Posted on 42 Comments

Fiber Talk Mid-Week Chat, 5-31-17

The Old Scot from Hands Across The Sea Samplers

We’re back together for this week’s mid-week chat. Out of the gate we congratulate Mary Grosser, winner of our second Hands Across The Sea Samplers The Old Scot chart. We’re giving away one more copy of The Old Scot, so listen to the podcast to learn how you can win. Of course, big thanks to Nicola and Hands Across The Sea for providing these giveaway charts. Also in this show, we talk about the latest video from HATS, Nicole actually hanging something on her walls, and the latest videos from The Twisted Stitcher. Then we go off on a long excursion into stitching technique, which was fun for us and we hope helpful to at least some. We also hope we didn’t make the pros cringe.–Gary and Christine

Listen to the podcast:

Christine’s progress to date.

Links to items discussed in this show:

42 thoughts on “Fiber Talk Mid-Week Chat, 5-31-17

  1. My favorite stitching tip is to always relax and have fun. It is amazing the enjoyment you receive and your creativeness will just flow across your canvas.

  2. My favorite stitching tip is to only stitch what you enjoy. I have started things and put them down for some time and when I come back I just can’t make myself finish them because I no longer like them. My husband thinks I am crazy but oh well.

  3. My stitching tip is Don’t stitch while your upset, at least for me I won’t. That is usually when I miscount or accedently snip my fabric( I have done that before and it’s the worst feeling) but luckily Nicola workman made a great tutorial about weaving in threads to fix a hole in your fabric. Stitching for me is my Zen so I don’t like to bring bad energy to it.

  4. I love the things I learn from listening to your Podcasts, about designers, fellow stitchers, reproductionists & “expert” stitchers. Learning so many of the things I can do to make my stitching better are so very helpful. However, my first goal when I sit down to stitch is to know that I’m creating something that I’m going to love looking at, remembering when I stitched it and what was going on in my life at the time and the process. I love the whole process of stitching.

    My tip would be to never be afraid to listen to the suggestions and tips of others and try them out for yourself. If they make your work better and you feel comfortable with it – fantastic. If not, know that you tried and that you still love this wonderful craft of ours. We want wonderful pieces to hand down to the next generations for them to love as much as we love what our ancestor stitchers did!

    1. Debby,
      Applause for this one. Well stated.
      Gary

  5. I have so many little tips I use…..the best one is to be in a comfortable position with plenty of light and do not be too vain to use a magnifier!

  6. The best stitching tip I have come across is when I learned how to use Basketweave stitch in Needlepoint. I find it really makes a difference in my canvas if the background is filled in with basketweave, rather than tent stitch. I also like the zen quality of the stitch – or maybe it’s just the feeling of filling in large sections!

  7. Always wash your hands before starting. All those oils on you hands make a difference.

  8. My favorite tip for stitching is to give yourself plenty of fabric on all sides of your work because you might think you have enough to frame it or make a pillow or whatever, then change your mind about what you will do with it and wish you hat one more inch all the way around!! Ask me how I know!

    Nice podcast! Again, love listening to you two.

  9. Loved all your chat about technique this time! I think my tip would be, don’t be afraid to abandon a project if you realize you are no longer interested. Our hobby is such a slow-moving process that sometimes our taste evolves in a different direction than where it was when we started a piece. Life is too short–and future projects too abundant–to force yourself to finish something you no longer love. Think about what you learned from it, and move on happily. (Sorry about the long answer!)

  10. Love listening to your podcasts!!

    I am not new to stitching but have just recently taken it back up after many years hiatus. Lots of things have changed, patterns are different, threads are more gorgeous than ever, there’s a wider variety of materials and all in more abundance..it can be very overwhelming!

    Beacause I’m still fairly new back into stitching I don’t have much wisdom to pass onto others, and it’s not really a tip but it’s what I have learned the past few years.

    Buy what you love and can afford, it doesnt make your stitching any less if it’s not silk…It’s not a race….we all love different styles of designs and that’s okay, they are all beautiful in someone’s eyes…there’s no right or wrong, we are all here loving the craft and that’s what it should be all about.

