When it comes to choosing a needle for paper embroidery it is really a matter of what works best for you. If you have a range of needles in your sewing box then the best thing is to try them to find which one you like best…
Stitched leaves often employ a fan style stitch where most of the thread goes from points on the rim of the leaf into a single hole where it joins the stem. This can easily be converted to a loop stitch using the same holes but having much less thread on the back of the card…
As you know 50% of the work is stitched from the back of your card and 50% is stitched from the front. The stitching diagram shows you the view of the front of the card. When you turn the card over to work from the back you get a reverse image of the pattern. If you are working on a circle or line it is easy to see which hole to use next. However, if you are working on an area with random dots it becomes more of a challenge…
There are several stitching fonts available from the Stitching Cards web site. When one of these is installed on your computer you can use any of your word processing programs to type words of your choice ready to stitch…
People sometimes ask if I do my own stitching when I design a card. The answer is that I do stitch them myself. I see it as part of the design process. It enables me to refine the design by having first hand knowledge of how it is working. This brings me to the subject of what else do you do whilst stitching a card…
When a pattern includes an S shaped curve that is worked with evenly spaced stitches along its length it is hard to visualise. The section where the curve changes from an inside curve to an outside curve is the tricky part.
Once you realise how it works it is just a matter of continuing the stitching and the shape will form itself. However, if you try to analyse it in advance you may find it confusing…
Some prick and stitch patterns are easy to follow whilst others are very complex. The easy ones tend to have shapes based on circles and curves. When the design involves realistic shapes such as human figures, the shapes become more random. The result is that the dots are harder to follow…
When you are stitching your pattern it is very inconvenient and confusing if you missed one or two holes when you were pricking it out. This is most likely to happen where the holes are in a random pattern or there are lots of them in a small area…
If you make a lot of stitching cards with beads it is worth getting or making a bead tray. This will keep your beads in one place and stop them rolling away and getting lost on the floor.
The main features of a bead tray are the base covering of material such as felt and raised edges to keep the beads from rolling away. You could make one…
When I purchase my beads they usually come in small plastic bags. As my bead collection grew I saw the need for an improved way of storing them. Fortunately most of the shops that specialise in beads sell bead storage boxes.
These boxes come in a variety of sizes…