Cross stitch design dilemma

I've been dipping my toes into the cross stitch pool lately, after an absence of more than a decade spent solely with needlepoint. To be frank, I never attained the mastery level of cross stitch to which so many of you belong, but I did produce some pieces which were pleasing to me and others.

I now want to produce pieces utilizing various cross stitch alphabet designs and favorite pithy phrases and maxims, and therein lies my problem. The use of graph paper to sketch designs seemed at first to be the right approach, but I find myself starting a design in pencil, only to realize fairly quickly that I misjudged the center of the first line of the design. I regroup and either erase or begin on another sheet of paper, and then, if I'm lucky enough to get the first line down, the next line presents the same problem as the first, with an additional problem thrown in for good measure - the distance from the first line to the second, which I nearly always misjudge. The erasing and starting over are maddening, and I'm not simply "eyeballing" the line centers and distances from one line to the next - I'm actually counting x's in each letter's design to correlate with the squares in the fabric.

Is there a less painful method of producing a design comprised of only words?

Betty in Georgia

Reply to
<bhill705
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Couldn't you cut apart the rows of words and then tape them back together so they create a pleasing appearance?

Addie

Reply to
Addie Otto

If I'm working strictly on paper, I graph each line separately, then find the center of each line, then affix each cut-out line to a new sheet of graph paper with the center line marked on the second (backing) sheet.

Not pretty enough to be sold, but suffices for my own use.

Reply to
Karen C - California

Whenever I want to do such a thing, I go to the trusty old computer, find the function key that will centre stuff - it does not come to mind right now - but I have a bunch of little lines in a toolbar at the top of the page and when I click that I can write whatever I want, end line whenever I want and so on - it will centre each line for you ... it helps a bit more when you're trying to graph something out on paper - at least you know what letters should be under what letters - man, that's probably as clear as mud. I know there's graph paper on this old machine somewhere too, I just haven't taken the time to figure it all out. I know there are people who are much more computer literate than me that could probably tell you exactly how to do it - beg a little. :-))

Sharon (N.B.)

Reply to
Sharon

What works for me is to use 4x4 paper (4 squares to the inch) to do my initial spacing. Once I've gotten my letters/words looking okay to me, then I count and center/transfer to smaller graph paper. I work in pen and if I "blow" a line/letter, I'll just start over down a mite -- So if I'm writing Mother for instance, and mess up the "t" I'll just move down the paper (below and one space over from the "o" for instance) until I get to the end of the word.

AFTER the lines are complete, then I transfer to the real pattern.

Here's My Heart:

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's a Patrick's Woods design, with wording replaced, beading changeda bit -- there were a few tweaks to make it mine. Still, it was a funpattern, though quite complicated.Also, when working with "jumbles" so to speak, where all the lettersare sort of mish-mashed together, then I use pencil and fill in therows that don't work out perfectly with fancy stitches -- perhaps a rowof long-armed cross-stitches or maybe a miniature geometric design ofsome sort. Nothing fancy, but it does even things up. Besides, this is supposed to be fun. My stuff might not be perfect but I have a perfectly wonderful time making it. (grin)

Happy Stitching!

Reply to
janice142
Reply to
Mike & Joan O'Brien

Prepare yourself a table of letters where you write above and beside each letter , how many x it has in the width and height. than count your threads ,,, calculate how many x you have to have for your width , and than distract this number from the number of the threads in the cloth , than divide the rest into number of threads in space between letters ,,, mirjam

Reply to
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen

Many, many thanks to all for the wonderful suggestions and tips, and a special thanks to Jessie for the private email loaded with recommendations and tips. I can now see myself being extricated from this quagmire. This is a wonderful group of knowledgeable, helpful souls.

Betty in Georgia

Reply to
<bhill705

Or even easier, is have some pre-printed graph paper, put that into the copier and copy your design right onto the graph. No messing with the plastic sheet. I've done this a number of times. There is a bit of futzing with how you want to do edges of things but, in general, it's not too bad. IME, that is. I've even taken pictures (nothing copyrighted) from the 'net, copied them onto a word document, printed them on graph paper and stitched them.

You can see I couple of projects I did this way if you look at my webshots album:

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The projects are the fonts on "Road tohell" (about half way down), the horse on my @badge (near the bottom)and the chair on the bookmark at the end. HTH and good luck!

Joan

Reply to
Joan E.

Joan, thanks for your great ideas and photos. I'm so envious of your talent - I'll never get to your level of expertise. I'm chomping at the bit now to get going with all the help I've received from you and the others who have been kind enough to provide pointers. Thanks ever so much.

Betty

Reply to
<bhill705

Hoooold it! I'm not exactly an expert! After all, I've only designed

3 or 4 things. Just had a brief flash of a wonderful idea (the photocopying, that is), which works out quite well for me. My very first design, the sampler, I painstakingly did by drawing out on graph paper and writing every single stitch in it. Took aaaages! One of the hardest things I've discovered about designing is choosing the colors.

Thanks for compliment, though! You'll do just fine, I'm sure.

Joan

Reply to
Joan E.

Apart from software, which is a great tool, you could set out your centre marks on a blank piece grid. Then take a second page and plot out the first line; and cut it out and centre it on the first grid. Repeat each line, then move them up, down, how ever you wish on the first grid before you fix them down (tape or glue).

Repeat the process for the borders (so you can figure out their correct spacing with respect to the lines and each other).

Finally fill in any missing portions.

Tara

Reply to
Tara D

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