A Peek into the History of Variegated Cross Stitch Thread – Cross-Stitch

The history of cross stitch thread is honestly not something I have given much thought to. Of course it probably started with a few basic, solid colors that over time developed into more (and more) colors and eventually some of the more interesting/novel formulations we see today like multicolored, metallic and more. 

I guess if I really thought about it I would assume some of those wilder options, like the variegated threads, might have come about in the 1990s. I kind of associate them with novelty yarns like the eyelash, ladder and textured yarns that were popular around the turn of the century(!).

Though of course multicolored thread wasn’t a fad at all, and it turns out it’s older than a lot of people realize. 

Lord Libidan has a fun post on their blog all about this history of DMC’s line of variegated cross stitch floss, noting that the company made 100 or more variegated thread options back in the 1950s. Many of these threads were discontinued in 1958, and the company renamed they multicolored threads (so some are “variations” and others are “variegated”) in the 1990s. 

“This isn’t actually very shocking if you look into other thread companies during this period, as there is a lot of evidence that non-DMC thread companies offered variegated or color-changing threads before the 1960s,” according the to post. “One notable example is within the Brazilian embroidery movement, which began in the early 1960s. Elisa Hirsch Maia, an avid embroiderer from Brazil, experimented with vivid dyes and color variegations, leading to the development of a popular range of rayon threads.”

Check out the blog post for a full timeline on variegated and variation threads from DMC along with a timeline of the history of these fun threads. As is noted in the post, there are now even more options available to stitchers including the Light Effects thread line, and if the past is any indication there’s sure to be more innovation in threads to come. 

[Image by Van3ssa ?? Desiré ? Dazzy ? from Pixabay]