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Way back in 1990, the UK craft magazine market was in the doldrums, stitching in the UK had evolved slowly and was completely unrecognised by magazine publishers. A close friend had been sending Susan a cross stitch magazine from America, called Cross Stitch and Country Crafts. Susan loved the presentation and the designs each issue contained, but it just wasn’t British, and the fabric and accessories used couldn’t be bought in the UK.
Martin and Susan started working on an idea for a new and revolutionary magazine that would appeal to the British stitching market. While they were at the planning stage, Martin picked up a computer monthly called 8000 plus, published by the then fledgling Future Publishing in Bath. Susan and Martin recognised the friendly style as the right tone for their new stitching publication, and promptly sent an idea to Future at their new Bath office. Future liked what they saw and soon Susan and Martin were employed by Future, learning the skills of modern magazine production. In March 1991 the first issue of Needlecraft was born. The first issue sold out. It was an instant success, and quickly climbed to sales of 120,000 monthly, making the top 20 UK magazines, unheard of for a craft title.
This success understandably led to more magazines - the more specialist quarterly title Cross Stitch Collection, and the chatty, monthly Cross Stitcher. These too met with enormous success, and are still top-sellers today.
After 3 years full-time at the helm of three titles Susan and Martin found the daily commitment and commute too much and decided to take their skills freelance. They continued their association with Future, but also worked for New Stitches, Ashdown and Aspen Litharne, improving existing titles and creating new ones.
It was in 1997 that Susan and Martin started creating books with David & Charles. In addition to writing they began to produce all the content for stitching and craft books – commissioning, photography and design.
As well as individual stitching books they were commissioned for a series of craft titles - a collection of twelve, with walk-through photography, showing readers exactly how to start a new craft. The Made Easy books were all designed and produced by Penny & Penny and sold worldwide and translated into several languages. Susan also worked with Eaglemoss on an idea for a new stitching part work. Needlecraft Magic was hugely successful and after its launch Susan continued to work on charts and stitching for the title. Other commissions included work on books for Haynes Publishing (car manual publishers), who were expanding into the craft market.
More collaborations with David & Charles followed – some with big name American cross stitch designers like Sam Hawkins and Teresa Wentzler, and collections by UK designers all compiled and produced by Penny & Penny.
After working closely with DMC, Susan & Martin published a set of six cross stitch design books named the DMC Design Library, which were a runaway success.
Susan's expertise then landed her the job of Publisher for the Embroiderers Guild working on Stitch and Embroidery magazine – Susan loved the Guild office at Hampton Court Palace, a very special place for stitching.
In between writing, Susan and Martin have raised a large family and moved to the North Devon coast, where they now live with their six girls and two boys. In the past couple of years Susan has written several books for Search Press – Knitted Cakes a hugely popular knitting book worldwide and part of the 20 to Make Series, and Tasty Knits.
Now Penny & Penny will once again be producing books bearing that name, with the first titles being on sale in 2012, 21 years after the first issue of Needlecraft. They have come a long way since those early Future days, when they were given a small office to work from (lovingly nicknamed the broom cupboard), and two of the most creative magazine people imaginable – Jane Toft and Sally Newman-Kidd - who thankfully knew exactly what they were doing, and were able to help create a magazine that would become a legend.
