It was a few years ago when someone said they saw a craft they thought I would like and showed me a picture. At that time I had no idea what craft it was that I was looking at but it was made of yarn and had a distinct retro 1970s vibe about it and I loved it - but what the bloody hell was it?

Fast forward a year or so from then and I could not get this craft out of my head. I started googling yarn crafts until eventually I discovered I was looking at something called Punch Needle Embroidery. In the past five or so years punch needle has enjoyed a revival of sorts. The slower version is rug hooking and its super speedy version looks like tufting. And somewhere with a pace in the middle is the art of punch needle. My curiosity had been sparked but my status as mum of infant meant I had no time to pursue a new hobby, until now.

Earlier this year my family and I went on an excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne, a wonderland of over 1900 plant varieties and 10kms of walking track. My partner and I are heavily invested in creating our own bushland paradise at home, albeit on a much more domestic scale. So what would the day be without a hot chocolate in the cafe and a visit to the gift shop for some native flora inspired shopping.

It was here in the gift shop that I finally encountered a punch needle kit ‘in the wild’. My partner was the first one to spot it. A beautiful Banksia Punch Needle Kit made by Melbourne-based small company ‘The Studio Workshops'‘. The design was a pink banksia on a mustard yellow background featuring the characteristic serrated banksia leaves. My partner suggested we purchase the kit so I could do the crafting and then we could hang it as part of our growing art collection. He did not need to twist my arm. Although the kit with Oxford Needle usually retails at $125 it was on sale at 50% making it an absolute steal.

It was a winter night when we finally lit the fire for the first time in the season and the toddler was fast asleep in bed when I carefully unpacked my kit.

The first impression was that this is a high quality kit made by someone who wants the experience of punch needling to feel special. The bright orange tissue sealed with a ‘hello gorgeous’ sticker is just what this tired mum needed. Inside the kit was the following:

the softest monks cloth
a plain wooden embroidery hoop
a generous amount of beautiful yarns in beautiful colours
a ‘hello gorgeous’ thank you postcard
the design on A4 paper for tracing
a punch needle instruction booklet made with high quality card stock
an Oxford punch needle in a small calico bag

Other than supplying my own pen for tracing the design and my own scissors for cutting the yarn - the kit had everything I needed to get started. The instruction book is clearly and simply written and explains the technique of punch needling without being intimidating. The booklet will also act as a guide for any future punch needling you may like to do. The Oxford punch needle itself usually retails for about $60 give or take and knowing that I would, in most likelihood, be doing future punch needle crafts it made sense for me to invest in a kit that has a high quality hand-crafted needle included. If you don’t know what makes an Oxford Punch Needle so special…

Handmade in the USA from maple wood and a stainless steel needle, the Oxford Punch Needle is highly sought after world-wide as the premier punch needle. Imported directly from the Oxford Company in Vermont, USA. All of the Oxford Punch Needles come with a lifetime guarantee.

Step one is of course putting the monks cloth in the hoop and tracing the design. As someone who likes things to be very precise I did struggle with the fact the traceable design uses a very thick black boarder meaning there was room for error in transferring the design - I just had to accept that this craft is one of approximates and not precision. Think painting with yarn, rather than cross stich.

I choose to start with a centre line from one of the leaves, just to get the feel of the needle. Looking at the loops on the back I was definately thinking - there is no way this is going to stay in place. But to no-one’s surprise, as the rows of loops continued to grow it was clear this was going to be high density enough to hold itself in place. And after doing a couple of leaves I was pretty much on my way and addicted. The technique allows you to cover large areas of cloth relatively quickly when compared to embroidery or cross stitch.

I did struggle a little with the mustard background as I hadn’t anticipated the visual appearance of the ‘flow’ of stitches in the smaller areas. I had been using the technique of circling around the edges working my way to the centre but this turned out to be a bit messy. I unpicked a couple of small sections and redid them using a side-to-side technique and whilst not perfect it was much better.

The end result was just beautiful. There is, like with most crafts, a certain level of skill and practice if you want to replicate some of those high quality works - but as a beginner you can create something that is perfectly beautiful in a short amount of time, with not much equipment - and that is my favourite type of craft.

At $130 this kit can seem a bit pricey. You can buy cheaper kits elsewhere, Kmart even sell them, and it is great that this craft can be made available to people with less disposable income or who are not anticipating a new ongoing hobby. But the designs in the cheaper kits are not refined and I am guessing the materials are not high quality. The Studio Workshop kit is clearly a high quality package with materials that will endure. The needle will give you a lifetime of service (its got a lifetime guarantee). The banksia design is so pleasing that you will happily hang it in your living room. I highly recommend The Studio Workshop punch needle kit. If you purchase via their website you have the option of type of needle or no needle at all - so you can still enjoy the design and use the equipment you already have - SO CLEVER!

If you are interested in this kit or other designs please have a look at The Studio Workshop website. They offer in-person workshops, kits for adults and children, and assorted supplies for yarn crafting.

Punch Needle Kit - The Studio Workshops