easiest/most efficient way to stitch

[GreyWolf]

What have you found is the most efficient way for you to stitch? Do you as much of the same color as you can? Do you do one grid square at a time?

I feel like I haven't find my 'style' yet of doing things.

[Serinde]

I tend to follow a main colour then fill in around it. (I generally work on large cross-stitch patterns.) Lately I've been quite disciplined about filling in confetti stitches and tiny groups of stitches as I go along, which makes a big difference: easier to catch the odd mistake that must be and helps the mental health when you can't for the life of you figure out where the odd stitches are.

I never used to grid, but I am using this aid more and more (age, I think) but I don't stitch by grids, although some stitchers swear by this.

I use a frame and some sort of hoop/q-snap/roller, good light and a magnifier (age, again). I also stitch 'two-handed' (ie one hand on top of the fabric and one beneath), which I find very efficient, especially as I also cross the stitches as I go along.

It really is a matter of personal taste, I think. The longer you stitch, the more likely you are to find your own style. The main thing is to enjoy your stitching and take pride in your accomplishments.

[Lilywhite]

I'm quite new to stitching and have only completed about 3 projects so far. Only small ones at that. As I go along I seem to be developing my own style, piece by piece. At the moment I find a starting place, pick a colour and stay with that colour. I then go back and do another colour, then another. I also find it easier to stitch in horizonal lines rather than grid quares.

Saying that, I've never really given the grid method a go, so it maybe something I look into next time.

[Angel]

When I grid it's more so I can find my place easier than to work in a grid

I tend to start in the centre and follow one colour until either I run out of thread and there's only a tiny bit left to do, or I get to the end of that section. I tend to work right and down in most patterns.

I also do all the bottom arms of one line and then go back and do all the top arms.

[minij]

I think it is a matter of experimenting to see what suits you, I would love to stitch 2 handed as it's quicker and I would get through more projects, but I find it hard, perhaps I need to persevere with it.

I usually start near the middle and try to pick a colour with a fair few stitches until I finish those stitches or the thread runs out, next I go from this colour in any direction with another colour with a fair number of stitches and then gradually fill in the gaps, if that makes sense but as already said the important thing is that you get pleasure from stitching and seeing the finished item.

[Angel]

Two handed stitching is really good! I love to stitch two handed, but only do so on certain projects. My Eeyore project, for example, I keep in a stitching hoop and hold that in my lap stand so that I have both hands free. That I stitch two handed. But ones that I hold I stitch one handed. The ones I stitch two handed tend to have a lot of one colour in the space so I don't have to move the hoop too often. If it looks like I have to move the hoop a lot, I'll just not use a hoop.

[Granny]

Your style will develop and then also possibly change over time. Try different things and eventually you will have some you like better and use over and over and others you discard. It is a learning process even yet for me and I did my first stitches 60 years ago at my Grandmother's knee. It is said life goes in cycles and I believe my hobby cycle is returning to that very first introduction but in an entirely different fashion. I learned with just a few blocks of color, no shading, working off an already stitched object, with waste canvas on flour sacks. From there, twenty years later, I went to stamped articles and graphs and also needlepoint. No hoops, etc or any other reference, just pick up and stumble. Less than six months ago I learned about griding and I use it for the help in reference. I would never stitch in grid blocks as I did a needlepoint bell pull and decided it needed a couple of extra rows on the side. That division is so obvious that I have the fear, true or untrue, that any stitching would show the blocks. I now work with 14 Aida and some sort of frame, love griding and am really developing my style in that. As far as the stitching goes it still depends very much on what and my mood whether one handed or two, one stitch complete at a time or blocks of halves and returns. The biggest is to feel comfortable with what you are doing and then enjoy that.

[ohstitcher]

I have been stitching for 20 odd years, I was taught to start in the middle and work out from the center. I have started some projects from the upper left but I don't like doing that at all, the projects I have started that way I will continue to work on but it will be a slow go. Anyway I stitch with fabric in a hoop, I have tried scroll frames and like that too but recently my projects are too big for that. I usually stitch with the color that is most and move to the least. I don't grid but I can tell you it might be worth investigating. I also have heard of parking the threads but I for some reason can't grasp the concept so I start and end threads as I go along when I am finished with that color. The most important piece of advice that I can give you is enjoy what you are doing. I can't stress that enough some of the pattern that I have started are going to take YEARS to finish. Each time I stop for the night I look at what I have accomplished and think WOW look at that.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I too have been stitching for about 20 years, and as I was never taught I pretty much worked out for myself what I found comfortable . I do most of my stitching curled up in a comfy armchair so two-handed stitching is not for me; I have tried it on my Ink Circles design, which I do sitting at the dining room table with the bottom of my Qsnaps resting on my tummy and the top on the edge of the table, and it was quicker and quite comfortable, but for me would only work for "at the table" projects (i.e. larger ones that have to be done in my 9" frame).
I tend to work all of one colour before going on to the next, unless I have to count too far away, but as most of my stitching is small projects that's hardly ever a problem.
The only thing I try to force myself to do is to start with the boring bits (most designs have boring bits) so that I've got the interesting/colourful bits to look forward to -- several designs took me far longer than was necessry just because I left all the dull bits to the end

