow, a stocking, a small stand-up for a shelf.
Send us your canvas and we will do that work for you, and post the finished piece home to you. Please leave at least two inches of bare canvas on every side; there is no need to trim, press, or block the piece yourself.