Today we are delighted to welcome a delightful addition to The Glam Pad team… Natalie Aldridge, our newest Contributing Editor! A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Natalie spends her days as Junior Interior Designer and Project Manager for Sarah Magness Design. At night, she freelances for publications such as Guest of a Guest and creates works of art for both personal pleasure and commission. She also enjoys needlepoint, collecting antiques, and travel. Natalie’s style can be described as an irreverent combination of whimsy and tradition. She draws heavy influence from the past and has a passion for neoclassical elegance, old-world glamour, and eccentric characters.  A self-proclaimed Old Soul, Natalie’s classic, timeless style is reminiscent of an iconic Hitchcock Blonde.

In the past, Natalie has worked for John Rosselli & Associates and Scott Sanders Interior Design. She has also worked for Lilly Pulitzer as well as the London-based French Connection. She has collaborated with entities such as The Holland Society of New York and House Beautiful magazine among others.

Let’s get to know more about Natalie!

Q:  When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in interior design, and what brought you to New York City?

A:  I started developing a keen awareness of the arts as a child. I always involved myself in art classes, fussed over my clothing, and sought out aesthetic experiences. I knew I wanted to do something creative. I grew up in the Midwest where I felt out of place and longed for space where culture and creativity rained paramount. Rather than dueling on this, I spent much of my time developing my artistic ability and personal style. Something very pivotal for me was taking sewing classes from a local woman, Mrs. Quilling. I would ride my back after tennis lessons to her home where she would teach young girls of the town how to sew from her basement studio.

It wasn’t until the teen years that I realized being an interior designer was an actual profession and could be studied. I toyed with the idea but ultimately opted for the fashion industry. At eighteen I moved to New York for university and began working in fashion. I quickly realized while I love the art of fashion, I did not enjoy the industry and began wiggling my way into the interior design industry. I ultimately graduated magna cum laude from Parsons School of Design and have been growing my career in interior design since age twenty.

Q:  What is your favorite aspect of interior design, and why did you choose it over fashion?

A:  The intimacy of interior design is one of my favorite aspects. Whether one is designing a singular space or entire home for an individual, developing a deep understanding of their lives and building personal connections is vital to producing successful work. Interior design at its surface is cosmetic but on a much deeper level, interior design is the psychological art of living well.

At one point in history, it was commonplace for a man or a woman to have their clothing tailored to their bodies making for an intimate experience. This is rather unusual these days which has led to a distinct lack of intimacy in the fashion industry. While I adore the art of fashion, the personal intimacy and scale of work in interior design won my passion.

Q: How do you define your style?

A:  Timeless with a dash of irreverence. My affinity for old-world sensibility and glamour has informed the timeless aspects of my style. My penchant for the creative, the wacky, and the wild drives the irreverence. Think Grace Kelly meets Auntie Mame.

Q: After a year of Zoom meetings and sweat pants, do you think glamour will make a comeback?

A:  I sure hope as much! Then again, I have been trying to bring glamour back since I can remember, and it will be on my headstone. I am truly tired of people dressing like they have been plucked from the Great Depression. I think as a society we have forgotten our manners and lost our panache. Dressing well is not only a form of self-expression but self-respect.

The current trend seems rather confused. There seems to be a push and pull between designers who are looking towards the excitement of a post-pandemic world and those who have a grimmer outlook. I hope that as we move into better times that fashion follows. I feel a personal duty to inspire others to bring glamour into their lives.

Q:  Who are your favorite designers (past and present)?

A:  That’s a tough question! For interiors – Tony Duquette, Jacques Grange, Jean-Louis Denoit, Beata Heuman, Jacques Garcia, Martin Brudnizki, and Madeleine Castaing top my list.

For fashion – Dior, particularly during the 1950s, Valentino, Miu Miu, old school Prada, Carolina Herrera, Bob Mackie, and Pierre Cardin. I am also in love with newer designers like Markarian and Emilia Wickstead. I could go on. There are many designers I love for different reasons and at different periods of history.

Q: And your favorite trendsetters/style icons for fashion inspiration?

A:  I tend to go back to historical figures for inspiration- Diana Vreeland, 1960s Catherine Deneuve, Princess Diana, Marie Antoinette, Doris Duke, Françoise Hardy, Edith Sitwell, Salvador Dali, and Isabella Blow.

Some of my favorite contemporary trendsetters include women like Alexa Chung, Jenny Walton, and Camille Charriere. I think those three ladies are true trailblazers with impeccable personal style.

