God Speed page finish!

Any time I get near to a page finish, I just can't seem to stop stitching.  Seriously! 

Normally, I stop stitching between 10:30 - 11:00pm so that I don't stay up too late (as if that's a real "thing").  Last night, I was close to a page finish.  As in there were only 5 colors left to stitch and 2 of those only had a pair of stitches each.  I finally put my needle down at 11:55pm...with a page done!

Here's my progress picture:

She's got hair!  It's like a beacon in the lower corner.  Also, along the bottom, you can hopefully make out the start of two knights' helmets.

Next page is yet another ocean of black and her head.  No sign of "her" knight, yet.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

HAP SAL Progress Report - March

Of course, I'm late writing this.  I'm in charge...who put me in charge?  Oh, yeah - me!  You'd think I'd learn.

I have made progress on only one of my HAP pieces in the last month:  La Belle Dame Sans Merci.  I just noticed that HAED now has a super-sized version of this available.  That is NOT the one I'm working on.

Anyway, here are my progress pictures.  I thought I'd show the start of the year, previous progress (from February) and my current progress.  Did I mention this includes another page finish?!  Yeah, me!

As of January 1:

As of my last rotation back in February:

And this one from my page finish about 30 minutes ago:

Ooh, look at how little I have to do for another row finish!  Nope, not getting done now.  I'm going to rotate my projects like the good little girl I am.  [stop laughing...seriously, stop]

Well, I have progressed on this from 41.67% to 48.21% complete!

Since it's nearly 1am, I think it's time for this girl to get some shut-eye!

Happy Stitching!  zZzZz....

Stacy

Answer #9 - Finding your starting point

I saw this on one of the cross stitch groups I belong to on Facebook and I thought I'd answer it here.

When starting a project in the top left corner of fabric how do you center it? 

There are two ways to tackle this.  One involves counting (the way I do it) and the other involves measuring.

Let's start with the measuring scenario.

Say the pattern you want to stitch is 200 stitches wide x 300 stitches high.  You want to do it on 14 count fabric. The stitched area is 14.3 inches x 21.4 inches.  Your fabric needs to be 20.3 inches x 27.4 inches to allow for framing.  (Want to see the detailed information on these figures?  Read this post.)


Once your fabric is cut to the correct size, and preferably zig-zagged you will find your starting point.  The zig-zagging (or overcasting, blanket stitched, etc.) is to prevent your material from unravelling so that you don't have any problems in the future.  For this example, I did it in green so it would show in the photos.

Measure 3 inches in from the left.  I have a bunch of lovely counting pins that work great for this!

Then measure 3" down from the top.

This is where you will place the top, left corner stitch. 

As long as you measured correctly (overall fabric size and the 3" both ways), you will end up with 3" of fabric on all sides of your finished stitching.  Just like a carpenter's mantra:  "Measure twice, cut once".


The main reason that I don't use this method is that I tend to round up my measurements before I cut my fabric and I usually have more than 3" but not necessarily an even amount.  It might be 3.6" extra on each side and I don't want to deal with measuring 3.6".

Counting, which is the way that I prefer to do it, actually takes longer to do but is more precise.

Fold your fabric in half. 

Fold it in half the other way.

Stick a pin in it...at the point where the folds meet.

Carefully unfold your fabric so that you don't disturb the pin.  Voila!  You have the center of your fabric.

Now you get to start counting.  Since my overall example here is using Aida, we're going to assume that this will be stitched over one.  Since the stitch count is supposedly 200w x 300h, we're going to need to count half of that either direction.  I usually start by counting up, so that means 150.  No particular reason for going up first, that's just how I've always done it. 

Start counting.  If you're well rested with lots of caffeine, you can go 25 at a time.  This photo shows going 10 at a time.

Then count another 10.  I used a third counting pin for the photo but normally, I would just pull the one from the center and leap-frog them up.

Then you would just keep going until you'd reached the 150 mark (half of your pattern height).  I tend to leave a counting pin at the 150 spot and use a pair to do the counting toward the left.  In this example, you would end up counting 100 holes to the left (half of your pattern width) to find your starting position.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

HAP SAL Progress

Okay, after 2 months of the HAP SAL, here is the report on my progress.

I just happened to have a page finish last night on my Sistine Chapel!   Woo hoo!  That means that I have now finished the top row of pages.

Here's where I was at the start of the year and where I am now.

It's not a huge difference, mainly because the 5th page was a partial page (49 stitches by 98 stitches).  It will be cool to be able to roll the material on my scroll frame the next time I work on this one.

Now for the only other HAP that I've worked on this year.  Here's my La Belle Dame Sans Merci progress pictures.

I'll be back working on La Belle... probably tomorrow.  Today looks like it's going to be busy.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

La Belle... WIP Photo

Well, I just finished another page on my focus piece, La Belle Dame Sans Merci.  This was page 14!

Here's the photo:

This is also one of my HAP projects.  So far, I've made 3.27% progress on this one since Jan. 1. 

