Needlework Tips

Bingo!!

Jinx

I'm sure it turned out lovely. The worst I ever did, probably the first piece I did on linen, a bouquet of pansies (bear in mind, as an adult, this is IIRC the 2nd XS piece I ever started, had one on Jobelan 28 at the same time, after my intro piece with Aida). By Cindy Rice, gorgeous piece, they re-issued with less confetti. I looked, and just figured I had better start in the center, after trying to start at the top of some flower. That came out.

In my recent canvas stuff, it's been about putting in borders first, then filling - to some extent. But as in the Amethyst Dreams piece which Donna did so well, it's doing those divider, inner borders, and then filling. So many people miscount, and then realize it when the filling stitches don't fit exactly. Ugh. Count, count, count and then....count again.The piece I'm working on now, it's a drawn on design (kind of like filling in a coloring book - just outlines) with very specific and different stitch patterns for each motif. The fun - you get to pick where to "end" a line - the hard part

- same thing - making that decision.

It's all fun...usually.

Ellice

A simple thing that works--take an old CD "jewel box" and cut a light coloured piece of plastic foam or similar stuff to fit in the bottom of it. This makes a good surface to pick up beads from with your needle, and when you close the case, the beads are inside for the next stitching session or to be packed away in your stitching box.

Dawne

Is there any way beads are safe from passing cats ?? Or a wagging dog tail ??

Nothing, nothing is safe from a cat that is determined to get at it. Sparky the Wonder Dog has a fairly mild wag, slowed I think by the amount of hair on the tail. The late lamented Fat Smellly Yellow Susan would have been able to launch the bead holder across the room and against the wall with her tail. The kids particularly enjoyed her "home runs" with glass ornaments off the tree at Christmas.

Dawne

Old Bucket, who had long given up chasing non-live things used to stir himself when the beads were out. I resorted to tipping just a few into a saucer so that when inevitably he picked the very moment I was not watching, only a few hit the deck.

Sparky all settled in now ?

I've done this for years, and have never seen it show. Now, on a piece my Mom started before she passed, it shows. I think it may have more to do with maintaining a steady tension and how you end the threads on the back more that anything - too many threads in one area or along one side shows!

When working on moderate to large complicated cross-stitches, I find it best to grid the fabric before starting. I match the center of the fabric with the center of the chart, then stitch the grid to match the chart so that the heavy grid lines on the chart are stitched onto the fabric. As you stitch each block of fabric, remove the grid lines after you've crossed them about 4 or 5 times. If you leave it until after all the stitches are done, it's next to impossible to get the grid lines out.

If you are working with a gridded fabric, it now becomes very easy to start in the top corner and work your way down. It is also much easier to find out if you are off a stitch or two before you have to frog too much.

Interesting enough, I came up with this myself when doing a TW design just after I moved from home to start my first job. It was only later, after I found the LNS, that I discovered others were doing it too!

When working with a hoop, wrap both the inner and outer rings with bias tape. This will help protect both your fabric and your stitching as you move the hoop around by adding a layer of padding. If one of the rings has a lip (eg. Susan Bates hoops), wrap the other.

Starting on the side of the ring away from the fabric, wrap the tape at an angle - \\\ or ///. Each wrap of the bias tape should overlap the previous wrap so that you wind up with two layers of bias tape at all times. This is to prevent any seperation of the tape, exposing the hoop itself. If you don't understand why I say this, think of the wooden hoops you see in the stores - most are rather splintery, and you don't want the splinters ruining your stitching. Also, if you only overlap part of the way, you create an uneaven surface on the hoop that can result in uneven tension.

When you are finished wrapping the hoop, stitch the bias tape down on the part of the ring that will not contact the fabric - the outside edge of the outer ring or the inside edge onf the inner ring.

Fran when you want to finnish an old work that somebody started and it hasn`t been worked on for a long time ,, you might hang it out to air for a day or two , while attaching a small `weight` to the bottom , best way is to sew a tiny tunnel that you can attach to the bottom with some basting stitches take a boiling pot of water and for a moment hold the steaming pot under the hanging work . this will straighten some of `age` folds. [ ps it works well also for `new ` bought cloth that has been kitted for long .

you might also put a new thread under the fold , on the wrong side of the work, and work on it as if it is part of the original cloth while strengthening it and avoiding the fold that occured , mirjam

Lucille wrote:>

That very well could be true. My point is, the post under discussion was about the problems involved in putting together needlework kits and how to sort out any snafu's. Dyan didn't talk about any sort of new design or any specific product or anything to do with a "buy my stuff" type of nudge. 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

Just to add a bit of info and remind folks that grid lines DO NOT usually land on the center point of a chart!!! So be sure to double check where the center of the design is, mark the center of your fabric and THEN put your grid lines in the proper place in reference to the center point. I screwed up one time -- a serious senior moment -- and started stitching at the center gridded point, NOT the center of the fabric which was about 4 stitches off in one direction and 7 in the other, VBS! I removed all the grid lines and just went on with my stitching. I was NOT a happy camper! I mean, I KNEW the center of the grid lines and the center of the design did not coincide but was obviously in a fugue state when I started stitching - LOLOL! 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

Another way to handle beads that *IS* fairly cast or dog proof is to use an empty Altoids type time. Line the bottom with double stick tape and put your beads in that. They will stay put even if you should drop the tin and you can just close the tin up when you are done with your stitching session. If you use a small hand quilting needle (about a sz

12, I think) for your beading, you can easily pick the beads out of the tin with the needle and also leave the needle inside the tin when you take a break. another option, if you stitch using a frame, you can put a piece of double stick tape on the frame and then stick beads to that to be picked up as needed. I don't like this as much because cat fuzz gets all over the tape and on the beads :-). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Jinx

Sigh - but then again, I am glad we are not so naive lol

One caveat: make sure you count the stitches between the heavy lines on the pattern before gridding. Do NOT assume all patterns are 10 square. Guess how I found that out?

Joan

Which designer? I want to avoid that in the future!

Cheryl