|
Dyelots
A
good hint from an online friend about dye lots (if you
don't know this one already): When coming to the end
of a particular color floss, I start blending 1 strand
from the old and 1 strand from the new skein, just in
case their is the tiniest difference in dye lot. By
the time the old is finished and I am totally on the
new skein, there is no difference where one stops and
the other begins.
Gridding
Gridding is
the process of marking/stitching a grid of the bold
lines that appear every 10th grid square on your chart
onto your fabric. If you have trouble keeping count
when working counted cross stitch, this can be a blessing
as you can immediately see if you're 'off'. See the
gridding link to learn more about how to grid.
Needle
Threading
This tip
comes from a stitcher who took a Hardanger class. The
instructor said to moisten the eye of the needle (like
you would moisten the tip of the thread) and it kind
of draws the thread through the eye! Sounds strange,
but anything that works, right?!
Organizing
Threaded Needles
Here's a
tip from a stitcher on an egroup I belong to. For those
who like to thread all their floss colors onto needles
before stitching, try this:
Use a piece
of 8x10 scrap fabric to keep along side your cross-stitch.
Using masking tape, make 3 or 4 columns on the fabric.
When you begin on a section of the design, check what
colors are being used in that area. Gather up a handful
of needles, thread them, and label them on the masking
tape. Stick the needles
into the fabric, next to the masking tape
that you've labeled. You can label each color with the #
and the symbol.
This works
wonders and saves a lot of time during stitching spending
10 minutes "prepping." If you don't finish up the thread
in the needle, just stick the needle back into the scrap
fabric until you need that color again.
Going over
to a friend's house to stitch? Just fold the piece of
fabric in half and the needles are safely tucked in.
When you're finished with these colors, just throw the
masking tape away and put a fresh strip on the
fabric.
Confetti
Stitching
This hint
comes from a model stitcher on an egroup I
read:
First, figure
out the colors that are used the most and the least,
and then stitch the color with the least amount of stitches
first and feel free to skip all around on the fabric
(you'll probably need to grid the fabric in order to
skip around without getting off count.
Next, work
the color with the next most stitches. After two or
three colors, you can "weave" under the existing stitches
or use the new stitches to cover the long carry overs
from the earlier stitching.
You can do
this for a large area or divide the area up into
"chunks". If you decide to do it by chunks you can leave
your needle threaded and pull it to the front until you
need that color again.
Marking
Charts
It can be
easy to lose your place on the chart when stitching
counted cross stitch. Here are a couple of ways to help
keep your place.
Highlighters - Using a
highlighter in a light color - yellow works very well
for marking off stitches or areas of stitching as you
complete them. Sometimes the yellow doesn't show up
well when stitching at night. If your lighting makes
the yellow hard to see at night, you could use another
color like green or blue or orange when stitching at
night.
HINT: Be sure to
cap the highlighter in between to avoid dropping the open
highlighter onto your fabric. If this happens, I've found
that regular baby wipes (without added lotions or medicines)
will remove yellow highlighter from the fabric.
Colored
Pencils - Some stitchers
like to use colored pencils to mark off stitches as
they work them. You don't have to worry about the colored
pencils staining your fabric if you drop them, so that's
a big plus!
And, some stitchers
like to mark the chart before-hand by coloring in certain
symbols in different colored pencils or highlighters.
Some will color in all the stitches for one symbol in
an area and then mark them off with another color as
they stitch them.
Protecting
your chart - If you don't
like to mark on your charts, you can cover them with
clear contact paper and mark on top of that.
Working
Copies - Most designers/publishers
will not object to a stitcher making a working copy.
There are several advantages to using a working copy:
you can mark off as your stitch without ruining the
original chart. You can enlarge the chart if you have
trouble seeing the symbols in their original size.
Look
to see if there is a note on the chart saying a working
copy is allowed. Or, you can contact the designer using
the contact info. to be sure they don't mind your making
a working copy. Most will request that the working copy
be destroyed when you're done with it.
Tips for
Stitching with Needlework Stands
Try plunging
your threads to the back of your work without finishing
off each one individually, and then weave them in all
at once instead of flipping the frame every few minutes.
If
you don't care for loose fabric on the sides when using
a scroll frame, try lacing the fabric sides to the scroll
frame or using the little stitching clips made especially
for holding the sides of your fabric taut. These are
available at most needlework shops and online you can
purchase them at Nordic
Needle.
| 