  11. Love your podcast-I am an avid listener!? For me the pin stitch changed my life!
    My favorite tip is: when working with silks, wash your hands with a sugar scrub, then wash them again with a regular soap to make sure the sugar is all gone. This really helps to keep your hands soft so they don’t catch on the fiber. It is especially helpful in the winter time.
    Thanks for the chance to win!

  12. My favorite stitching tip is that once you have purchased a project, whether it is a painted canvas, or stitch guide, or instructions, remember that it is now yours. And you can change it without a twinge of guilt. I used to think that everyone who designed or taught were the ultimate authority on their piece and the directions had to be followed exactly. But after stitching for a number of years, I know realize that no-one will know that it is “wrong” because you changed something. And the reasons to change are many and varied: changing a color because of the color of the room where the item will be displayed or changing the background stitch because you’ve been working on a piece for months and can’t face another month of boring background stitch, so you do an open background instead of what’s called for. It can be very freeing to realize the word “wrong” shouldn’t be applied to your stitching. It is OK to be for it to be “different”. Plus you can always rip it out and start again.

  13. My favorite tip is to use what you have and feel free to substitute. I never have all the overdyed threads a chart calls for and rarely do I try to order them. I might change the colors to suit myself more or I might try to find close matches in the overdyed threads I do have or sub DMC colors for a few of the colors. Case in point, a pattern calls for WDW mascara for 4 stitches in the whole piece. I’m using DMC black. If I had mascara, fine, but I don’t so why buy it for 4 stitches. Mixing and matching my threads and using what I have makes my pieces more unique.

  14. My stitching tip is measure linen twice cut once!!!

  15. Thank you for such a great podcast! My tip is before you put your needlework away, thread your needle and take a few stitches. This way your project is ready for you to pick up whenever you just have a few minutes to stitch. I can’t claim to have come up with this tip but heard it once and it has made a difference for me in finding small pockets of time to make progress on my projects.

  16. I am still an amateur stitcher. I found your conversation to be fascinating and was wishing I could see everything you were talking about! Now I will have to find Vonna’s stitch with me video-sounds heavenly!

    My favorite tip has been the pin stitch. It has made stitching lettering and isolated motifs/stitched so much neater and easier.

    1. Rachel,
      Links to everything we talk about are always on the page for each podcast. Thanks for listening.
      Gary

  17. I think the best tip I have is to have the courage to explore and be open to all things in the needlework arena. A more practical tip would be to stay organized – keep all things pertaining to a project together. Also, maintain a log of your needlework … one doesn’t really remember the details even months later so it is good to write things down as you go.
    And most of all, enjoy the process!

  18. Really enjoy your podcast and LOVE pin stitch. I’ve been stitching for years, esp. cross stitch and never heard of it before!

    For cross stitch, or any embroidery where you are swapping between many colours, my favourite tip is to have lots of needles you can thread. If I finish an area but still have enough thread to use elsewhere on my needle, I will park that for later use rather than unthreading it. It makes things much quicker.

  19. One of my favorite tips when stitching two strands is to start with a lark’s head knot. It may not work for all fabric/thread combinations, but is very handy for many samplers in my project basket.

  20. My stitching tip is really 3 tips. If you are working on a project that uses metallic threads either use a hoop large enough that the whole design fits in the hoop or use a frame/stretcher bars as using a too small hoop will flatten your metallic stitch (I learned this the hard way). My other tips are to use shorter lengths of metallic threads and always use a thread conditioner!

  21. I enjoyed reading all of the other tips before mine! I agree with keeping it fun, not being afraid to make changes and keep notes.

    One of the most useful tips I ran across for starting threads recently:

    https://www.thecrossstitchguild.com/cross-stitch-basics/cross-stitch-basics/how-to-do-a-knotless-loop-start.aspx

    This works in needlepoint as well – as long as you are using floss with an even number of strands. This is even more nearly invisible than a pin stitch and won’t come undone.

    Even though I started with needlepoint, I have been interested in exploring other forms of needlework to be able to learn tips from other sources.

  22. My most recent tip that I was so excited to learn was the pin stitch from Nicola at Hands across the Sea Sampler’s.

  23. My tip is to not be afraid of trying something new. Never say “I can’t”. As a friend used to say “Can’t never did anything.”

