To strip or not to strip

I think so. I think it looks neater that way. I suppose it might depend a bit on how many strands you were using.

Best wishes, Ericka

No. In fact, leaving those strands wound about each other, makes for a bulkier "single" strand, which is what you may want. I never strip when doing knots or bullions. However, I must admit that I try to use bulkier thread rather than multiples of floss. But if that's not handy or do-able, I don't strip cause I want the "bulk".

Dianne

anne wrote:

This is an interesting question to me, especially where good old-fashioned floss is concerned. For some reason, the few times that I HAVE chosen to strip the floss before threading it, I have had major coverage issues. This was for a very long term petite-point project that may get finished in my lifetime... it is on congress cloth. When I DON'T strip it, the coverage is just fine.

I haven't tried this for knots of any kind, it seems to me that the results may not be quite what we intend if we try this. I look forward to see what other's experience has been.

Catherine K.

Dianne Lewandowski said

The chunkier a knot is the better I like it ;-) An ongoing project is trying to get my bullions more even, although most of the time I think the 'imperfections' add a lot of character to the design.

If you go to my forum you will find a conversation going on bullions, with different people's perspectives based on how they were taught by various teachers.

I have really come to the conclusion there is no "one way", nor "one look". I know that for Brazilian embroidery there are certain constraints. For instance, a certain type of rose made a special way. However, if more free form work, with or without using rayon threads, I agree that I enjoy the results of "less than perfection". :-) Indeed when first introduced to bullions it was from a fiber artist whose bullions were definitely not perfect (fat centers, skinny ends, no two looked the same).

Dianne

anne wrote: