Category: Tips And Techniques

11/12/2020 0 Comments

There is no "right way"

I'm teaching my husband, an engineer, how to cross stitch.

I'll admit that I'm not the most patient teacher, especially with people I know. But I am also confident that my husband is not the most patient pupil.

If you know any engineers, you'll know that most engineers think and act precisely. Why? Because, as my husband likes to remind me, when you aren't precise, people could die: airplanes can crash, bridges could buckle, our power grid could fail, medical devices could cause harm. Yeah, my husband is a very up-beat and positive person, right?

Now take that need for precision and bring it to our world of cross stitching. Sure, what we do, in most cases, follows a pattern so you'd think that would be great for someone who craves precision.

Not my husband.

I'm from the "it's art, so do what feels right" school of creativity, including cross stitch. As a student, my husband wants to know what to do, step-by-step, and doesn't want to hear any variations on the "right" way to do it.

I see similar approaches to stitching in many of the cross stitching (and general crafting) groups I belong to on Facebook. Regardless of the poster's level of stitching expertise, there is often a question of finding the "right way." It doesn't matter if it's about where to start your pattern, or the technique to start (or end) your stitches, or how to wash your finished project (if at all): stitchers are seeking THE answer.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but there isn't one correct way to do anything. There are best practices, but not clear right or wrong.

Cross stitching is your art, so don't let anyone dictate how you practice your art. Take chances. Make mistakes (and don't frog them). Sometimes your experiments will work out but, to be honest, sometimes it won't look the way you envisioned, but you may learn a new technique that you can try when stitching something else or be able to decipher where you went wrong.

Start your pattern wherever you want. Mix up the direction of your stitches for added texture. Swap out French knots for beads. Knot your thread. Never wash your fabric. Don't bother framing your finished projects. The world is at your fingertips and no one can tell you what to do.

Sure, ask for advice on the fabric you choose for a pattern, or whether you should backstitch or not, but don't let the posts you see in your stitching communities or the people who comment on your work make you question your decisions about your own projects. Heck, you may even find more people who approach stitching the way you do and build an entirely new community of like-minded, adventurous stitchers.

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10/21/2020 0 Comments

To Grid or Not to Grid

I think I learn something new about stitching every week (loop start anyone?), but one thing that is new to me is the concept of gridding.

First, what is gridding? Gridding is the process of physically marking your fabric in 10×10 square blocks, similar to your pattern layout.

There are a few techniques to grid your fabric:
Pre-gridded fabric exists and simplifies the whole gridding process. As wonderful and time-saving as this can be, it does have some drawbacks. It can be a little more expensive than standard fabric. Also, the selection of fabrics with pre-gridding can limited, though Wichelt seems to be releasing additional counts to expand the selection. 123stitch.com has a great selection of Wichelt Easy Count fabric.

But that leads to the next method of gridding: fabric markers. If you sew, you have probably used a fabric marker on your projects. Using a non-permanent marker to grid your cross-stitch fabric is one way to go. Make sure you are using a fabric marker that either washes out or disappears when heat is applied. I cannot stress this enough. I've heard horror stories of stitchers who thought they had used a non-permanent marking tool, only to find their grid is not washing out...after they have completed their project. Yikes!

There are many fabric pen options, including the Pilot Frixion Erasable Ink pen, the Dritz Mark-B-Gone pen, and the DMC Embroidery Transfer pen.

If you don't want to mess with markers, you can grid using floss.

With floss gridding, you can use any floss you have on hand to weave lines in and out of your fabric to mark your grid on your fabric. It is a very loose weave of floss that some stitchers pull out as you stitch (others remove the guide floss after finishing their pattern).
Friend of StitchLife, Notorious Needle has a great tutorial for the two DIY grid techniques.

Now that you know what a gridding is, how do you know if it is for you? What you choose to do depends on you!

I have never gridded my fabric but I've spoken to others who have in order to understand the projects and circumstances best suited for gridding.

Personally, I don't grid because I find the process time-consuming and I'd rather just start stitching. I'm impatient that way.

But if you can't concentrate on counting as you stitch, gridding may be for you. Some parents I know who are called away frequently choose to grid so they can get back to stitching ASAP upon returning to their project. Many people find that gridding helps them stitch faster since your gridded fabric starts to look like your pattern, you can breeze through both long stretches of the same color or long stretches of empty spaces between colors (or even the same color with breaks in between).

If you choose to grid before starting your project, be careful! If your grids are off and you realize after you start stitching, you may get a long visit from the frog to fix your mistake.
If you use a fabric marker to grid, make sure that both your floss and fabric are colorfast. It would be horrible to be washing your finish only to find out that your over-dyed floss or custom fabric isn't colorfast.

What are your thoughts on gridding? Share with other StitchLifers!

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There is no "right way"

To Grid or Not to Grid

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