[Rose]

I was self taught and started with my very first project using waste canvas . I start in the middle and work toward the face of the project as I like to have the faces done first. I don't look for the biggest blocks I just start with the middle color. Sometimes I am able to use two hands and sometimes just one hand. I try to finish one color and then do the next color but that is not always possible because of the pattern. So I am a bit all over the map as far as how I stitch. I only have one needle at a time and I have never used a grid. I think others have done very well with gridding but I don't want to do it. I always stitch on aida or waste canvas I don't want to try evenweaves they look like way to much work to me.

So as you can tell the way you stitch is so personal all we can do is give you advise on what we do and then maybe you will find an idea that will work for you.

[andrea42]

Ive also been stitching for over 20 yrs up until a year ago i only did mostly kits i have since graduated to evenweaves as well . I do pretty much all HAEDS I use qsnaps therefore can not stitch with 2 hands. I have tried it and with more practice i may get comfortable with it. I grid as now that i have i cant stitch without it. I start in the upper left corner and start with the first symbol and do all of that symbol on the page or half page then move on to the next symbol in that square. When I just finished the TT Purple Dragon by haed i didnt do it that way and I had a ton of little spots to fill in. I learned my lesson the hard way and wont do it like that again lol.

[Red]

My style is all over the place LOL...However, so far I have done only 1 page charts so from small to 9x14" or so. I've just been introduced to the loop method so I try to use that or just holding a little tail in the back and tacking it as I do my first line. I usually start in the middle and I just tend to do the first big line of one symbol which is counted and then I try to limit counting by - "Oh this line is one less than that line so I stop there..." if that makes any sense I prefer if possible to do a line of half crosses and then go back and do the 2nd arm rather than completing a full individual cross when they are in groups. I do individual crosses for single colors scattered about.

I use a hoop or frame. I've tried a lot but don't really have a must do everything using this favorite. It depends on the project. Needlepoint, I like to use a frame and cross stitch mostly hoops. I do have a bit of a preference when using a hoop for a wooden one. I've tried evenweave once but had a horrible time so I'm waiting a bit before I try the next one. Overall, I tend to use aida.

Just do what feels right and you'll be okay. There's no right or wrong

[Happy Stitcher]

I've been stitching for about 20 years as well and have found that my style developed with practice and time. I always start in the middle of a project and work upward so I finish the top half first. I only use one needle and change the colours threads as I go along, and it depends how many stitches there are between each colour whether I carry the thread across or not - my max count is normally four stitches. I like working on evenweave best but I'm happy to use aida as well. I use a hoop for large projects and always work whole crosses. I'm quite slow with my stitches too, probably because I mainly use the rail method, I developed that habit when I couldn't keep my stitches neat because of the thread twisting and the habit sort of fell in with my style. I've not tried the gridding.
Efficiancy and style develope with time but what really matters is as Serinde says, that the main thing is to enjoy your stitching and take pride in what you accomplish.

[carolynbb]

I need to represent for the gridding stitchers! I admit that I like doing 10x10 grids the best. I'm totally anal retentive and achievement-driven, so it appeals to my need for minor accomplishments.

[Angel]

I'm the same as red. I drive people mad because I'll count one line then chant "17 1 under, two over, three under mis one for two" and so on until I finish that section.What it means is one line is 17, the next line is 16, the next is 18, the next is 15, then there's a gap of one followed by two more stitches. ^_^

[Mabel Figworthy]

Yup, I'm a "chanter" but usually under my breath so as not to annoy the other inmates too much...

[Sarah Gixxer]

I'm a chanter as well, ie "2 (stitches) space 4, 2 spaces 1, space 6" and so on. Luckily there are mostly no other inmates for me to annoy except on the occasional weekend, although the dog does sometimes think I'm talking to him and comes running over to see what I want.

[Angel]

hehe my cat does that...jumps straight on the stitching and narrowly avoids the needle

[nuttystar]

I have always started a project from the middle since this was how my mum taught me I don't park needles and I tend to do the count the first line then work out the rest method!

I have never tried grids but since I am going to start my first HAED soon, I thought I might try it for that. Any tips on how to make sure your design is going to be correctly placed when starting at the top left corner would be great

[nettie]

Basically there is no right or wrong way to stitch it is about what is best for you. I stitch on the sofa balancing my chart on one knee and trying not to knock the scissors of the arm of the sofa. You will find your own style. I normally start in the middle of the piece and work outwards and usually pick a symbol thread that colour and then stitch those symbols until that section of thread runs out. My mum always starts in the bottom left hand corner of the piece and works across and up the piece my mum taught me to stitch.