At the heart of Wipstitch Needlepoint is a story of sisterhood, creativity, and a shared love for stitching. Founded by two sisters with a passion for all things needlepoint, Wipstitch brings a fresh perspective to the world of hand-painted canvases. We sat down with the duo to learn more about their journey, their creative process, and what inspired their stunning designs. Whether you're already a fan of their work or discovering them for the first time, you'll love getting to know the talented women behind the brand.

Tell us about yourselves!

Rebecca: I am 58 years old, born and raised in Dallas, went to the University of Texas, then went to SMU Law School, moved to New York, had lived in New York for seven years, practiced law, then moved over to NYU, the School of Law, and raised money for them. We had both of our children in New York, and then moved home in 1999, and have been back in Dallas ever since. New York was a great experience, we really loved it, but we were glad to move back home to raise my kids. I have a 28-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old son. They both are living in New York, currently working in finance, so that's fun for me. And I had a 30-year career in nonprofit fundraising, and then when Elizabeth and I started Whipstitch together, I'm in charge of fulfillment, finance, logistics, our wholesale sales, all of our classes and events, and things like that, which is really fun. 

Elizabeth: I am a mother of three girls. I'm in my late fifties. I went to the University of Texas and got a degree in studio art, and then I went to Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and got a degree in graphic and packaging design. I have been a working creative director in Dallas for the past thirty-plus years. I've worn so many hats. I've had an online, custom card, holiday card company. I've worked for some e-commerce agencies. I was the creative director at a very large private all-girls school here in Dallas for several years. And in 2020, Rebecca and I started Wipstitch, and I left my full-time job at that school to do Wipstitch full-time because it was just so much fun being in business, and we've had the best time doing this. But, the hats that I predominantly wear at Whipstitch are creative-related and brand development-related, designing the website, designing our canvases, designing all our branding and marketing, email design, and crafting the campaigns and the creative push behind all that, social media, all those kinds of things. So that's really my sweet spot, my wheelhouse. I have been in branding and marketing my whole career. 

How and when did you two get into needlepoint?

Rebecca: I got into stitching in my middle school years. My grandmother and my mother taught me, and definitely had periods where I did it a lot and then periods where I didn't do it so much. But, I probably did my first stocking for myself, and now I want to redo it for myself because I'm so much better stitcher now than I was back then. But I've always done it. I've always found it relaxing, and I've always found it creative.

Elizabeth: I started needlepointing when I was a teenager. My mom needlepointed. My grandmother needlepointed. Once I started it, I never stopped. I've done it off and on my whole life. I've done I did a whole set of stockings for my girls. I have three daughters. They're ages 28, 27, and 22. And I stitched them stockings when they were little, and I did a whole new set when they were older that are a little more contemporary. Two son-in-law stockings. Lots of stand-ups. I mean, I love to stitch. Every anything and everything.

Where did the name “Wipstitch” come from?

Elizabeth: The name Wipstitch came from the idea of a WIP, a work in progress. So, it's a little play on that. And then, obviously, the actual stitch, a whip stitch. So it's kind of a play on those two words.

Rebecca: Elizabeth thought it up. She kind of handles all the design elements, all the social media, all the marketing elements, and she kinda came up with it. But it's obviously a play on WIP, work in progress. So we really love the name. I think it fits us, and we've used WIP kids, WIP pups, WIP kitty. We've used it with a lot of different things. Our WIP husbands. We call all of our stitchers WIP stitchers. So I think it works well.

Do you both design? What led you to start designing your own canvases?

Rebecca:  I have come up with ideas for different canvases that I think would be popular. In fact, I would like to take credit: our Dirty Coasters, which are not everybody's cup of tea, but they are our number one bestseller, was my idea. However, Elizabeth is the designer. She is the one who lays them all out and creates them. But I have come up with some designs and ideas for certain canvases.

