View Full Version : Utter Novice help please
Wellington
26-01-2009, 01:06 PM
I've only done the little cat pic for a swap card last year & now I'm doing another one from that same kit for my mum's Mother's Day card. Am I right in thinking that the neater the back is, the more economic I'm being with the threads? It's one of those patterns where you get all the threads etc, so the theory is that there should be enough to complete the pic (and there was last time) - but I'm paranoid that I'll run out of something & the thing'll be ruined.
In general the back looks mostly like horizontal & vertical lines - is that about right?
I should respectfully request that you don't bombard me with lots of techincal terms & stitching names - I can cope with 'a cross stitch' & that's me done :o :D
DianaDreads
26-01-2009, 01:38 PM
That sounds good to me Welly.
I did a few of those kits when I was young to get me started and they always seemed to have plenty of thread.
Hi Welly
I do quite a lot of x stitch and as Diana says there always seems to be plenty of thread.
Mine always seem to be the little vertical stitches.
Do you do each cross separately or do you do a section one way and go back the other way IYSWIM. I always do a section then go back the other way. lol Do you know what I'm talking about:rolleyes::eek:.
LorraineJ
26-01-2009, 04:30 PM
Don't pull the thread too tight otherwise you'll pucker it and ruin it, in your efforts to be economical.
Winspiration
26-01-2009, 04:52 PM
The other thing (that I am sometimes guilty of) is don't cut the threads too long, even though it may seem more economical to do it that way - the thread tends to get a bit thinner towards the end if you do that, giving an uneven finish. It's better to work with shorter lengths, from memory about a foot or so.
Spendsloads
26-01-2009, 04:58 PM
I've cross stitched since I was a little girl, but am not nearly as prolific as some of the others on here - I probably only make 3 to 4 items a year - mostly birth and wedding samplers for gifts.
I was always taught that single stitches use less thread than line by line or section by section, but that single stitches aren't as tidy or as fast. If your back is horizontal and vertical stitches, you are probably sewing line by line/section by section, as with single stitches, I usually end up with some diagonal stitches on the back.
Like the others, I usually have plenty of thread left over - I think I have only ever run out twice. Once it was because the instructions didn't say you needed to split the thread first and the second time, it was for no apparent reason for a Winnie the Pooh cushion. However, the kit had a key which stated what make and shade of thread was used, so I just went to John Lewis and spent 55p on an extra skein (though I suppose I could have phoned up the manufacturer to complain). I think most kits do this, so in the unlikely event of you running out of thread Welly, it probably wouldn't be too disastrous (and one of us might have some thread in the right colour to send to you anyway).
Happy stitching!
artysam
26-01-2009, 05:04 PM
Sounds good to me welly too!
I'm really enjoying doing this cross stitch at the moment
http://www.readicut.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=RC5078&name=wedding&sfile=1&jump=0
for my mum and dad's ruby wedding anniversary.
Haven't cross stitched for about 9 years - same age as DS I wonder why?????
gill71
26-01-2009, 05:35 PM
Welly
Doesn't really matter what the back of the work looks like, as long as the front looks OK! They do say that you should keep the work neat at the back with no knots, etc.
They always give you plenty of thread...but if you do run out you can easily get more. Your kit may have the actual thread code for Anchor or DMC and you just buy some more.
Hope you enjoy stitching your card... I am currently making my way through this kit http://www.colray-crafts.com/big.php?ProductID=2370
soopy
26-01-2009, 05:40 PM
That's a lovely wedding sampler artysam :)
Re cross stitch, I haven't done much lately, but I used to do half stitch along one line, then come back doing the top half stitch, to complete, if that makes sense...
Or if doing something like a multi-shaded flower, I'd do complete stitches in all the little areas of one colour, then all the areas of a second colour, then all the areas of a third colour and so on...
This is the one I'm doing at the moment. I've done about a quarter of it.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/PamE24/K3658.gif
That's a lovely wedding sampler artysam :)
Re cross stitch, I haven't done much lately, but I used to do half stitch along one line, then come back doing the top half stitch, to complete, if that makes sense...
