Worst things

[isaminou]

I've thought it would be fun to talk about the worst things that happen while stitching... You know, the kind of things that makes you cry when it happens but you can laugh about it later. So, here are my misadventures!

I was once stitching a beautiful landscape, with a lot of flowers and an old cottage... It really was a lot of work. Suddenly, I noticed that one of the cottage walls was really disaligned. I found that I've made an error so I decided to de-stitch the work to correct it... What a job!!! It took me a whole month to do it!!! I will never do it again, it would have been easier to start again on a new fabric!

Another time, I bought a big chart online and started to stitch it. A few weeks later, I was in the garden, quietly stitching and having a little drink, when my dog decided to get out of the garden. I put my work on my chair quickly and ran after the dog, off course. When I came back, I found the pattern totally soaked with my drink, the ink all blurred... It was impossible to see the chart anymore. But the worst thing about it, I haven't made a safety copy of it! And when I tried to find the website where I purchased it, it didn't exist anymore! All those stitching hours and I've never had the chance to finish this project...

What about your stitching misadventures?

[richardandtracy]

Never had anything as dreadful as that. Help!

My worst is very minor in comparison: I was so anxious to start my second stitching project (and first project I had charted), that after marking out the centrelines, I started the bottom boundary of page 1 at the centreline instead of 9 rows above where it should have been. I discovered it after finishing the top 2 pages (of 6). As I had only just enough fabric, it meant the bottom 18 rows of the chart had to be discarded to keep it on the fabric and still look symmetrical. The result was OK, but now that I've written my own charting program and am playing with 120+ colours, the undithered, unblended, 31 colour result doesn't look very good. However, I was as pleased as punch at the time. The image is here: http://www.crossstitchforum.com/gallery ... ic_id=7664 (mild nudity warning, which is why I've not embedded the picture in the post)

Regards,

Richard.

[isaminou]

Wow, the result is fantastic

[karen4bells]

Two things came to mind, both happened quite a while back. First one was I somehow spilled coffee onto my project threads, but thankfully not my project itself. So I 'only' had to replace the threads that got soaked. Second was a lot more disastrous!! I stitched a Joan Elliott design and got about 20% of the way before I noticed I had the project started 90 degrees off--which meant it would not fit on the fabric when finished......so, I had to unstitch the entire amount stitched, because I didn't have extra fabric like I was using---now I make sure I have my top of project marked before I start!!!

[isaminou]

Unstitching is si difficult ! I hope your project didn't have too many different colors...

[karen4bells]

Unstitching is si difficult ! I hope your project didn't have too many different colors...

Lol, it did! It took me a couple of days to unstitch too! Needless to say, I was more than a little bit upset

[CuriousKitty]

Frogging. Probably our most frustrating whoopsies.

This is a fabulous in-progress picture I took a few years ago of a single color giant frogging I had to do. It's very obvious where it occurred. I only noticed it because when I started on the blue, it didn't line up. Then I counted and found out what I already knew: I can't math.

[isaminou]

Very frustratring, for sure !

[Roland]

I decided to stitch TW's tapestry cat on a sweatshirt. I did the cat, without the border.

The instructions do say the pattern is not appropriate for waste canvas, but either I didn't see that before starting or wasn't intelligent enough to pay attention.

Everything went fine until I got to the eye. The eyes were to detailed, with 1/4 stitches, and a lot of colours for such a tiny area. I ended up pulling out graph paper and coloured pencils, and redesigning the eyes to make them stitchable on waste canvas.

And then, of course, pulling out the waste canvas when finished...that was no fun either. (Have learned tricks since, but this was my first time.)

