I finished my part of an RR and it was done on linen. I have never used linen before and doubt I ever will again. I don't like the unevenness of the fibers and the little slubs that are always in the wrong place. I would rather use evenweave. Oh I was pleased to try it, but it was also hard to hold as it was just a narrow piece. All in all it turned out ok. I put a pic in my gallery.
It is a lovely picture. I like the colors and the pattern.
I am not a fan of linen or eavenweave give me the aida cloth or a waste canvas on cotton or t-shirt or sweatshirt and I am a happy camper. To each his own and that is why it is so fun to be a part of a large forum with many different styles.
If you are looking for some one to help change you, look in the mirror
Hi All, You're right Rose, it is interesting the different views. I really love linen but you are all right and the slubs can get problematic. I have found that it is dependent on the brand and I think the type of linen. Some seem to have many more slubs than others. I'm working on hand dyeds now from Sugar Maple Fabrics and Heaven Lee Fabrics, all are beautiful and smooth, with relatively consistent weave. Though with the hand dyeds you do have to be careful in choosing size because the holes shrink up during the dyeing process. I've also used one from Cross Wing that just about went through the window between the slubs and the looseness of the weave. I had to be very careful with tension or the weave would wiggle around. I pretty much exclusively use linen but have branched out recently into some of the other evenweaves. There are some lovely ones out there. The other thing I did notice is that R&R is very slubby. I think it is part of their aim at the reproduction area.
Linda,
The little birdhouse is adorable. I love the colors.
Alyson
I do like the look of the finished priece, kind of rustic. I think if I had been able to have it in a q-snap it would have been easier to stitch, as I did find it wobbly and easy to distort if you didn't watch the tension. Also a smoother linen might be better as well. Might try a small project.
Very good result. Worth the effort I think! BUT I know what you mean about the unevenness of the fabric. One of my UFO's is on a "nice" piece of linen!
It is really effective, I do love the look of linen too, but I do like evenweave for a similar look but without the slubs. I have 5 quite large pieces of linen from a stitch club I belonged to years ago, I may make them into cushions with quite simple designs on one day, just use a specialist thread for impact.
I enjoy using both linen and evenweaves, my favourite being lugana because it is smooth and also pulls very nicely -- which is what I'm after when doing some surface hardanger stitches.
Some linen is slubbier than others. At the moment I'm doing a bellpull on 36ct Edinburgh which isn't too bad, but I would be in serious trouble if it weren't trussed up within an inch of its life on a roller frame! (Yes, I had to start something new while I waited until I could clean up the whisky-ed Ink Circle design... what's stash for??)
It has taken me a little while to think what 'slubs'are I take it they are the bits on linen 'threads'fabric that are larger making it hard to find the right hole
if anyone can understand what I mean
and I think the slubs would annoy me too.
I love the rustic look of raw linen.