Q: What are 5 everyday luxuries you could not live without?

A:  Airpods, my laptop, a moleskin notebook, fresh bed linens, and good coffee.

Q: I love your artwork, please tell me about your inspiration.

A:  I think I have a perverse attraction to chaos and oddity. As much as I am timeless and a magpie for old-world glamour, unexpected juxtaposition fascinates me and fuels my imagination. Much of my artwork is an exploration of my current obsessions or bits and pieces of ideas I am fiddling with. I go through phases of mediums as well. Most recently I have been working in multimedia collage. I adore placing bizarre pieces floating around my head together to create a composition.

Q: What are your favorite movie houses, and your favorite movies for overall inspiration?

A:  I am huge on art house kind of films, old Hollywood, period pieces, and documentaries. Some of my favorites include The Eye has to Travel (2011), Blue Velvet (1986), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Auntie Mame (1958), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Marie Antoinette (2006), and An Education (2009).  I also adore anything Wes Anderson especially The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

*Click here for more of Natalie’s favorite movies for creative inspiration!

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

A:  I’m such a history junkie so I love to check out different streets, buildings, neighborhoods, etc. in New York that I have read about and studied. I could moonlight as a tour guide. When traveling I also love to read about obscure history and off-the-beaten-path places to explore in whatever city or country I am headed to.

I delight in working with my hands and exercising my artistic muscle by painting, building something, sewing, needlepointing, anything hands-on really. I am always looking for a new medium to take up and starting a random project.

Antiquing is also a big thing for me. I am on continuous hunt for my next treasure. I think high-end hoarder is the proper terminology. I may have to take out a storage unit soon.

We are thrilled to have Natalie on board and look forward to an extra dose of Glam at The Glam Pad! You can follow Natalie on Instagram at @nataliealdridge and check out her blog to read her design musings and purchase her fascinating artwork.

Needlepoint is such a fun and relaxing hobby, and it has provided a wonderful outlet for many during Covid.  It has been fascinating to watch the industry transform over the last five years and then skyrocket during the pandemic. However, the known health benefits of needlework are not new. Studies have shown that it reduces stress, depression, and blood pressure, and I was fascinated to learn that needlework was even used as a form of therapy for WWI veterans suffering from shell shock!

Recently I started a separate Instagram account so that I could keep up with the goings on within the needlepoint community. There is such a warm and welcoming network of canvas designers, needlepoint shop owners, and individual stitchers online eager to offer advice and inspiration.  Two ladies I have enjoyed “meeting” are Carol Crowe and Polly Kramer, co-owners of KC Needlepoint. While physically located in Kansas City, they offer free shipping throughout the US and a range of invaluable online resources. Today, I am delighted to welcome Polly and Carol to discuss the booming needlepoint industry along with some exciting new ways they are catering to the rapidly growing number of needlepointers…. and those who want to learn! Welcome Polly and Carol!

Q:  Please tell me a little about KC Needlepoint… How you got started, your mission, and what makes you stand apart.

A: We met coming up on 7 years ago. Although we lived 2 blocks apart and had children similar ages we had never met. We each emailed Julie, the manager at Sign of the Arrow in St. Louis, asking for advice about opening a needlepoint shop in Kansas City. She responded by asking if she could share our information with the other and here we are.

We went to lunch and talked about our ideas for a shop. We decided to go to a TNNA [The National NeedleArts Association] show in January to see if we really wanted to do it. At first we had a hard time getting in because if you didn’t have a shop you couldn’t go, but our friend Madonna Lewis from Cabbage Row in Charleston, SC brought us with her. We were there for 2 days and decided on the plane ride home we would do it. We opened our shop on June 12, 2015

Our goal is to share our joy of needlepoint with others. We have both been needlepointing since we were young girls. It has brought us years of joy and we want others to experience that too.

Q:  How have you seen the needlepoint change over the last few years, particularly through Covid and the Grandmillennial movement?

A:  Since we have only been in the industry a short time compared to other shops we don’t have a lot to compare it to until COVID arrived. When we had to close the shop to walk in customers we pivoted like many shops to on-line sales. With so many people stuck at home, stitchers started working through their stashes and lapsed stitchers found that project that they hadn’t seen in years and started stitching again. Once they had finished those projects they needed new projects and we were able to send out new canvases and threads.