What led us to start designing was really COVID. We were on a Zoom call with some friends. We were all stitching, and we started talking about different canvases that we wanted but couldn't find. And finally, someone kinda goes, “Well, Elizabeth, you're a graphic designer. Why don't you just design them?” And then, twenty minutes later, someone else said, “Well, Rebecca, you've been in sales, and you know how to run a business. Why don't you run the business?” And it kinda came out of that. And, actually, about four months later, we launched in August of 2020, we launched our first collection, which was about 25 canvases. And we will be five years into it this August, and we are now in, I don't know, 50 stores across the country and have a big direct-to-consumer website. And we're in our own office space with classroom space, and we really love it. We don't have a store. We have a showroom. We only sell our canvases in our showroom, but we do have lots of threads and accessories, and things like that. So people do drop by all the time and shop with us, which is really fun.

Elizabeth: I do all our canvas designs. Rebecca certainly contributes and collaborates on ideas. So, she's a part of that process. But as far as just actually, drawing them, creating them, that's me. And what led us to starting to start designing canvases was we started stitching, like, religiously during COVID, and that's kinda when, as everybody knows, everybody was just online the whole time. And we just started seeing all these things on needlepoint Instagram and then, in turn, needlepoint TikTok. And I just remember thinking, like, I really wish we could stitch this or this, and I had all these ideas. And we were on, like, a friend Zoom, and I sat there, and I was like, this is so stupid. I mean, I know how to draw and do all this stuff on the computer. I mean, I can make it into a canvas? And so that's kind of what we started doing.

Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

Rebecca: You know, I think Elizabeth finds inspiration for her designs from a lot of different places, and I certainly get ideas from a lot of different places. I just kinda think about, gosh, I'd really love to have an ornament like that to stitch. You know, it just kinda comes to us. It's hard to know.

Elizabeth: This one is a broad range. I find inspiration in traveling and looking and seeing things. Some things are just inspired ideas and concepts that I think would be fun to do.

I'll pull from pop culture. I pull from nature. I love love, love patterns and textures. And a lot of our canvases are kind of small ornament size and are sort of theme-based, and I'm absolutely itching, chomping at the bit to do, like, a really large-scale collection that is more abstract and patterns and textures that could be really interesting to me. I have more of a contemporary house. I don't have a lot of needlepoint. I don't have my needlepoint pillows anywhere in my house. I mean, most of my needlepoint is kind of seasonal and things that I, you know, use for decor, or I use them for functional needlepoint, like belts, trays, little things like that. So I'm dying to design large canvases, that could be a pillow that I'd wanna stitch for my sofa. It's a little more contemporary, because a lot of the stuff that we've done in the last few years is more kind of what I would call, theme based, like, you know, our state stamp collection or our holiday, our cowboy boot collection or our cowgirl collection, which are adorable.

And I love all those, and I think they're so fun, and they sell so well. But I have this creative itch to kind of do something large-scale, I guess, for lack of a better word

What is it like working together as sisters?

Rebecca: Well, it's great. You know? Luckily, because we're very different. We have very different skill sets. You know, I know Elizabeth has talked to y'all a little bit about our double wedding, and it was interesting. We cared about different things at that wedding, and each of us focused on different things. Elizabeth was very into the florals and the look and the feel of it. I was more into the flow and how the party would be fun and the music, and the food.

I've had a career in event planning, so I'm good at understanding what makes a party fun. And Elizabeth is really good at what makes it look nice and pretty. And in fact, we work together quite often in college on different events for our sorority. And then we've always worked together on stuff, and I think it's because we're very different and we have different skill sets. So that always makes it fun.