For anyone not familiar, this is TW's cat. http://www.twdesignworks.com/Designs/tapestrycat_l.html" target="_blank

[rcperryls]

My biggest disaster was with the very first HAED I stitched, The Burden by Krystal Camprubi. Following the instructions I stitched it 2 over 1 full crosses on 25ct evenweave. Since the first 5 or 6 pages were basically black it wasn't too difficult other than being tedious. Black being an exceptionally thinner thread and not having any confetti I got a lot done. Then I hit the beginnings of colors and confetti. It became so bulky and thick that I could not get the needle (size 26 or 28 so pretty thin) through the fabric. It was impossible to stitch. I love that chart and made the decision to restart it. Only this time I would tent stitch 2 over 1 on 28 ct which is my first choice for stitching HAEDs now. (I think I only have one left now which is 1 over 1 on 25ct). I have it in my "on hold" list but think (hope) I will get back to it. It's a good chart to travel with since it doesn't require a lot of different threads when working on the background .

Carole

[CuriousKitty]

My biggest disaster was with the very first HAED I stitched, The Burden by Krystal Camprubi. Following the instructions I stitched it 2 over 1 full crosses on 25ct evenweave. Since the first 5 or 6 pages were basically black it wasn't too difficult other than being tedious. Black being an exceptionally thinner thread and not having any confetti I got a lot done. Then I hit the beginnings of colors and confetti. It became so bulky and thick that I could not get the needle (size 26 or 28 so pretty thin) through the fabric. It was impossible to stitch. I love that chart and made the decision to restart it. Only this time I would tent stitch 2 over 1 on 28 ct which is my first choice for stitching HAEDs now. (I think I only have one left now which is 1 over 1 on 25ct). I have it in my "on hold" list but think (hope) I will get back to it. It's a good chart to travel with since it doesn't require a lot of different threads when working on the background .

Carole

Carole, I need a layman's dummy explanation of 2 over 1 or any combination of numbers like that means. Is that 2 threads over one 2x2 hole square? Is it 2 holes up, 1 hole across? Or something I'm just not getting? I see everyone describe it that way all the time and I can't for the life of me figure out what exactly it refers to.

[richardandtracy]

2 over 1 is two threads in the needle passing over one fabric thread (so skipping no holes).
If you did 2 over 2 on 28 count, two threads in the needle passing over two fabric threads (so skipping one hole). That would end up with a cross the same size cross as a normal cross stitch on 14ct Aida, only there would be a fabric hole under the centre of the cross and in the middle of each edge of the square covered by the cross.

Hope that helps a little.

Regards,

Richard.

[CuriousKitty]

2 over 1 is two threads in the needle passing over one fabric thread (so skipping no holes).
If you did 2 over 2 on 28 count, two threads in the needle passing over two fabric threads (so skipping one hole). That would end up with a cross the same size cross as a normal cross stitch on 14ct Aida, only there would be a fabric hole under the centre of the cross and in the middle of each edge of the square covered by the cross.

Hope that helps a little.

Regards,

Richard.

Oh, so a 3x3 grid. I think I get it now.

[richardandtracy]

Correct, 2 over 2 is a 3x3 grid of holes, with the corner holes shared with the next crosses in the column/row.

Regards,

Richard.

[RosemaryD]

I decided to stitch TW's tapestry cat on a sweatshirt. I did the cat, without the border.

The instructions do say the pattern is not appropriate for waste canvas, but either I didn't see that before starting or wasn't intelligent enough to pay attention.
[...]
For anyone not familiar, this is TW's cat. http://www.twdesignworks.com/Designs/tapestrycat_l.html" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Oh I can see how that would have been hard work! I bet it looked good finished though.

I stitched a Joan Elliott design and got about 20% of the way before I noticed I had the project started 90 degrees off--which meant it would not fit on the fabric when finished......so, I had to unstitch the entire amount stitched, because I didn't have extra fabric like I was using---now I make sure I have my top of project marked before I start!!!

My worst was similar to this, all too fresh in the memory and still annoying (it's described in detail in my 2016 stitching thread). I think spilling something on my work would be worse though - food and drink go nowhere near my stitching!