Or if doing something like a multi-shaded flower, I'd do complete stitches in all the little areas of one colour, then all the areas of a second colour, then all the areas of a third colour and so on...
That's how I do it soopy.:)
gill71
26-01-2009, 06:20 PM
That's a lovely one, Pam.
Wellington
26-01-2009, 08:44 PM
Thank you all for your advice - it's made me feel a little less paranoid :)
I do work the same way as Pam & Soopy - go as far as possible one way & then come back along the section to complete each stitch cos it feels easier & quicker. And also one colour at a time, completing as much of that colour within the area that I'm working on. It seems to be OK so far.
The pics are from a kit of 3 from QVC - all of cats designed by Francien thingamybob... I never took a pic of the completed card swap from last year & I've been racking my single brain cell to remember who I sent it to. Macey rings a bell??
--- edit ---
The swap was before the BB IIRC so the pic that the recipient posted was lost from the forum :(
I do work the same way as Pam & Soopy - go as far as possible one way & then come back along the section to complete each stitch cos it feels easier & quicker.
It's many many years since I did any cross stitch type stuff, but it would never have occurred to me to do it like that. I always did one whole cross at a time. I can see that this "new" way would be quicker though. :)
sheilaj
27-01-2009, 07:33 AM
I have been cross stitching for about 45 years (Arrhhggg!!) and have always done it the row at a time way, taught by my mother who trained as a couture dressmaker (she made clothes for Wallis Simpson). She was taught, and passed on, that the back should look as neat as the front whatever you did. Its also easier to keep the tension even that way.
Mum passed last year and before that she lost the ability to sew because she got arthritis in her hands. One of the last things we did together was start her great grand daughter off cross stitching (aged 5) Mum supervising and me teaching. Its a great memory.
Mum passed last year and before that she lost the ability to sew because she got arthritis in her hands. One of the last things we did together was start her great grand daughter off cross stitching (aged 5) Mum supervising and me teaching. Its a great memory.
What a lovely story Sheila. My Mum was fabulous at knitting, crochet, and needlepoint, but I never took more than a passing fancy to any of them. Would quite like to be able to knit though.
LorraineJ
27-01-2009, 11:13 AM
I did my first embroidered picture when I was ten (its still rolling round in the loft somewhere), so its a good 38 years old.
Over the years I have done knitting, tatting, macrame, cross stitch, counted cross stitch, needlepoint, rug making, dress making, embroidery, pattern drafting etc. When it came to knitting being left handed, I found I knit the opposite was to most people, one teacher called me stupid because I didn't understand her way. Anyway I devised my own way and then taught a friend in my teens to knit by watching what my hands were doing in a mirror, so she'd learn the right way.
I can remember being scared of the electric sewing machines in school as I couldn't control them, as I wasn't used to them and the hand machines were too slow. I used to whizz along on a treadle machine, which was brilliant for a flat stomach, as it exercised the pelvic muscles. These days I speed along using an electric machine without thinking about it.
Wellington
27-01-2009, 11:23 AM
Cross stitch is as close to any fabric craft as I've got - or I have to say, kinda want to get :o Hated the sewing machines in school (they ate my fabric!), did a little knitting with my nan when I was under 10, but no actual patterns & not even a purl (sp?) stitch learned!
SIL is happy enough knitting though & has produced a couple of cardys for DD which DD loves, plus a woolly hat! She's also done a tank top & a jumper for DS - the tank top remains unwarn (he's just not interested!), but the jumper was taken to bed with him cos he thought it was so soft & cuddly - he kept sleeping with his head on it! He's also warn it a lot once we rescued it from the bed LOL
artysam
27-01-2009, 12:13 PM
My DD also loves to cross stitch she's 5 and over xmas she wanted to learn to knit so she has a dolls scarf on the go! she picked it up quite quick.
My mum and nan knitted and sewed so i think we all follow our previous generation.
I also cross stitch all one way and then back the other and one colour at a time.
