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Stitching & finishing bySusan Thompson

My friend Susan does an amazing job of finishing and has recently started a blog. She showed, in an illustrated tutorial, her method for finishing an open ornament.

Her model uses a hat, pictured here, but this is exactly the technique you would use for mini-socks, bells, full-size stockings, mittens, or any object you want to be open and lined, but not stiff like a purse or box.

Thanks, Susan!

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How to Finish an Open Item (Such as a Mini-sock)

A Beginner’s Guide to Scrapbook Sayings

in Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking has become popular because it is a unique way of restoring pictures as well as good, old memories. In fact, the past years have showed remarkable improvements when it comes to the number of scrapbooking fans and hobbyists. Seemingly, what appears as a simple craft is gradually becoming a passion for many.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Scrapbook Sayings

Finding Time to Scrapbook: Four Tips to Getting Your Pages Done

in Scrapbooking

Scrapbookers just don’t have enough time. In a recent poll on Twitter and Facebook, I asked what people’s biggest scrapbooking challenges were, and the number-one response was “Not enough time!” Here are four ways to fit fast scrapbooking into your crazy life.

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Finding Time to Scrapbook: Four Tips to Getting Your Pages Done

How Much Yarn Do I Need?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Recently Pam asked: How do I estimate the amount of yarn needed for each color in a project?

There isn’t a hard and fast rule for this because the amount you need per square inch varies with the mesh size, thread, and stitch. But this method works to figure out how much yarn you use per square inch for any thread and any project.

Begin by marking on a canvas the same mesh size a 1 inch square block. So, for example if you were working on 14 mesh, this would be a 14 x 14 block.

Now take the thread you will be using, any color will do, and cut it into a bunch (5 or so) of 18″ lengths.

With those threads, start to stitch the square in the stitch you will be using. Stitch the whole 1″ square and keep track of the number of the cut threads you use.

Divide that number by 2 and round up if there is a remainder. This number tells you how many yards it takes to stitch one inch.

Take the number of yards it takes to stitch and inch and divide the number of yards in one package of the thread. Always round up. Then add 20%. This tells you how many inches you can stitch with one package.

Now you need to figure out how many square inches there are of each color. That is trickier because the colors could be dispersed all around the piece. But you have a good tool to estimate in your hand.
The middle section of your thumb is about an inch. And your fist covers about 5 square inches. You can use this to estimate the extent of the colors.

You don’t need to do this for every color. Since you can’t buy half a skein of thread, then any color where you have less than a skein’s worth of square inches, you buy one package.

After you have figured out the square inches in a project, divide that number by the number of inches per package. This will tell you how many packages you need to buy.

This is an inexact process, but because we rounded up and added in the 20% overrun, this should give you enough thread to do the project.

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How Much Yarn Do I Need?

An Experiment in (Mostly) Tent Stitch

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

amanda lawford needlepoint canvas of London

One of the things that struck me about Jane’s description of the Woodlawn Exhibit was the number of pieces that were done in “traditional Needlepoint,” that is needlepoint that has one to four stitches.

What intrigued me about these is that by picking different threads and limiting the number of stitches, lots of texture can be achieved. Many of these pieces are done in Tent Stitch using many threads.

A couple of months ago, when you voted on the piece for me to stitch, many of your liked this Amanda Lawford canvas. I’m going to start it today and make it a canvas for traditional needlepoint, seeing just how much texture I can get from different threads and only a few stitches.

Some of the things I want to explore here include shading, Tent Stitch patterns, texture in threads, and probably some other things. Since this is a piece for me, it will be one of my Sunday Stitching projects, so watch for posts about it on Sundays.

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An Experiment in (Mostly) Tent Stitch

Random Needlepoint Background

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

beau geste hand painted canvas showing janet perry's random wool background technique

Sometimes the background really is the focal point of the needlepoint as it was in this vintage canvas from Beau Geste I made several years ago. But how do you make it really special? This technique is adapted from a knitting technique from Philosopher’s Wool in Canada.

Being by picking out the color you want to use, dark blue in this case. Find six different threads in this color. You can pick more than six but group them into six piles. At least one should be an overdye.

Make a list of them and number them. find your self a die.

Star the background and roll the die. The number that comes up is the number of the thread you use. If you’ve made piles of thread, roll the die again and this is the thread within that pile.

sample chart for stitching random thread background

Roll the die again. This is the number of rows of that thread you will. stitch. Just start and stop the thread at different points along the row. Use Continental ora any other stitch made in horizontal rows.

When you run out of a thread, pick another thread of that color for that spot. The result is far more dramatic than the effort required.

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