So...my questions

Well, I don't enter subjective competitions in any case. Too many politics, too much baggage I'm never aware of.

I was just wondering if this issue was still an issue.

LG

Personally, I like my thread all the time. That way, future generations will know who did the stitching by ther DNA left behind (Tongue in cheek & VBG). A loop start is when you are using two threads in the needle, and start with one length of thread twice as long as you usually use. Loop the thread, and thread the two ends into the eye of the needle. Do the first half of the cross, ending on the back of the work. There will be the needle, with the two threads in it, and a loop at the other end of the thread. Put the needle through the loop, and voila! the thread is locked in place. If you are using three threads, use the same technique, but have a third thread in the needle, half the length of the other thread, and threaded unevenly. Do a loop start, and take the third thread, and lock it behind stitches at the back of the work. Do *not* cut it off. Pull it at the needle end, until its end is just locked enough. Start stitching. HTH.

-- Jim Cripwell. From Canada. Land of the Key Bird. This creature of doom flies over the frozen tundra in winter, shrieking its dreaded call; "Key, Key, Key, Key rist but it's cold!!"

I'll do my best. Say, you're stitching with 2 threads. Instead of pulling 2 strands out of 6, you pull 1 strand and fold it in half so the two ends are together.

You thread the needle with the two ends. When you start, instead of having that tail you have to whip down with your first 4-5 stitches, you start your first stitch with the looped end at the back. When you go down through the fabric to complete the / you put your needle through the loop so that it catches on the back. It's a very tidy thing to do.

If I didn't make that very plain, I apologize.

LG

Well you asked for it. If you have the wrong colour somewhere where it cannot be undone easily, just put the right color on top. Before you finish off the end, make sure you are satisfied with how it looks. I use a technique of not finishing off the ends when I have run out of symbols or thread. I leave the top half of the last stitch uncrossed, so the end is at the *front* of the work, where you can watch it. Finish the ends off when they are far enough into the finished work. There are two advantages; sins of omission and commission. If you have made a mistake, it is easy to undo the stitches, usually. If you have missed a stitch, often there is an end of the right color close enough by, so that you dont need to get a new piece of thread. If you are working, for some reason, with very short pieces of thread, e.g. just getting that last stitch done, you can unthread the needle, put it in the right place, then thread it, and pull the end through. Often, you can poke the needle eye first to do the same sort of thing. If the end is *very* short, get a fair length of thread of a contrasting color. Thread the needle with this length, and sew it like a loop start so the the loop is close to the bit you want to finish off. Unthread the needle, and get the end into the loop of contrasting thread. Make sure the very end of the bit you are finishing off is held by the loop. Simple pull the loop out, dragging the short end with it. If you dont have the end close to the loop, it tends to snag, and will not pull through easily. Probably as clear as mud. HTH.

Thank you both. I have it now. I've been using doubled over thread for my current project because I find it gives a bit more body than two threads (and because I'm somewhat lazy, easier to double than cut to a better length). I will be trying this start method tonight - I'm doing a Florentine based project and each row is a different thread so the edges are getting bulky. This should help reduce some of that bulk. Thanks again, Margaret Midlothian, VA

I don't know, but if I have a moment, I'll thread some pearl No. 5, make a loop start, try it and see what's going on. No. 5 will be large enough to "see".

I frequently stitch with two strands, and give no pause about which end to thread the needle, and it doesn't make one hoot of a difference. In fact, I've done this on purpose. I frequently satin stitch by railroading two strands. I've never noticed a problem. If there was a problem, then by threading different ends together, you'd notice. Dianne

If you don't see what I mean by using No. 5 pearl try using regular floss and I think you will find it is quite apparent.

Mavia

Whoa! :-) If you can't see it with pearl, you won't see it with floss. They are manufactured the same way - only one is bigger than the other. The object of using pearl is so that you can actually see the results without getting out a magnifying glass. But since you asked, I WILL repeat the exercise using floss and get out my glass. :-)

I just did it with pearl, and if you try it yourself, you'll see identical threads lying ever so nicely beside one another. Neither one side nor the other untwisted. Now, I didn't do 50 in a row. It may be that one thread gets more worn than the other if you are stitching large areas. Dianne

lizard-gumbo had some very interesting things to say about So...my questions:

As Karen C. can testify, my backs would induce heart failure (which does discourage me enough to take a lot of the fun out of it for me), and I do the out-and-back style most of the time. For me, it's faster and I think it's slightly more efficient in floss usage (ask Jim for his opinion on that one if you want to see lots of numbers (smile)). I have been known to do the finish-each-stitch-as-you-go style when that's the best travel path for that color (I work one color at a time).

I *hate* in-hand, which is going to make those baby bottle covers an ordeal. A) They're already assembled (including seams) and B) they're small. My left hand and wrist get very upset about working in-hand.

lizard-gumbo had some very interesting things to say about Re: So...my questions:

I'm not generally a fan of hand-drawn on grounds of readability (most hand-drawn charts look kind of messy to me and the symbols aren't always clearly distinguishable, but that could be a quality-of-printing issue).