  24. My stitching tip is to invest in the best possible light you can afford. Lighting makes all the difference!

  25. My stitching tip is to keep your stitching next to you on the couch or chair at all times. Working full time and raising kids often has left me too exhausted to stitch; additionally I have a painful autoimmune disorder that affects my hands. Just looking at my WIP or holding it on my lap has often been all that I can do some nights. My goal is at least one stitch per day, but just looking at and holding my stitching project is often “enough.”

  26. My favorite tips I have learned are; the loop start and the pin stitch start. The loop start I learned very early on in my stitching. The pin stitch I just recently learned from Vonna’s and Nicola’s tutorials. Love the podcasts!

  27. My stitching tip is to have your comfortable spot & stitch what makes you happy. If you make a mistake, immediately take it out and correct it or it will bug you forever!

  28. My favorite tip is when starting a new project to measure twice and cut once.

  29. Enjoying reading others’ tips here! My tip I learned recently is to use beeswax to stiffen the end our your thread to help you thread the needle.

  30. I’m a beginner and am learning so much from your podcast. Thank you both for doing something great that so many people can appreciate.

    I don’t have any real tips to share yet so here’s a beginner’s tip: read Mary Corbet’s blog and her site, needlenthread, for inspiration, encouragement, and reliable information. Listen to FiberTalk too!

  31. Loved listening to your podcast, as always! The challenged with not getting to this until Sunday night is that it seems that all the “tips” that I was thinking about as I was driving today (after the podcast ended) have already been said, some more than once! I’ll go ahead a repeat them here, though, in case you want to keep a tally of the more popular thoughts :-). My first one was don’t be afraid to recognize that a piece is not for you after beginning some stitching on it. If you are not going to enjoy your time with it, stop, and find something you will enjoy – there are way to many needlework opportunities out there for you to spend any time doing anything you don’t love or feel like you are learning something from. My next thought was about be willing to change up colors and/or threads that a pattern suggests – it’s YOURS and you can make it yours with your favorite colors or palette. Then, one of the more practical tips I picked up in the last few years that I try to practice as much as possible: when you are done with your needlework for the evening or stitching session, leave it ready to go with new thread started with just a stitch or two in so that the next time you sit down, you literally can just begin.
    OOOHHH, I just thought of something that I don’t think was mentioned yet! 🙂 When you find a pattern that you like and you want to try a new color scheme but you don’t know what you want, go to a store (or online) and look at the over dyed threads, the ones that brings in multiple colors. Find a color scheme from one of those that you just connect with. You may not need that over dye thread in your piece, but the fact that you can see those two or three or four colors combined in one thread and you like the look can help you pick out colors of threads that you will use. Thanks so much, Gary and Christine, for sharing so much knowledge and great interviews with us all!

  32. Hairclips…I recently discovered hairclips to hold the excess fabric around my hoop. Makes everything so much easier than fighting with all that excess fabric!

  33. My favorite tip is to use masking (or similar) tape on the edges of the fabric. Mark one edge as ‘top’.

  34. Wash your hands! Finish the edges of your fabric either on a sewing maching or by hand to prevent raveling….

  35. My best tip I always give is always add your name. Even when doing reproduction samplers. The original stitcher added hers and so should you.

  36. My favorite tip is when starting a project the first stitch of a project on evenweave (linen) always start the first stitch and subsequent regular stitches at a VERTICAL thread (this is the thread going north and south over the horizontal thread running east and west (the southwest corner of the stitch). This makes for a more even tension and nicer stitches. It also triggers a sign that threads have been counted incorrectly if your stitch suddenly starts at a horizontal thread.

  37. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the diagonal “pin” stitch and will certainly try it! I’ve used Nicola Parkman’s pin stitch for a while now. As on who is up in years, it was recommended to me to use a Dazor light which also includes a lens with 3X magnification. It’s made all the difference!

  38. My favourite tip is how to separate embroidery floss without tangling it: pinch strands and pull one strand straight out. Years I didn’t know this!

  39. My tip probably breaks stitching rules but is the only way I can add metallics without driving myself crazy. Every thread I have tried breaks, knots or frays. I use thread conditioner and short lengths and still manage to make a mess. I do machine embroidery as well as cross stitch and decided one day to try machine embroidery metallic thread along with floss. It opened up a world of sparkle for me. I have successfully used both Sulky and Madeira, available at sewing and quilting stores.

  40. Test stitch everything to see if you like it.

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