Thursday, January 5, 2012

January 5, 2012

January 5, 2012

Today I would like to share with you a wall hanging that I finished in the spring of 2011.  This is a counted cross-stitch design, which was taken from a free chart found on the Internet.  Unfortunately, the URL didn’t print out when I printed the chart and I have no idea as to where the chart is located.  There are many pictures of this chart stitched in different ways on the Internet.  Many of them stitched on linen, which to date, I have not been able to do.

The thread I used on this piece is a bit un-ordinary for this type of work.  I wanted the piece to be stitched all in one color but didn’t have enough thread on hand of any one color.  Since it was snowing and nasty outside, I decided to use what I had on hand.  I had plenty of crochet thread, so I was curious to see what it would be like to cross stitch with such thread.  I have no idea as to what the color number is, but the thread used is a knit cro-sheen in a variegated dark purple.  

The main thing I learned was to not pull the stitches too tight.  The crochet thread doesn’t bloom to fill in the holes of the Aida cloth like the embroidery thread does.  When the threads are pulled to tight, the background shows through way too much.

Once the piece was done, I wanted a way to display it without framing.  I only have so much wall space in the house and that is broken up with windows.  I also wanted to be able to change my work out for the different seasons and holidays.  Being able to store the piece once off the wall was also going to be a problem, for this house wasn’t built with much storage area.  Framing the piece in fabric was the way to go.

Since the crochet thread was stiff and I wanted to be sure to anchor the thread ends so that they wouldn’t pull out if I happened to get one not anchored tight enough, I backed the piece with a batting that had glue on it.  The next one that I do, will first be backed with lightweight interfacing and then use the batting with the glue.  The glue on the batting didn’t want to adhere to the back of the Aida cloth.  I figure that the interfacing ironed on first, will give the glue on the batting a better surface to adhere too.  Interfacing is meant to adhere to all kinds of fabrics, so should form a tight bond with the Aida cloth.

After pressing the batting to the back of the Aida cloth, I took white sewing thread and carefully, so it wouldn’t show, tacked the Aida cloth to the batting through the Aida cloth and batting only.  Once the tacking was done, I quilted around the purple fabric edges through the batting and backing, and then turned the piece over and quilted the center backing fabric to the batting only.  So far the piece is holding well, but I still can see where the batting is pulling away from the Aida cloth, but the tacking to the batting is holding the piece together the way I want it.

Will I use Knit Cro-sheen thread again for cross-stitching?  Yes, it was fun to use and I like the sharp, crisp look of the piece.  I think that would be just the thread to use on pieces that will receive heavy and hard wear.  I also liked using the variegated color because it added more interest to the piece and I was always surprised the way a motif or symbol turned out, totally unplanned in the color variation. Because of not having control of the coloring, it was always exciting to start the next motif.   Of course there are some pieces where you would like to have the soft look of embroidery thread.  In fact, most pieces you would like to have the soft look.  But, if you  are looking for something a bit different, give Knit Cro-sheen a try.

This is it for today. 

6 comments:

  1. Very pretty! I would not have thought to use something other than embroidery floss to do cross stitch. And I wouldn't have thought of the fabric "frame" instead of the traditional frame. I love the colors too!

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  2. Was there a video as well? If there is, I cannot open it.

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  3. That's a beautiful piece. I don't have the patience for XS (I know. I can sit and hand quilt all day and don't have the patience for XS? But it's different. =) but I really appreciate the look of it. The variegated thread made a nice design element. I've used crochet and other strange threads in my crazy quilting, and always have loved the look of them.

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    1. I am also a quilter so I understand the difference between the quilting and the XS. I like to do XS a lot but only on pieces that require full stitches. Get me into something that takes half or quarter stitches and I lose patience real fast. I am glad that you enjoyed seeing the piece.

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  4. Very nice - no matter what thread you used. I'm a cross stitcher and I know this was a lot of work.

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    1. Yes, there were many hours of XS involved in this piece. It took all the winter of 2010 to do the stitching. It took some time in the spring of 2011 to solve all the problems of the framing, and for the hand quilting to finish it off. Thank you for the compliment.

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