Stitching rules December 2, 2005
Do you have rules in the way you stitch? (i.e., Do you start in the middle? Do you determine which blocks to stitch first? Do you always start from the top or the bottom? Do you have special paths to prevent wasting thread?)
Whenever possible I start at the top left corner of the design. The exceptions to that are when there’s either no clear top left corner, or for some reason the top left side is a lot lower than other areas on the top, or when there are special circumstances. For instance, when I stitched Paula Vaughan’s Delicate Beauties, I started with the top edge of the window pane. My excuse is that we were in the truck going up to visit my parents, and I wanted to start at an easy spot in the vertical center of the design. All that counting in a bouncy truck was just too much work!
The other exception that comes to mind is Teresa Wentzler’s Birth Announcement. I tried. Really I did. But it was just too hard to locate that lower left corner of the frame, so I started at the top center of that one, too.
Any other rules? Let’s see… I always try to make my backs as neat as possible. I was once accused of having taken a lot of lessons, in the speaker’s mind that was the only way I could have done it. Actually, I’ve not really had any stitching lessons, other than some quick five-minute thing here and there. I’m anal retentive, and just like neat backs. Of course, things like Teresa Wentzler designs with all that confetti work aren’t as neat as the Mary Engelbreits that have large blocks of color, but I can live with that. And I always try to anchor threads under the same, similar, or darker colors, so the color of the anchored thread doesn’t show on the front. Oh, and I always try to use up as much floss as humanly possible before changing colors. This sometimes works out as more of a challenge to myself than anything else. It’s amazing how short the threads are sometimes when I pull them off the needle!
Kristen December 2
Wow! Delicate Beauties are absolutely gorgeous! Makes me want to go back and work on Midsummer Roses some more. Thanks again for the wonderful inspiration.