Q:  Thanks to technology, customers can shop your store nationwide. How do you work with needlepointers who may not have a local shop, or are looking for something more?

A:  We have been spoiled to have always lived in a city with needlepoint shops. Our goal is provide those without a shop an easy way to shop for new needlepoint projects and a place to send their completed items to be finished. Our entire shop is available online through our website, www.kcneedlepoint.com. We spend a lot of time on the phone and through email with customers, sharing photos of fibers, helping them pick the perfect threads for their projects.

Q: What is your advice for someone who has never needlepointed before but wants to get started?

A:  We have a beginner kit in our Happy Stitching line, the Alphabet Beginner Kit. This canvas fits a lot of the things we look for when helping a customer choose their first canvas. First, pick a canvas you love that’s not too big so you can keep your interest and will be more likely to finish it. We also suggest a square 13 mesh canvas so the holes are easier to see and you don’t have to tackle too many curves. Finally, a canvas that does not have a lot of detail so you aren’t constantly changing colors and you have an area large enough to learn how to basketweave, which is the basic needlepoint stitch. We believe these will help beginners have an enjoyable first experience and want to continue stitching.

Q:   I was so excited to learn Jinny Barney McAuliffe from @stitchstyleblog has joined your team! Jinny is an amazing teacher. What are some of the ventures you will be working on, including Needlepoint Tutorials and The Stitch Vault?

A:  We were thrilled to add Jinny to our team. Her experience is invaluable and she has certainly added a lot to our shop.  Jinny has allowed us to expand what we offer to customers in the shop and online. The Stitch Vault has been a fun project to work on. We wanted to make stitches available to anyone at any time. With people on the move so much you may not always have the stitch book you need when you need it and this way you just need to log onto our website to find what you need. Jinny came up with the idea for the Doodle Canvas Kit which is a great kit that will allow you to practice stitches with a variety of threads.

We recently launched a collaboration with Bauble Stockings to bring their designs to canvas. We currently have 10 Bauble Stocking designs available and Jinny has created amazing stitch guides for each of them.

We are planning for 2022 so be on the look out for a new 22 in 22 project, new additions to the Stitch Vault and so much more.

Q: What other resources do you offer for those looking to advance their skills?

A: We are fortunate to have a gifted teacher in our shop, Lale Verhulst. Lale has been with us for 6 years and she is responsible for all of our in shop classes. Lale has a full schedule of classes each year and in 2022 we plan on bringing some of those classes online. We want to give those living outside of Kansas City the opportunity to learn from Lale and create some of the beautiful pieces she has taught.

One of the consistently popular classes she has taught is our Brick Class. This is the perfect class for the beginner stitcher who wants to move on from basketweave to decorative stitches. During the 5 week class Lale teaches 15 different stitches using a variety of threads. We started the class in 2016 and since then Lale has taught the class to over 100 people.

Q:  Please tell me more about your Needlepoint Kits and other offers and exclusives you provide?

A:  We have worked this year to increase the number of canvases we offer as kits. Again, we realize that not everyone has a shop close by and to be able to buy a complete kit makes their access to needlepoint that much easier. In 2021 we also started an exclusive line of needlepoint kits called Happy Stitching. These designs are all from the artists we represent through our wholesale business, KCN Designers. The kits range from a single letter canvas for the beginner stitcher to simple ornaments to larger detailed pillows. The kits come complete with the canvas, threads and instructions in a beautiful box. The idea for the box was in the hope that needlepointers may give them as a gift to friends who needlepoint or friends they want to start needlepointing. We named the company Happy Stitching because we always say that to customers when they leave the store or in the note we write to on-line customers. Let’s face it, needlepointing should bring you happiness. We also have a few accessories in our Happy Stitching line including project bags and Happy Stitching Tervis Tumblers.

Q:  Where do you see KC Needlepoint over the next five years?

A:  We hope our shop continues to grow and the love of needlepoint continues to spread. It is such a creative outlet for people. It is wonderful to see daughters beginning to needlepoint as their mothers and grandmothers have. There are so many new, young needlepoint artists that are sharing their fresh, fabulous designs that it’s not your grandmother’s needlepoint anymore.

Q:  Anything else you would like to add?

A:  We love all of the people we have met in the shop, online and throughout the industry.

Thank you so much Carol and Polly for joining us today! I am so excited about all of your new resources! To learn more, please visit KC Needlepoint and follow @kcneedlepoint on Instagram. Happy stitching!