Stitches Shuttered as XRX Files for Bankruptcy

Stitches Events has announced that its business is shut down after 40 plus years of publishing needlecrafting books and producing events.

According to an announcement on their website, the company XRX no longer exists.

“The company is officially in the process of being dissolved,” the statement says. “Per our bankruptcy lawyer’s instructions, all our accounts have been closed, and all our future Stitches events and projects have been cancelled.”

It looks like a Stitches at Home event took place earlier this month and future events were in the planning stages. Embroidery designer Rosanna Diggs, for example, posted the announcement and noted she had future workshops scheduled through Stitches but did not have any more information.

XRX put on large needlework events around the country several times a year before covid shut them down. The most recent in person event was Stitches West, held in March in Sacramento. The company also used to publish books under the XRX imprint, as well as Knitter’s Magazine, which ceased publication in 2016.

The statement says the company is liquidating all business assets and the resulting trust account will be used to pay back creditors. It notes the business “can no longer survive in the present economic climate.”

The big trade shows and events that used to be common in the industry have become less so over the past few years. The National Needle Arts Association used to host a trade show that has been on hiatus since 2020, and their website says they are working on restructuring the group and rebuilding its website. Vogue Knitting Live has gone virtual, but they are planning an in-person event in New York in January 2024.

Interweave Press, which used to publish books and magazines and put on events, has reduced its portfolio after being sold in 2019 to Peak Media Properties. They still put on Yarn Fest, which is happening in Milwaukee later this month and in Lancaster, Penn., in August.

“We’re sorry we couldn’t make it work,” the statement continues. “Please believe us when we tell you we tried.”

Update: A Facebook group has been started for vendors, teachers and others affected by the closure of Stitches. So far there’s no real activity but worth looking into if you fall into those categories.

Knitty has set up a page where vendors and teachers who have been affected by the shutdown can run ads for free, making it a great place for the rest of us to find people who could use our support right now.

It’s always sad news when someone in the industry closes their doors, leaving fewer opportunities for teachers and vendors to reach their audience, fewer companies publishing craft content and fewer ways for people to learn and build community. I’ll update this post if more information becomes available.

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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