Re: Any help please...

Tips, Tricks & Techniques - anything to help fellow cross stitchers.

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JacquiP
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Re: Any help please...

Post by JacquiP »

Hi

I am new to cross stitch (I last did some when I was a child) and was wondering if people could offer some help please. Do you work a mix of both completing each stitch as you go and working a series of half stitches along a row and then working back to complete the stitches? I have been looking at charts and it seems that, in order to ‘end up where you need to be’, a mix of both styles is necessary. How far do people carry their thread across the back of their work too?

If you were working the heart in the picture below, would you carry your thread across from the top left to the top right of the heart or work it a different way?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=heart ... 5zCxWQVhPM" target="_blank:

In the Christmas Reindeer sampler below, when working the white dots background, would it be ok to carry the thread from one to the other or should each one be worked with a new piece of thread?

https://www.historicalsamplercompany.co ... s-in-love/" target="_blank

I would be most appreciative of any help anyone could offer

Jacqui x
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Nicola Main
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Re: Any help please...

Post by Nicola Main »

Hi Jacqui! In answer to your first question about the loveheart I would stitch either left to right or right to left and would go up and down rather than east to west.

Image

I also usually cross stitch each one as I go but about to start doing the row of half stitches and then going back to complete them as I love neatness and if you do this the back looks really nice and uniform. Of course, the back of a project is not really important but I like to do neat stitching. There's not really any set rules in cross stitch as long as you enjoy it and have fun with it! Also, regarding the reindeer, I would probably carry it on as they are all in the same rows but you could do them singly. It all just depends on what you want to do xxx
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Ruthi
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Re: Any help please...

Post by Ruthi »

And on the reindeer I would carry the thread across the back. In a case like this I would do them all at the end.
It's marginal with those reindeer whether I would grid first (run threads at 10 stitch intervals both vertically and horizontally as guides) or not, but I do for all larger and more complex pieces so I know exactly where I am, but I probably would. Those snowflakes need to be accurately positioned!
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kingfisher68(2)
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Re: Any help please...

Post by kingfisher68(2) »

Hi, I agree with Nicola about the direction to stitch the heart. I stitch each cross in one go, only occasionally do half & then return on same row. Sometimes it is easier to connect to another area that way. As long as top stitches face the same way it is whichever way you feel comfortable with when making a stitch.

I do not go along a whole chart row at a time but keep to small areas although it sometimes means changing colours quite often. I do not mind that as if I go long distances I seem to end up miscounting & when I come to do an area the colours do not always match up. that is why I do smaller areas at a time. Some members do go along whole rows but it is personal choice, whichever you feel most comfortable with We each do cross stitch our own way as it should be enjoyable as a hobby :D

Hope you will show us what you stitch, no matter how small as it does help to give confidence. I took up x stitch again after a break of many years & so glad I did now I am retired. I find it so relaxing once you get used to stitching Although I do still have questions but everyone is most helpful & also on Tips & Tricks section there are some good solutions to aid your enjoyment.

Happy Stitching :D
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Allyn
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Re: Any help please...

Post by Allyn »

As you can tell from the replies that however you want to do it, is fine. I will do /// and then \\\ on a row or XXX depending on where I want to end up for the next row and where I need that color next.

In your samples, for the heart, if the heart is a light color and the fabric is a light color aida, I wouldn't worry about carrying the thread over a few stitches so you can just go over with the bottom leg and come back with the top leg for each row, skipping those couple of stitches in the top two rows. If the heart is a bold color like red and the fabric is a light color (and especially if it's an evenweave) I would avoid carrying the thread because the red will show through on the front. In that case, I would do the heart in a combination of bottom legs, top legs, and whole stitches to avoid having thread show through.
This is how I would do the heart if I didn't want the thread showing:
Image
I'd start with a waste knot. I'd come in from the top with a waste knot on the red dot in D6, then bring the needle up to start the stitching in A3. I'd do bottom legs on A3 and A4 and then do top legs on A4 and back to A3. (If you loop start, ignore the comment about the waste not)
Drop down to B2 and do bottom legs from B2 to B5 and then do top legs from B5 back to B2.
Drop down to C1 and do bottom legs from C1 to C7. Then I'd do a whole stitch at B7, then do bottom legs on A8 and A9 and top legs on A9 and A8.
Drop down to B8 and do bottom legs from B8 to B10 and then top legs from B10 to B8.
Drop down to C8 and do bottom legs from C8 to C11, then do top legs from C11 all the way back to C1.
Now everything in the C line and above is stitched and there are no threads under A5, A6, A7, or B6 to show through.
For D and E, I'd do bottom leg out and top leg back. In the D row, when I got to D6, I'd clip that waste knot off. The tail has been secured by the stitching in the rows above it.
If I really didn't want the chance of the carry thread showing in G1, I'd start F1 with a whole stitch and then to bottom leg out and top leg back and work that way to the bottom, starting the row with a whole stitch so a carry thread wouldn't be visible in the square underneath.

That may seem a little complicated, but that's how I see it, so for me, it just seems the obvious way to do it. A lot depends on how you see it and once you start stitching, how you see it will come to you. Keep in mind that you have to be careful about your tension when you mix whole and bottom leg/top leg stitches. If your tension is tighter on one than the other, you'll see it in the design.

As for the reindoor picture, the fabric is a darker color than the snowflake thread and assuming the backing board when it is framed is a light color, those floater threads (threads carried across the back) won't be visible, so you can carry the thread from one to the next snowflake. As already mentioned, I'd do them last so you don't have floaters back there while trying to stitch other areas. Myself, I'd probably do those snowflakes starting and ending with a pinhead stitch because I can be a little anal about carry thread across unstitched areas. (If the area in between will be stitched, I'll carry a floater quite a way across the back.)

And welcome to the forum. :)

(Edited to correct 'pinhead' because I fingers wrote something else despite what my brain was instructing them to do.)
Last edited by Allyn on Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Allyn
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Re: Any help please...

Post by Allyn »

On the heart, as an alternative, you can do all whole stitches and do diagonal 'rows'.
Image
Start at A3 with a loop start and follow the arrows in diagonal rows. It would use more floss, but you can do all whole stitches and be certain not to have any threads show through from the bottom side in unstitched squares. It would also let you finish in F11 which gives an easier place to anchor the tail than ending at K6.
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fccs
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Re: Any help please...

Post by fccs »

Lots of good tips there Allen.
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curly sue
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Re: Any help please...

Post by curly sue »

I too use a combination of XXXX and ///// \\\\\\\ depending on how far apart the stitches are and where I want to end up. On my current piece, I have started making a copy of my chart and marking the stitches I have done with a highlighter marker. I am finding I get lost on the chart if I'm not careful these days. I mostly do small projects.

I may carry my thread as much as an inch on the back, if it will be covered with stitches later or I will run it under existing stitches.
Roland
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Re: Any help please...

Post by Roland »

When I first started cross stitching I did ////// then \\\\\ back.

But I read somewhere that a piece lasts longer when done one X at a time. I have no idea if that’s true, but since I want all my work to last forever I switched. I find this works better for me, especially not that I tend to do more difficult patterns, similar to HAEDs.
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