The Loretta Spears Design Archive: July 2015

Friday, July 17, 2015

Jeweled Box (Loretta Spears Designs)

Cover Page Courtesy of Fireside

Thanks to Jeweled Box turning up on eBay this week, I have lots of new information about this Loretta Spears Designs ornament published in December of 1995. By the way, this item sold for $7.49.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Loretta-Spears-Designs-JEWELED-BOX-Very-Rare-/301684680052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463dcee574

Full Chart

The ornament itself is a small rectangle and the chart is three pages plus the cover page with the usual photograph against greenery.

Original Supplies

The auction includes the instructions, red canvas, the overdyed floss, gold beads, and spool of silver Kreinik needed to stitch the design.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Loretta-Spears-Designs-JEWELED-BOX-Very-Rare-/301684680052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463dcee574

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Materials List:

size 18 Victorian red canvas 6x8 inches
Needle Necessities overdyed floss #151 (dark greens and garnet)
Kreinik 1/16 inch metallic ribbon #001 (silver)
Toho Beads #A161 (gold)

Close up Courtesy of Fireside

Welcome to the Loretta Spears Design Archive

This site is a record of the designs published by Loretta Spears between roughly 1986-1996. After her death, Loretta Spears' family honored her wishes by not republishing any of her mystery designs or ornament charts and have refused multiple offers to license her designs. The only places you can find them now are on eBay or through stash sales.

I plan to list all the magazine articles and charts that include her designs, and describe them to help her fans know what is available. This is a collaborative effort and I wish to thank everyone who helped develop this site to honor and document Loretta Spears' work. By the way, the header photograph shows part of Fascination (Mystery #10) stitched by Needleartnut with the title created by lara hartley.

If you have further information about Loretta Spears' work or would like to share photographs, please email me at LorettaSpearsDesigns@gmail.com

About Loretta's Mysteries

There were fourteen mystery pieces total. Though the kindness of DH, I have the descriptions of each mystery as Loretta posted them on her old website (now gone). I also have a separate article about each mystery in blog postings which you can find by searching "Mystery #1," etc. Each mystery article has Loretta's description, a list of threads, photos of the threads she specified if I have them and finally photos of finished pieces and links to websites showing them. If the finished piece shown isn't in Loretta's colors, I'll tell you. If you don't want to see photographs of the mystery pieces, click on the Mystery Designs Checklist tab at the top of the blog under the header photo. That lists only the designs with Loretta's own description of them.

Not For Sale

Please note that this site does not have any Loretta Spears' designs for sale. In fact, I don't own any of her designs, and the kind folks who helped me with photographs and information do not wish to be asked to sell their charts. Your best source for her designs is eBay where currently mysteries go for $20-250. The small ornament charts seem to sell for around $5-50 although these don't turn up that often, making a price prediction hard. Needle Adventure charts for pieces such as Florentine Fantasy and Bargello Fantasy are common and usually sell for $5-10 although you can get bargains occasionally. (Currently the ornament charts aren't selling well so you can probably get some good bargains.) The old Needlepoint Now and Needlepoint News magazines with Loretta's charts also turn up on eBay periodically and go for $2-4 but they can be pricey due to shipping charges if you must buy a group of magazines to get the one you want.

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Friday, July 17, 2015

Jeweled Box (Loretta Spears Designs)

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