Fresh Press is expensive and will evaporate quickly if the bottle top is compromised. It’s Vodka and water. I researched it. Just use a bit of vinegar and water in mist bottle to accomplish same outcome.
I'm a huge fan of starch whenever my work looks a little wonky. It takes a bit of practice to get the tension right and the hem folds in the right place. There are a lot of little things that can make my hems misalign, so I practice a lot and starch liberally to imitate perfection when I need to.
Once again -- a perfect, and generous reply to a question we ALL have. Thank you for sharing your working technique and your hints and what exactly you use. I'll be looking for Mary Ellen's Best Press soon. -- Cindy. P.S. What are you working on now, Deberalynn? I'd love an update.
I've taken a bit of a detour with some surface embroidery and made a spiffy cushion cover, which I will post sometime soon. I also worked several other designs over the holidays but haven't finished all of them just yet. The stitching is done but the pieces aren't finished - one will be a box lid and one will be a wall hanging. I also am in the middle of stitching a table runner interrupted that project to stitch a sample, which I'm SO loving right now. So I've been doing lots of stitching, but haven't taken photos of anything just yet. I'll probably bombard the Courtyard with photos in the coming weeks!
Yes, I use Best Press for ironing my cross stitch linens too. Great stuff. BTW, Amazon sells it too but it is best if you can use a coupon at JoAnn’s!
Try varying which threads of the hem portion you take the stitches through--you should be able to figure out where you want them to get your bars to be more straight. You can check out the video at the HowTo page of the website or look at the various Reels I've done on Instagram.
I have watched the video over and over in the How To page but wasn’t aware of IG reels. I will check them out as well. Thanks for your help. I think I just need practice!
Fresh Press is expensive and will evaporate quickly if the bottle top is compromised. It’s Vodka and water. I researched it. Just use a bit of vinegar and water in mist bottle to accomplish same outcome.
I'm a huge fan of starch whenever my work looks a little wonky. It takes a bit of practice to get the tension right and the hem folds in the right place. There are a lot of little things that can make my hems misalign, so I practice a lot and starch liberally to imitate perfection when I need to.
Try varying which threads of the hem portion you take the stitches through--you should be able to figure out where you want them to get your bars to be more straight. You can check out the video at the HowTo page of the website or look at the various Reels I've done on Instagram.
I had the same issues and my corners felt so thick!