Elizabeth: We've always worked really well together as sisters. Fun fact, Rebecca and I had a double wedding. And, when we had that in 1982, everybody was like, “How did y'all get along working on your double wedding?” And it was a breeze. For whatever reason, we work really well together. We're only a year apart. Maybe that's just because it's just the two of us, and maybe because we grew up, a duo, doing a lot of things together. We've hosted a lot of events together, and our skill sets are really complementary. And so because we don't really get in each other's lanes, so to speak, it all just works. And I really have enjoyed working with her. And, it's great too because, even when you hit something you don't see eye to eye on, and we always kinda had this agreement that if we didn't see eye to eye, then we just wouldn't do it. You know? And that's worked really well. So we kinda don't have that many things we can't kinda talk through. So that's great.

Do each of you have a favorite canvas in your line?

Rebecca: I don't have a favorite canvas, but I do really love our cowboy line. It's really fun with all the cowboy boots. And, I do love our Nutcracker series, which Elizabeth designed and then I stitched and did all the stitch guides for. Elizabeth and I are very different stitchers as well. You know, some people love to just basketweave. Elizabeth is definitely a basketweaver. She just loves to zen out and basketweave. Now she can do decorative stitches and is quite good at it when she's doing a stocking or something like that. But in general, when she stitches for her personal use, she really loves just basketweave, whereas I am much more of a decorative stitcher. That's kind of where I get creative. I love to do different stitches. So the Nutcracker series is probably one of my favorites and the one I'm most proud of because I stitched all nine of those, and I designed all the stitch guides for those. 

Elizabeth:  Gosh. No. I like all our canvases. Maybe that's just me. I'm trying to think which ones, off the top of my head, that I love. I love them all. I can't pick one over the other.

What advice do you have for new stitchers?

Rebecca: Take a class. You know, some people can pick it up easy breezy on their own, and that's great. But for the most part, I would take a good beginner class, and then just practice and give yourself some time. You will get it. You have to spend a little time practicing, and don't feel intimidated to reach out.

I know people feel a little intimidated if they're not very good at it. We are so excited to have new stitchers, and we're so excited that at this time, needlepoint is growing. We want new stitchers to feel welcome, and we want them to feel free to come and ask for advice. It's okay. There's no needlepoint jail. You know? Just because she might skip a stitch, big whoop. Elizabeth and I skip stitches all the time. I'll start something and mess it up, or not like i,t and end up ripping it out. It's not a big deal.

Elizabeth: Advice that I have for new stitchers is that you don't have to follow all these rules. You know, do it the way you wanna do it. In fact, it's expressing yourself the way you want. 

Quick Q’s:

18 or 13 mesh?

Rebecca: I am typically an 18 mesh person. That's me. I have done 13, and it's fun and quick, but I tend to lean towards 18 mesh. 

Elizabeth: I love both. Can't choose between the two. I mean, they're just good for different reasons. Obviously, 13 mesh is fun because they tend to go a little faster. I like the look of 13 mesh on certain things, like larger pillows and larger-scale pieces, but I love the detail you get with 18 mesh. 

Favorite place to stitch? 

Rebecca: Well, I love airplanes. They have great light. I also have my chair in my bedroom with the floor lamp and my basket next to it, and my little table, and it's right in front of my TV, and I can watch The Real Housewives and just stitch away.

Elizabeth: On the sofa in front of a golf tournament. I could do it all day long.

Favorite thread?

Rebecca: I love Silk Lame Braid. I just love a little sparkle on a canvas, so that's my favorite. And then for a non-sparkle thread, I probably like Vineyard Silk the best.

Elizabeth: I love Essentials on 18 mesh, and I like Milan on 13. I am not a sparkly thread person. Fun fact. I prefer basketweave. I'm not a big decorative stitch person either.

Accessory you can’t live without?

Rebecca: I would say it's the Snag Nabit, which is that little needle thing that's got the ridges that pokes through all the little extra hairs that sometimes come up through the canvas. I love that thing.

Elizabeth: Oh, my favorite accessory of all time is the Stitch Blade. It's the wooden handle with a kind of curved end - it looks like the grim reaper's thing. Can't live without it.

Shop our collection of Wipstitch Designs here.