Back as good as Front

One of the important things in any field of endeavor is to know what the rules are so that you know which ones you can break.

I know *why* you're not supposed to carry thread, so I know when I can get away with it. If I'm going to be stitching over it, that takes care of the problem of floats because it'll be tacked down. And if I'm scattering stars in the sky on something that's going to be framed or backed, then there's nothing for them to catch on, so no big deal.

I believe I've read somewhere that having *more* thread on the back increases the life of the piece, particularly for something like a cushion or rug. I stitch in a way that leaves a lot of thread on the back - my backs are neat and they look like the picture of the piece done in a very abstract way. But they don't have those little vertical lines.

Alison

I would if I could

Cheryl

How great. But, we all do things differently from our parents. We were just talking about males doing needlework at the Thursday morning stitch group. Trying to think of role models, etc - that's a great one. There is a long historical tradition of sailors doing knotwork, and people know about scrimshaw. I imagine Maureen and you have some interesting pieces of her fathers needlework - or I hope you do.

Ellice

Yep, couldn't agree more.

There are always ways to achieve a neat back, and running under the stitches is a good one. Gives the embroidery more stability too. I might run it over

2 or 3 stitches on the top. With Hardanger thread always should be run under the stitches when jumping areas, otherwise it really looks very messy. As long as you aren't entering a show piece and definitely want the first price, you shouldn't get carried away with too much fussy things. Takes the fun out of it.

It is perhaps a bit ridiculous, but when I submit a piece for publishing it always has a very neat back, they don't photograph it, but I just think it give a better impression of my work.

I have seen blackwork pieces looking exactly the same on the back, couldn't even find the beginning of the thread. Well, I don't know how these guys did it.

Happy Stitching Sibille

You've gotten a lot of great advice on this. The only thing I can add is the pinhead stitch to start and stop a thread. I don't use it to end a thread, but with practice I think it would be great. Here's a website with very good directions.

use the pinhead to start a thread sometimes. I have to admit that I care less about the back of my work than I used to...I decide on a case by case basis!

Lynn > Hi, My name is Theresa and have been stitching since I was a little. I

Thanks, Ellice! I semi-sorta wrote that for my model stitchers besides just needing to get it off my chest.

I understand. I know a particular designer locally who is very, very precise about her backs, and similarly when teaching. Basically making you feel like a moron if you can't work out a double-running to look exactly like the front. When I took some blackwork classes - from someone else - we talked about this. Sure, it's great if you can do it - but sometimes it's just not something you're going to trouble about.

For me, 'cause I'm a math oriented person, I think figuring out the "trips" for doing double running comes pretty easily, and it's very rare that I will actually have to write it down to figure it out. But, if it's a big blackwork area, then I think you have to take that time to draw out your map if you really want to have that exact back. I could only imagine the amount of time it took the woman who stitched the big winner at Woodlawn, to do that exact planning. Not being a very sit still, be patient person, I know that I could only imagine twitching about 1/3 of the way through the planning. Unless I thought of it as kind of a puzzle. But, bottom line, big pieces, to do them with that exact back like the front - I think you have to plan it.

Anyhow - glad you got your thoughts off your chest, and I'm sure it helped with guidance to your model stitchers.

ellice