Marking Charts & Keeping Track of Stitching, etc.

I guess I just look at what I've stitched, find it on the chart and move along.

MelissaD

Jinx

Jinx

Ooooh, this is an interesting topic. Good tips from Tia Mary and I'm in awe of Melissa D to discover she doesn't need to keep track.

I also found those static cling square thingys not to work. I use different colored highlighters. It helps me keep track. I use a different color each day or each rotation. This lets me know how much I do each time and also gives me an idea of how much I might get done next time and so on.

mag

offered to pay

Nancy

Interesting topic. I usually don't plan to stitch the same thing twice, so I just work from, mark up, (and eventually pretty much wreck, if they are printed on regular weight paper) my original chart. I find the metallic board and magnets work well for most charts for me, and I like that I can frame a particular area and focus on it.

Sometimes I do make working copies, especially if a chart is large and/or awkward, if it is in a book that won't sit open nicely, or if a stitching area is awkwardly broken up over several pages--the working copy can be taped together to make one area that is more logical for working purposes. I tend to fold lighter weight charts (part of what leads to them being wrecked!!) to either fit on my magnet board or nicely on my lap (I tend to work "in hand" rather than using any sort of frame), and sometimes I will make a copy of something which is large and printed on heavier stock so I can fold it up.

Fairly often I change things on charts, especially wording, but sometimes faces (badly charted faces with ugly profiles or poorly placed eyes are a pet peeve of mine) so that usually means making a copy or two so I can work out my changes, but sometimes I just pencil in what I want on the chart, or use a bit where nothing is going on to work out what I need. I love designers who add some extra blank grid to their charts so you can chart out initials, dates etc. especially for samplers.

I have enough charts in my stash to go on and on for years, without worrying about preserving ones I've used. Working copies of mine never survive in any usable form.

Dawne

Other than that, I only make working copies if the original is small print, and then I enlarge it. On normal print ones where the symbols & floss color are on the BACK of the chart, I have made a copy/enlargement of that.

"Tia Mary" how we keep track of where we are in our stitching. I have tried the metal plate with the magnets and that hasn't worked for MOI. I have also tried those static stick thin plastic rectangles that you put on your chart and that hasn't worked either. So I thought a discussion of what we use to keep track of our stitching progress was in order. I make WORKING COPIES of my charts on regular copy paper **FOR MY USE ONLY**. I fold the paper in about fourths to show the area I am working on and tape the paper to my frame or pin it to my fabric way out on the edge. I use a red pen to color in the chart areas as I stitch them. I also print the relevant symbols and floss # in open areas of the chart so that I don't always have to keep looking at the legend. Obviously, when I am finished, the copy is trash but my chart is unmarked. So, let's hear what the rest of you do. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

I'm a sucker for a working copy too - and I use a few coloured pencils to mark off where I've been and where I'm going. For complicated charts, or for things like etuis I will often have my working copies spiral bound (it was bliss working in a place that had all the equipment) so I have the whole project in one booklet which I can colour in and scribble on to my heart's content. For the detailed areas I enlarge the pertinent bit - and that can be bound in so it is all at hand. Being a Virgo I'm also fussy about the coloured pencils I use - I only like some fancy ones from Art Shops that have wonderfully soft and flowing 'leads', but beware of getting the pencil near fabric - only happened once - and I have learned to love the mark!

Joanne in Perth, Western Australia where we have a wonderfully cool breather after a ghastly hot January.

But occasionally I run into a chart with symbols that are too similar or are just too dense. For those I make a working copy and use one color highlighter to mark what I have stitched. And another color to mark anything I have missed.

Donna in Virginia

P.S. Anyone need some snow? It seems we have plenty to spare here with more on the way.

VANOC, the Vancouver Olympic Committee. On Cypress Mountain. The weather is far too warm in BC, and all the snow has melted for events like ski cross, moguls and aerials. They claim there is enough higher on the mountain that they can truck down in time for the events. We will see. Jim.

Depending on the size of the chart, that too goes into a plastic sleeve and if possible I like to use the magnetic page and the strip magnets for marking my place. If it's too big for that, I have some heavy cardboard pieces that I will use and then I have a see through ruler that I use to keep my place. I hold the ruler in place with some heavy duty paper clips to keep it from moving around unless I want it to.

Other times I do make a working copy, but I rarely use pens to mark anything. I just don't feel that's safe in my working area, where I work curled up in my loveseat with my feet on a hassock and everything perched precariously on my bent knee.

At the moment I'm working on a Victoria Sampler band sampler that's in book form so none of the above works. What I've been doing is using a 6" bendable plastic ruler and holding it in place on the working page with clips, but every time I need to look up the instructions for the next part, or double check on how to do a stitch, I have to undo everything. A little awkward, but I'm too lazy to set up something more efficient.

Not a pretty picture, but it works for me.

Well - it changes and varies all the time. I do nothing or next to nothing on some charts to working copies with 20 different colors to keep track of where I am....

Cheryl

Mostly I'm like Melissa and don't usually need any helps, other than to enlarge some patterns for easier reading. If I get desperate, I use post-it notes to keep track of where I am.

Joan

I have thought about this and realized that, as my eyes have gotten older, I need to have the chart closer. There are times when I am stitching something small &/or not too involved and I will work from the chart with no need to mark my place. BUT -- the chart is sitting on the arm of my recliner and I simply pick it up and get a good look at the next bit of stitching to fix it in my memory. This works especially well when doing band samplers since once the design is set, it often a simple repeat. I'm finally working again on my last seasonal band sampler -- the one for Spring. All I really need is to see how many kloster blocks I need to do or how long a row of satin stitches I need to do and I'm good to go. I could work directly from the chart for a lot of this but have gotten so used to making a working copy that I have done so. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Maureen