Needle-threading trick query

Betty,

I can't speak for everyone... I caught wind of this technique YEARS ago here on rctn (I was using a different screen name at the time, now I get spam/junk, so I have an email set up just for newsgroups)...

I've been using it for quite a while, if pressed to guess, I'd say about

10 years. I haven't noticed a difference in the quality of my work, or more accurately, I haven't noticed a degradation in the quality of my work. One thought though, unless you're going to "toss" all the tails (those pieces of thread long enough to use somewhere else), you'll still have to bury starting-ends under existing stitching. My un-mathematical just a W-A-G is that it cuts down on burying-starting-ends by less than half... I tend to do rather complicated (lots of little clumps of stitches or one stitch here one stitch there) graphs. [ex: Flower Power, Barbara & Cheryl designs, Marty Bell's Rocky Mountain Christmas, Silver Linings irises, MLI & Mirabilia designs, and then I get *addicted to* designs that use every DMC color or nearly every DMC color known to stitching-kind).

I also grid. I also make "project packs" to take along on travels. I also make enlarged xc (NOT ink jet copies though) of charts & mark them with colored pencils as I complete "squares" (highlighters scare me a bit, afraid of either smearing OR leakage onto something I've already stitched). And, 2 gallon zip loc bags are my favorite!!

ElastiGirl

This is called a loop start and I use it ALL the time when I am stitching with an even number of threads. I stitch using a frame and scroll rods or the FANTASTIC StitchAway Fabric Mount so I start mine from the front of the piece, leaving the loop on top. When I put the threaded needle through the loop, I very carefully put the needle down through the hole that the loop came up in, gently pull everything to the back and snug the stitch down from the back. Works great and you don't have to be flipping your piece over all the time to get to the back!! 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

I find it easier to start off by going DOWN first, leaving the loop on top of the work then back up and through the loop, then back down through the first hole (which pulls the loop through to the back) then carry on stitching. Same system really, but you don`t even have to turn the work over. A lot of us use the loop start - excellent way to avoid all those ends, as you say.

Pat P

Pat P

I use the loop start sometimes. It often isn't practical when stitching from a kit since the precut floss isn't long enough for this. I particularly like loop starts for afghans and wearable items that will be washed frequently since that eliminates half of the thread ends that might come undone over time. Not that I've had any thread ends come undone, but I'm a bit paranoid about that when giving a gift!

If I'm reading you right, that's what many call a "loop start." I wouldn't (don't ;-) )hesitate to use it. I've heard some make the argument that it's not a good thing because you don't have all the threads running in the same direction (because you've doubled them over), but frankly, I don't buy it. I can't see any difference, and it's very nice not to have such a rat's nest on the back when you are dealing with lots of stopping and starting.

Best wishes, Ericka

Tia Mary wrote: > Works great and you don't

Some day, you and I will have to get together and I'll show you my technique of running the other end under "by feel". I rarely have to flip my stuff over if it's on a frame. (I will when it's in-hand.)

Many, many thanks to everyone for the great tips. These suggestions, combined with the super ones in response to my "design dilemma" post, have galvanized me, and I feel ready to tackle my first project. By the way, I completed my first-ever design on graph paper, following your wonderful instructions. I'm like a little kid - I carry it around from one room to another and unfold it and gawk at it, then I fold it up and take it to another room, and the process is repeated, LOL. It's good that I live alone, I suppose, or someone might try to have me committed.

Betty in Georgia

'Bout the only cautionary thing I'd toss out would be that this won't work with overdyes, unless you want the two strands to be different colors. Otherwise, it's a great method for minimizing bulk on the back.

Tegan

There is one problem with loop starts, which I think was discussed many years ago. It relates to "wasting" floss; please notice the quotation marks. I know different people have different ideas of what is "waste" and what is not. If you cut, say, two 18 inch pieces of floss, thread the needle with both, weave in the start at the back, you can start stitching. It does not matter how many stitches you do, one, two, a few, until you run out of thread, when you have finished, you weave in the ends, and snip the end. If there is enough floss left, you can keep it, and the next time you need that colour, you can use what was left over. All in all, you dont "waste" much floss. If we go reductio ad absurdum, and cut a 36 inch length of floss, do a loop start, and then do one stitch. When you finish off the end, you have *two* lengths of thread, each about 16 inches long. You can use this, *not* using a loop start, or you have two short lengths if you use future loop starts. I do lots of confetti stitches, and I overcome this problem by counting how many stitches I am going to do, and cut off enough thread to do just these stitches, using a loop start. Most of the time this works. But not everyone thinks it is a good idea. Hope this is clearer than mud.

Tia Mary wrote: > ........I start mine

OOO -- BAD Tia Mary -- that info is wrong. When you do a loop start from the top, you have to put your needle through the loop and then back down through the hole you came up in! Naught MOI to be giving erroneous instructions!!!!!!! Sorry for that. 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

Oh, you're gonna kill me when I tell you I'm going to strand 2 entirely different overdyes into 1 needle.

Nah, doesn't count when you do it on purpose. *grin* When you do that on purpose, it's "art."

Elizabeth

I wouldn`t! (kill you, I mean!) Ideal for a fairly distant flowerbed using green and whatever other colour you fancy, I should think. Must try that. What are YOU using it for?

Pat P

Oh, now that's a brilliant idea!

Blackwork.

Two shades of black???? (R,D,H!)

Joan

Well, you know, I spent 2 days trying to come up with a witty rejoinder, but I keep laughing too hard.

Well, *that*'s got to be a first! LOL

Joan