Hi all! For those of you who stitch on linen, do you pay attention to the placement of your first stitch as it relates to the warp/weft of the fabric?
I never knew that this was “a thing” until a few years ago, after stitching for years on linen and just starting any old place. And honestly, I can’t tell the difference.
So I’m just curious: is this something you learned, or have heard of? Do you find it makes a difference in your stitching? (Photo for clarification, taken from the Stitchmodern website.)
OK, as much as I hate too many rules in my recreational endeavors I actually tried this. And guess what? It helped me quite a bit. I'm currently working a pretty big piece and one stage of it had to be precise so the entire thing would come together. This little trick saved me several times from those darn frogs that seem to lurk in my projects. I got through the tricky stage just fine.
Thanks so much for suggesting this and shame on me for being skeptical!
I am going to try this, because I want to see if it does help you when you make an error. The science of stitching : )
I don’t tho k it makes a difference at all. But that may be because I have never paid attention to this detail. That said, I also don’t think my stitching looks odd because of it. I count holes, not threads. Paying attention to vertical and horizontal is just too confusing to me.
Oh my goodness. I was brought by an EGA fanatic. When I first tried to learn, she wasn't at all interested in how the piece looked until she flipped it over and looked at the back. Then came a flood of "helpful" criticism which annoyed me to no end. ("You're not holding your needle right!" "You dropped a stitch!" "Never tolerate lumps!") I stopped doing needlework for many years because it wasn't fun. Fast forward to now - I consider myself self taught because I did my best to tune out the noise when I first tried to learn. Hands over ears, screaming LALALA! Please feel free to tune out anybody who has rules about how you ought to do your needlework to the extent you find it makes your day a little less fun.
Reading this thread led me down a wormhole on YouTube, and my head is now full of all sorts of rules for cross stitchers. Lean on the post, keep the two threads laying beside each other and not on top of each other, always stitch down into a crowded hole, beginning stitchers should always use aida etc. Whew! I think I'm glad I didn't know all that before I started, or I'd never have started (on linen)! That said, it is interesting to know all these rules exist, even if I may not follow them.
Fantastic
I tend to pick a spot for my needle and hope for the best.
Some years ago in a cross stitch magazine article about the best technics of stitching I learned this. It is my habit to start my work using this technic, but I've never actually seen a difference.
My Guild mentor taught me this approach using the above Stitchmodern resource. She also emphasized that consistently placing your first stitch next to the vertical thread is a good way of catching a counting mistake. ie. If your needle comes up beside the horizontal thread, you've either 'over or under counted' a thread. A nice control, which works! I remember Jacob de Graaf (in a Flosstube), mentioning his discovery of this vertical thread rule-of-thumb and his delight in its 'benefits'.
P.S. I am enjoying this Forum (and Avlea) so much; sincere thanks to Krista West, a person of many talents and wonderful integrity. : )
Well, I've never been aware of this because I'm entirely self taught. So, I just start wherever looks best :)