the striped rose: How Ratty Neat Are Your Stitches?

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

How Ratty Neat Are Your Stitches?

I have had a bit of trouble with Miss Sarah Harriet Stephenson. I fell in love with the look of the sampler as photographed, but the charted colors are very different in some cases. I was so excited to stitch with DMC 505! I had never seen this color before. Beautiful as it is, it looks nothing like the photo. I have seen other photos online that do seem to match 505, but I fell in love with the cover photo! So there has been a lot of this...

I love the bright yellow and green fill for the leaves, but I cannot seem to make the stitches look neat when I use light and bright colors. I know to use a short thread, let it unwind, and "railroad," but it still looks lumpy. What are your best tips for non-lumpy, non-ratty stitching?

11 comments:

Sweet Sue said...: Hi, the issue of stitch quality has been dogging me the last few weeks too, am finding that different floss manufacturers have varying stitch results. Am now experimenting with Thread Heaven, blabbed about it on my recent post.

http://stitchinsweetsue.blogspot.com/; June 8, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Grenae said...: Good to see you blogging again. Nice work! xoxo Mom; June 8, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Margaret said...: Very pretty! Love the colors too! I don't railroad, but I only use one strand of thread on 40ct in general, so no need for it. I find the higher the count, the easier it is to hide bad stitches. lol!; June 8, 2010 at 11:35 AM
Jennifer Ann Fox said...: I have heard the term railroad but didn't understand it. What does that mean in stitching?
I agree so much with you that it's hard to find a color to match the photo sometimes. I love this sampler you are working on. I love Thread Heaven but quit using it.
I found that it made my threads thinner looking which made more gaps in lighter fab fill-ins, but it did help with tangling of thread.

I have frogged quite alot lately myself, probably because I'm so tired when I finally get to stitch at night.

But, I so can relate to that color difference than the photo thing.; June 8, 2010 at 3:04 PM
Jennifer Ann Fox said...: oh, forgot to add that Crescent colors and lot numbers are so important. I can't believe how different some of those colors are with the same name...just different lot numbers.

Jennifer; June 8, 2010 at 3:05 PM
Jennifer Ann Fox said...: OK, I'm just full of words today....but I do notice that when I use my frames I have better tension with the threads than if I stitch in hand only. Hope that helps....

Jennifer; June 8, 2010 at 3:07 PM
Littlebit said...: Your sampler is going to be stunning. Love it! I think sometimes the "real" color is lost in photography. Sorry you had to remove that work! It's hard enough to find the time to put it in, much less to have to take it out. I used to dampen my floss; but now, what with the overdyes and all, you just can't do that anymore. I think the key is just to take your time and make sure the floss doesn't twist, which is a constant battle with some of them. Your work looks beautiful to me! We are our own worst critic.; June 9, 2010 at 7:27 AM
Siobhán said...: I'm the same as Margaret; I try to use one thread on 40 ct and keep an even tension so my stitches look okay. I railroad and dangle the thread when using 2 strands but still find that I'm not happy with the way the stitches lie. I don't know what the answer is!; June 11, 2010 at 5:25 AM
Janet said...: Michele I found your blog and Terrie's pic. I have known her since 1998. Could you tell me where you live? I am in NW Georgia and get to the shop only every once in a while.
My email is
sonnie_dg@yahoo.com
I would love to know more about you. I wanted to post your blog on Hand-Dyed Fibers forum?; June 14, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Deb said...: I once had a needlework teacher who said she'd heard in England they said, "Americans worry far too much about their be-hinds." Don't worry...just have fun!! Threads no longer than 13" will always work best. Hugs, Deb; June 14, 2010 at 11:53 AM
Babs said...: I don't stitch so long yet, but to me it differs on which fabric I work. Evenweave makes it neater for me then aida, weird, but true.; July 17, 2010 at 9:58 AM