Hope we have all helped welly.
xxx
soopy
27-01-2009, 04:23 PM
I have been cross stitching for about 45 years (Arrhhggg!!) and have always done it the row at a time way, taught by my mother who trained as a couture dressmaker (she made clothes for Wallis Simpson). She was taught, and passed on, that the back should look as neat as the front whatever you did. Its also easier to keep the tension even that way.
Mum passed last year and before that she lost the ability to sew because she got arthritis in her hands. One of the last things we did together was start her great grand daughter off cross stitching (aged 5) Mum supervising and me teaching. Its a great memory.
That's a lovely story SheilaJ, fancy, Wallis Simpson, did your mum meet her? Such a shame your mum couldn't enjoy her stitching in her twilight years, but she seems to have started quite a legacy :)
Wow, 45 years. I started about 23-24 years ago after going to a Simply Cross Stitch party at a neighbours house! I hadn't tried any crafts before that.
sheilaj
28-01-2009, 07:05 AM
That's a lovely story SheilaJ, fancy, Wallis Simpson, did your mum meet her? Such a shame your mum couldn't enjoy her stitching in her twilight years, but she seems to have started quite a legacy :)
Wow, 45 years. I started about 23-24 years ago after going to a Simply Cross Stitch party at a neighbours house! I hadn't tried any crafts before that.
The place she worked was like "the House of Eliot" only just before ww2. The workers didn't meet the clients, that was the job of the vendeuses (and the owner was French) They used to peep over the stairs to see her arrive and leave ands peep out of the windows to see the then Prince of Wales waiting outside in the car. She says that the fiction that "nobody knew" was just that in London, it was common gossip, they were seen out together and shopping but the papers kept it quiet so possibly not known outside of London.
soopy
28-01-2009, 10:44 PM
It all sounded very posh, I can just see the girls peeping over bannisters and out of windows :)
I don't think the press would keep something like that quiet nowadays...
Wellington
29-01-2009, 09:54 AM
I don't think the press would keep something like that quiet nowadays...
...someone would have flogged it to the highest bidder as soon as there was a sniff of making a fast buck....
soopy
29-01-2009, 12:11 PM
...someone would have flogged it to the highest bidder as soon as there was a sniff of making a fast buck....
:D You're right there Wellie!
ERICS MUM
29-01-2009, 08:17 PM
I've only done the little cat pic for a swap card last year & now I'm doing another one from that same kit for my mum's Mother's Day card. Am I right in thinking that the neater the back is, the more economic I'm being with the threads? It's one of those patterns where you get all the threads etc, so the theory is that there should be enough to complete the pic (and there was last time) - but I'm paranoid that I'll run out of something & the thing'll be ruined.
In general the back looks mostly like horizontal & vertical lines - is that about right?
I should respectfully request that you don't bombard me with lots of techincal terms & stitching names - I can cope with 'a cross stitch' & that's me done :o :D
Hi Welly,
if the kit has details of DMC thread colours, let me have details of any that you run out of and I can send you some, I've got most colours (collected over the years at 4 for a dollar in Florida!)
Linda:)
Prudence2
29-01-2009, 10:41 PM
This is the one I'm doing at the moment. I've done about a quarter of it.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k158/PamE24/K3658.gif
Love the elephants, have a thing for them, have a lovely collection bought back from various countries. Enjoyed the tv program, especially Breeze.
Love the elephants, have a thing for them, have a lovely collection bought back from various countries. Enjoyed the tv program, especially Breeze.
I love elephants too, I was so glad the Breeze was OK in the end. I really thought it was going to have a sad ending. The elephants are amazing aren't they - the way they care for the young. Love it when they guide the youngsters with their trunks.
Wellington
30-01-2009, 09:51 AM
Hi Welly,
if the kit has details of DMC thread colours, let me have details of any that you run out of and I can send you some, I've got most colours (collected over the years at 4 for a dollar in Florida!)
Linda:)
Thanks Linda :) I shall bare it in mind but have to say, having checked the bits in the kit, there don't seem to be any codes anywhere...