I don't know that I have a favorite designer in terms of charts, but I do have some sense of what I like in a chart:

EASY TO READ! Please, no micro-type! Even those of us with relatively young eyes (I'm 35) cannot be counted on to have vision good enough to cope with very tiny print.

Very clearly distinguishable symbols - I do realize there are a finite number of the things, but if you must use two similar ones, please put them in very different parts of the chart or at least in very different color families to aid distinguishing them

I find the type of chart that uses smaller/lighter symbols for lighter colors and bigger/heavier symbols for darker colors helpful.

lizard-gumbo had some very interesting things to say about Re: So...my questions:

(waving) I'm willing to give orphan stash a good home. :-)

"Margaret Henderson" had some very interesting things to say about loopstart Re: So...my questions:

Yes, but I'll let people who are better at describing such things tell you about it (I could show you very easily, since I do it all the time, but can't describe it well).

As for licking ends, I do that a lot too. I figure there's no problem, since I always wash a piece on completion (hand oils, floating dust and such, etc.).

snipped-for-privacy@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (F.James Cripwell) had some very interesting things to say about Re: So...my questions:

I've done that "overwrite" bit, and it usually works nicely.

You'd probably think I'm ready for a padded room if you saw the stunts I'll do with the needle and a needle threader to get those last couple of stitches. :-)

Mrs Lizard Welcome back to Embroidery time in your life . You will get many answers from the experts here , i will add some other points of view, the ones that help me in my artistic way.

Besides missing a cahnce to see how others actually use their needles in certain stiches , and their reactions[s] to your method and work ,, you don`t miss too much ,, but try and find some other stichers , through thre shop where you but your threads !!!!for sahring with others ,,,,

Having gone over the threshhold and designed /plnnaed your own work , you have gone an ENORMOUS way ... you can do it again .

Both a fiberartist and as a curator i am not worried about backs looking the same as fronts... This `requirement` has a historical reason , but is needed only when you intend your work to be double sided , or lay in place that it could be used both sides ..As most xst here mat and frame their work , i don`t see a point in bothering about that at all. But this is my opinion . Most Fibseart works in exhibitions , i see are backed with some sort of [cloth] backing or hung with the back to the wall as is.

Gridding makes life easier for more complicated parts of your work , and enables you to work at several sides of the cloth ,,, take a needle with a colored sewing thread and run it through one line of thread ,, count 10 and do it again , count 10 again lengthwise. Now do it on the .but width wise . Now grid your pattern [ if you work with one] , and you will know where to work each X ,,,,, If you don`t have a pattern it might help in placing various parts of your intended embroidery. >

I answered you the Pretty back ,,, But as to making a complete X at once or making half in a row and later comne back for the other half ?

Depends on which Form i am working on ,, Take a Letter in a quite Monochromatic background , i would do the letter partly one x at a time and partly half 54 6 3 7 8 2 9 1 this letter A is embroiderd [at times] 1 in X , 2 - 7 in half , 8 in X than 2-7 complete the second half of the x , 9 is complete X than the background might be done in half and back for other half .

if you can`t use a tight hoop but think you need some strech ,, put it over a small [empty] jam jar and use sewing elastic to hold it onto the jar ,,,, streches it without harm ,, mirjam

Karen C - California had some very interesting things to say about Re: So...my questions:

I had a silk shirt I acquired at K-Mart, and simply washed with other black clothes when needed. It lasted easily 7 or 8 years before dying of wear.

Cool beanies. My email is ebeeton at kc dot rr dot com, and I'll get this stuff along in the mail to you asap.

LG

lizard-gumbo wrote in news:3gm185Fclb6eU2 @individual.net:

I usually lurk here, but wanted to say that I prefer computer printed charts, because of the consistancy of symbol appearance, I find that with hand symbolled charts there is a tendancy for the designer to get sloppy and for the "a" to begin to resemble the "d".

That said, there is no reasonm that using software you could not draw the chart without much interference from the computer.

Yes, I would buy a hand drawn chart if the image appealed to me enough. I have stitched hand drawn charts in the past and would certainly consider it in the future.

I dislike the charts that are printed on a 36"X36" single sheet because I end up having to copy them onto smaller sheets to work them. When charts are printed on individual sheets I prefer to have a one or two line overlap.

"Seanette Blaylock" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I wouldn't think you were ready for a padded room for doing that. Or, in case I'm wrong and a padded room is in order, it will have to be a big enough room for me to join you.

I suspect there are others like us that will go through major contortions to use that last 1/2 inch of thread.

Is it that we're cheap or is it because we just don't want another end on the back? lol

Dianne, excuse the quesiton, but what do you mean by "make sure the hoop is bound"? Also, what type of hoop are you referring to, wooden, plastic, or cork and metal? TIA for the explanation.

-- Carey in MA