All of the charts at Linen Flowers are hand-drawn artwork (not
computer-generated). Computer-generated means that you import them as photos,
then tweak the colors. I have done this only once for a child that was deceased,
as a memory quilt for her.
My passion at Linen Flowers is to draw the designs, and were each
of them stitched, we would have only a portion of our catalog available because
of the expense and time required to stitch them.
Since 2003, I stitched from 60-80 of them, and paid a lot for
model stitching, before realizing that there was no guarantee of a design
selling.
Another factor was that I grew as a designer, and more experience
gave me a better eye for design. Thus many that had been stitched were
redesigned to make a better product for the customer.
Finally, the high risk of copyright theft devalues designs for
all designers so that the cost of materials spent producing them are degraded.
Not a perfect answer, but one that helps me to stay in design is
to to offer simulated covers.
"Simulated" means that the design looks as close to the actual
stitching as possible. Usually, stitching them looks slightly lighter- a bit
more faded. I feel that the program that I use (DP Professional Platinum
Publisher) is the best software for simulated photos. And the black and white
symbol charts that it produces are superior.
Below are some examples of how a design looks both simulated, and
stitched. You'll find that they are very close. You'll find more examples on our
Gallery page.
Some stitchers may always prefer a stitched photo, and we
completely understand that.
