Back as good as Front

Hi, My name is Theresa and have been stitching since I was a little. I just started really getting interested in cross stitch and heard the back should look as good as the front. How do you do this? I can't seem to make it happen, even if I do my stitches exactly the same way every time. If someone could help with this it would be greatly appreciated. There is no advise anywhere in instruction manuals or anything else I have looked up. Thanks.

Reply to
Theresa Garda
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The two big things to look out for are (1) don't carry your thread a long way (anything over 1/2 inch is too far and some people recommend even less) and (2) trim your starting and ending tails close to the stitching so that they don't snarl up and get tangled in your stitching.

Unless you learn how to do double-sided stitching (where both sides will be Xs, which is a PITA to do), the back will not look identical to the front, but you should be able to look at the back and say "hey, that's a fish" or "hey, that's an angel".

But don't get so hung up on the condition of the back that you let the front go to hell. There are some complex patterns where even the best of us would wind up with "a plate of spaghetti", as Anne says, because there are too many colors in too small a space.

Reply to
Karen C - California

It will never look as good on the back, but there are things you can do to make it really very, very good. Keeping your stitches exactly placed and uniform is one. Another is never to carry a color across other stitches or across a blank area. Never make a knot, and never twist stitches. Your goal is to make it so there is nothing loose or knotted or tangled or thick, and so that when you hold the piece up to the light that you don't see any threads or blobs.

Reply to
Mary

As I have noted many times, I am a scientist, so I tend to do my needlework, CCS, from a sc ientific point of view. The less floss there is at the back of the work, the neater it tends to be. Therefore the aim is to have as little floss at the back of the work as possible. Not carrying the floss over more than half an inch is not necessarily a good idea. You have to finish the end off, and restart a new one. At 16 sts to the inch, I am prepared to take the floss up to an inch. I have worked out how to have as many stitches as possible at the back that go just one side of the square, and minimize the carry over when that is not possible. I have never persuaded anyone else that this is worthwhile doing.

Reply to
F.James Cripwell

When Maureen used to enter a piece of crosstitch any competition that was organised by the Scottish Women's Rural Institute (SWRI ) her work _including_ the back was examined very carefully. Apparently an untidy back could lose you marks.

Reply to
Bruce

I think that's overrated and being obsessive about it to the extent that some people are is a poor return on investment of time. It should be as tidy as you can make it, which includes (as others have said):

Not running threads under more than about 5 stitches to anchor or end

Not carrying threads across a blank space

No knots

No tangles

No twisted threads (meaning, the stitches should be railroaded or laid)

IMO, the above are precautions taken to preserve the FRONT of the piece.

I actually wrote an entire essay on this when I got frustrated with designers requiring their model stitchers stitch near perfectly on the back (although the most egregious of these designers didn't actually pay cash money for their work, either--if you're getting something for free or near free, you probably ought not be too persnickety).

Anyway, these are my extended thoughts on the subject:

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Reply to
LizardGumbo

On 17 May 2007 15:04:26 GMT, F.James Cripwell defied the laws of time and space to say:

I think the not-carrying-over thing has less to do with the neatness of the backs than it does with the tension of the thread. Even if you're using a frame to block the fabric, it's hard to maintain an even tension on the thread if you carry it a significant distance without other threads to support it.

OTOH I often carry my threads well over an inch (sometimes even two!), by tucking them under the backs of stitches. It's as if I were ending the thread off, but instead of cutting it I just bring it up on the front again. I especially do this if the new place only has one or two stitches in that color. I hate threading a needle just to do one stitch.

-Bertha

Reply to
Bertha

Shhhhhhhhhhh. When I'm working a piece with a lot of confetti, I'll often do the confetti color(s) first, with those long leaps, on the theory that the subsequent colors will catch the carries and hold them down. But it does look sloppy if you have long carries on *top* of the rest of the stitching, and it's particularly hazardous if it's clothing or an afghan where a finger could get caught in the long carries.

Reply to
Karen C - California

I used to worry about it, but not anymore. Just make sure all of your thread tails are neatly tucked and trimmed.

Reply to
ravenlynne

That's how I feel. I usually look at the big picture...am I going to be constantly trimming? How much thread am I going to waste? I weigh the pros and cons...I'll usually just travel, but I've never gone over an inch. And I've been told often that my backs are fantastic.

Reply to
ravenlynne

ITA and I do this too!

Reply to
ravenlynne

I do the same and often carry a thread further than most people think is acceptable. But I always work it over and under along the way. I always figure if you start and stop a thread when you're doing only a couple of stitches, that makes for more ends to work in and I can't figure out why that's neater.

Lucille

Reply to
Lucille

Theresa, You can view other stitchers' backs at the link below. The Donna Kooler's book "Cross Stitch for the First Time", has some tips on page 23. However, I think it takes practice keeping your backs as neat as your fronts.

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Reply to
Anita

It should always look tidy, and it is much easier to frame, back or use as a doily, when it doesn't have an untidy back.

I suggest never carry threads over more then a maximum of 5 or 6 stitches (I suggest less on 14 ct. fabric) and weave them neatly under the stitches so they are covered. Don't carry threads over vacant areas, and don't carry dark threads over large areas of light ones or they other way round, it might be visible on the right side, especially when you work on light fabric.

