Neat backs

[motherof4]

For those of you with neat backs do you park your threads, or sew row by row or sew some other way ?

[rcperryls]

My backs aren't nearly as neat as they used to be . When I was stitching afghans I was very careful to make sure the backs were as neat as I could make them since they couldn't be hid in a frame. I'm a cross country stitcher and would try to avoid having stitches that were more than a few spaces apart. If I was going to stitch more than 5 or 6 stitches apart I would carry the thread underneath already stitched sections or make sure that there were stitches that would cover the connecting thread. With current projects, I pretty much don't care what the back looks like. Neat is good if it happens, but most will be framed, so I don't fret about it anymore.

Carole

[Allyn]

I park, using the method that I don't put a stitch in under an empty hole. It keeps my back neat in that there are no floaters. I don't work in 10x10 squares, either. I let the pattern dictate how wide a swath I'll work in. That swath can be 30 or 40 stitches wide (or a whole page if the colors are consistent.)

[kobeat]

My backs end up pretty neat not as a goal but more because it fits with my personality. I tend to be logical and orderly so I stitch in rows left to right with the first leg of the cross and back for the second leg and starting with the loop method. Pictures of parking always looks chaotic to me but Allyn's comment, "using the method that I don't put a stitch in under an empty hole" is making me think I may try it in a limited fashion. I'd have to break out of my one color at time habit but I do hate coming back trying to place a stitch in a hole surrounded by other stitches. Always learning new things here!

[Allyn]

.... Pictures of parking always looks chaotic to me but Allyn's comment, "using the method that I don't put a stitch in under an empty hole" is making me think I may try it in a limited fashion. I'd have to break out of my one color at time habit but I do hate coming back trying to place a stitch in a hole surrounded by other stitches. Always learning new things here!

This is the method I use:
http://www.scarletquince.com/parking.php" target="_blank

In this tutorial, they mention having a needle for each thread. You can do that it way (I do, up to about 25 needles) but some folks prefer to use one needle. When they park the thread, they take the needle off and thread the next color they're going to use. I find using multiple needles is faster as long as you can organize the needles (I use strip magnets). Over 25 needles such as I might run into an area of dense color changes, I find it faster for me to take the needle off and rethread the next color until I get out of that area. I will also unthread the needle if the parked thread is far enough away that it isn't on my 'radar' for the area that I'm working in.