floss length

[klkd]

I am a newbie. Just starting a project and first trying to get organized. I have a thread organizer for this project. There are 29 colors of floss and many changes. The pattern is on a 10" square and calls for using two stands but I do not know how long the strands should be. Is there an ideal length? I know there is quite a bit of confetti stitching although am I not quite sure what that means. I am sure as I progress there will be a slew of questions to ask and thus in advance I thank you for your patience and help.
Regards, klkd

[Serinde]

Hi klkd, and welcome to the forum from the rainy West of Scotland!

A thread organiser is an excellent start -- I swear by mine. My working length for floss is about 10 inches -- any longer, and you get (more) tangles and (more importantly), the constant pulling through the fabric weakens the thread. If your design calls for metallic thread, I use a shorter length than that. Long lengths of metallics shred and make a mess. Pay attention to your needle size. Petite needles are very fashionable and they certainly have their place, but the eye of any needle needs to be big enough to move the threads slightly away from the hole to allow the floss to go through with as little friction as possible.

Ah, confetti. The bane in the life of any stitcher! These are single stitches of colour and there are various ways of coping with them. Confetti stitches are used to make a design look more lifelike (or more photographic, sometimes). Like death and taxes, confetti and backstitch are always with us.

Lecture over! Do have a look around the forum -- we are a friendly bunch, and even have a pub (the Stash & Grab). And the SAL thread is set up so you can document your stitching and we can cheer you on.

[Mabel Figworthy]

My thread length is usually too long....

I dislike fastening on and off so tend to use as long a length as I can get away with - up to 50cm with perle cotton, with anything else 30-40cm, the only exception being wool, where I use a length from finger tips to elbow (have never measured how long that actually is).

I know the advice, and I recognise that it is good advice, but on the other hand I haven't often run into trouble with my longer lengths and when I do, I switch to shorter !

[Squirrel]

Hello klkd and Welcome from cloudy Brisbane Australia. Ah thread length. Sometimes it depends if there is only a few stitches in that colour to do I cut it fairly short but generally about a 10 -12 inch length is comfortable. In many ways it is often a matter of what feels comfortable. As Mabel mentioned using short lengths when there is a large area to stitch needs to be fair long. Since I discovered loop starts (see tips and tricks) I tend to pull off a very long length and double it to allow for the loop start.
Don't be afraid the experiment with different lengths as I am sure you will soon find the length which is comfortable for you.

What are you going to be stitching?

[Mabel Figworthy]

Have just measures and the length I cut when holding wool between finger and thumb and then stretching to my elbow is actually about 36cm, so mucht he same as everything else

[rcperryls]

I hate threading needles also. I usually start a new thread at about 10 to 12 inches as others have said. Sometimes shorter if the thread seems especially thin for some reason (currently the kit I am doing has what I think is very thin thread though they swear it is DMC). If there are only a few stitches with that particular cut of thread then I save it threaded and will continue to use it until it is too short to use. I started doing that for both convenience and thrift when I began stitching and had less money to spend, and have continued for both reasons. The convenience and because I hate wasting good thread.

Carole

[klkd]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions on floss length. In answer to "Squirrel's" query, I am stitching an Artecy Cavalier King Charles Spaniel design by Tereena Clarke. However, at this point I am still in the "getting ready to stitch" phase. I am sure I will be asking many more questions in this forum. Thank y'all again.