Don't knot anything and snip away all protruding embroidery threads. If a thread tangles, and you can't untangle it, don't leave it on the back, but cut it off and start a new thread.

Otherwise you'll be fine. Unless you want to enter a competition you shouldn't get carried away too much with it. But a neat looking back feels and looks good.

Happy Stitching Sibille

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Reply to
SiK

This depends on the type of work, and exhibit. If you're exhibiting a bellpull or hanging that is unlined, with an open back - then the back surely will be examined. At Woodlawn this year the big winner was shown in a case with the top rolled down so that the back could be seen - it was amazing. I'm sure Maureen has had fabulous instruction, and I suppose if we get into the "good" habits it's better than unlearning the bad ones. Of course, Donna is still laughing at the disastrous back of my "summer garden" sampler from VS - which is a mess due to the many waste knots needed to start the stitches, and the catchiness of the silk and metallics, but, hey that's life.

That said, when I took the judging certification classes from ANG, we discussed this - a lot. The main things are that you shouldn't do something on the back that will show on the front - causing shadows, dark threads carried on the back behind, through light threads may do that. If you carry thread some distance - more than a few stitches - it may make for uneven tension on the front over time, or it may show - depending on how far you carry, and again, the colors of the ground cloth versus the thread being carried. Personally - I won't carry more than 3 stitches. I figure compared to my time, and the whole project - an inch of floss is cheap. Similarly, the reason for not "knotting" threads on the reverse- you end up with bumps. While some things are shown underglass, and some shows won't accept pieces underglass in a frame (exceptions being things like a fishbowl, or diorama) we would look at the pieces from the side to see the straightness of rows & diagonals, as well as the height - so if there's tangle on the back - it may well show up on the front as an unevenness. But, OTOH, if you're making something into a pillow, with soft backing - it may just fade away into the stuffing.

There are people that believe that true blackwork, done in Holbein (double running) stitch should look the same on the back as the front. And it will be very close, but with some pieces it just won't be exactly the same. For XS, in very regular things you usually see the back looking like columns of very neat little dashes. Just depends, different stitches look different, and many of them on the rear don't look at all like the face.

As many others have said - if you get in the habit of holding your tails so that they are secured under some stitches when you start, and then make sure to bury them by couching them under several stitches at the end, and snipping off short, short, close to the stitching - as you go, then the backs will be neat. Just being careful not to tug too tightly at the end as that sometimes will distort the ending few stitches.

But, you know - this is supposed to be fun, so we all do what makes us happy, and if you don't see imperfections, that's all good - the XS police rarely make housecalls.

So - happy stitchin' Ellice

Reply to
ellice

I totally agree, but the caution for the carrying under that I'd make is the color of what you're carrying through versus what you're carrying. At the same time, if you carry the thread loose across the back - it does become a magnet for other things to snarl upon - IME.

Ellice

Reply to
ellice

I think the amount to carry under has a lot to do with what the stitch was which you're anchoring, and the thread. Floss, with XS, 5 -7 stitches, great, 3 - doable, but a little light. However, if you're anchoring satin stitch, or things like Rhodes stitches, etc - which are much looser in those terms, you often have to do some weaving and usually go through more than just 5 threads. Hence for stitches that require starting with a waste or away knot - I was taught the rule of thumb - 2 needle lengths - which will give good anchorage once covered, or if you need to weave that starting tail, has enough length to secure.

Wow - that's some effort!

The interesting thing in your essay about more material on the back lasting long is very true in items that take wear - such as pillows, upholestery, chair seats. That's one of the reasons that when being done in NP stitchers are often instructed to use as much basketweave as possible, as opposed to Tent. Similarly, with Satin stitch - there is the "cheap" way - coming down at one end then back up at the next hole, then down at the opposite side. Saves thread, but the back coverage is much sparser - okay for some purely decorative items, not so okay for items that will get wear.

OK - I'm done. Nice essay.

Ellice

Reply to
ellice

I never leave floats. If I can't hide the thread in a similar color, I end it and start in the new place. I've even gone so far as to go up 2 and over

3 when I'm using a dark color to insure that it won't show through.

Being a Class A Clutz, I know I would catch the float in my own finger and mess up the piece.

Lucille

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Reply to
Lucille

ellice wrote: > This depends on the type of work, and exhibit. If you're exhibiting a

Maureen would be the first to admit that her backs are best left unexamined! But she is particularly ashamed of them because her father, a Warrant Officer in the Physical Training Branch of the Royal Marine Commando during WW2, produced exquisite needlework where the back was indistinguishable from the front.

Reply to
Bruce

I do this, also. I figure if it takes as much thread to end and start as it does to just run it under a few existing threads (or a spot that will be stitched over), why bother? You're using the same amount of thread either way. And I *always* run it under other stitches, unless it's only a space of 2 or 3. When it's across an area that will be open in the final product, that's a whooooole 'nuther story. I've also been complimented on my backs. :)

The only rule you need to follow is: Do what makes you feel good! :)

Joan

Reply to
Joan E.

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