Now, it'll get set aside for a bit as I move on to a different project in my rotation.  What's next?  I don't know yet.  I'll probably wait until tomorrow after closing up shop for the day before I use my randomizer app to let me know what one to work on.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Answer #8 - Figuring fabric sizes

I've seen this one too many times to count.
A quick shout-out to Margie for letting me know about my typos!

How do I figure out how much fabric I need for my project?

I'm sorry, but this question irks me to no end.  No, I'm not a "math person" - that's my sister.  To me it's a sad commentary on the educational system (I'm only referring to the USA).  This question involves arithmetic.  There are no "x" or "y" formulas, just basic  division and addition with some rare multiplication.  Yes, you have to answer a few questions to get to the arithmetic, but they aren't difficult.  For the actual arithmetic, you can use a calculator!

There are three variations on this question and I'll address all three.  Since I'm in the US, I'm using inches.  The premise is the same for centimeters though I've never seen fabric counts listed in centimeters.  You're on your own doing the conversions to metric, sorry.

The first is:  How big does my fabric need to be?

Here are the questions you answer first:

1. What is the stitch count of your project?
2. What is the count of the fabric you are going to stitch it on?
3. Are you going to stitch over 1 or 2 fabric threads?
4. Are you going to frame it when it's done?

As an example, I'm going to calculate what size fabric I will need to stitch Still Life on a Marble Pedestal:

1.  What is the stitch count?  625 wide x 797 high.
2.  What is the count of the fabric?  28 count
3.  Am I going to stitch over 1 or 2 fabric threads?  over 1
4.  Am I going to frame it?  yes - that means I need to allow 3" per side for framing.

Since I am stitching over 1 on 28 count fabric, that means I will have 28 stitches per inch.
(If I had said over 2, that means I would have 14 stitches per inch - 28 ÷ 2 = 14.  All calculations below would have to be divided by 14.  The project would be twice as large each direction!)

To find how wide I need my fabric, I will divide.  My pattern is 625 stitches wide.  Since my fabric will give me 28 stitches per inch, I will divide 625 by 28.  That will tell me how many inches I will need for 625 stitches.

625 ÷ 28 = 22.3214...

To be safe, I always round UP!  That means I need 23" of fabric for the width of the pattern.  That will only allow for the stitching.  To allow for framing, I want 3" of material on each side of my stitching so I add 6" to the 23" to give me the width of 29" for my fabric.

Now for the height of my fabric. I do the arithmetic using the only number that is different:  the project height in stitches.  So again, I will divide my stitch count by the number of stitches per inch:

797 ÷ 28 = 28.4642...

Again, rounding up means I need 29" for the stitching.  Adding in the 6" for framing gives me (29+6) a height of 35".

So stitching this project on 28 count over 1 and allowing for framing, means I would need a piece of fabric 29" wide x 35" high.

The second is:  What stitch count do I use to fit a certain set of dimensions?

Say you already have a particular frame and you want to see how to make a project fit the frame.

For this example, let's use QS Hummingbird:

This project has a stitch count of 189 wide x 163 high.  This is much more likely to fit an existing frame than my previous example!  ;-)

Let's say you found a gorgoeus frame that has an opening of 16" x 14".  Would you be able to stitch this to fit in your frame?  Let's find out!

Okay, your frame is 16" wide.  Your pattern is 189 stitches wide.  If you divide your number of stitches by the number of inches you have to work with, you'll get this:

189 ÷ 16 = 11.8125

11.8125 equals the number of stitches you would have to have per inch of fabric to just fit into your frame.  Since no fabric has a stitch count of 11.8125, you're going to have to opt for a fabric with more stitches to the inch than 11.8125.  The obvious choices would be 14 count over 1 or 28 count over 2.

Now, let's double-check to see if 14 count would work for both dimensions of the frame.

189 ÷ 14 = 13.5"  for the width      163 ÷ 14 = 11.64"  for the height.

That will leave you approximately 2.5" to work with inside your frame.
16" - 13.5" = 2.5"                14" - 11.64" = 2.36"

That works out to a blank space of about 1.25" on each side of your stitching once it's framed.

That is a bit on the narrow side for a mat but I've actually seen smaller mats.  You could use a mat or just leave the blank gap.  Be sure to use spacers if you have glass but no mat!

The third is:  What can I fit on my already cut piece of fabric?

I have a gorgeous piece of this from Silkweaver:

To find out what will fit on it, here's what I need to know:

1.  What are the dimensions of my fabric in inches?  18" x 26"
2.  What is the stitch count?  32 count
3.  Do I want to frame my finished piece?  yes

This process is like the first example at the top of this post, in reverse.

Since I want to frame whatever I stitch on this, I need to subtract the 3" per side (6" total) for the framing.  That gives me:

18 - 6 = 12 inches       26 - 6 = 20 inches

That means I have 12" x 20" of stitching area.  Since it's 32 count and I tend to stitch over 1, I would multiply to find out what stitch counts my project has to stay within.

12 x 32 = 384          20 x 32 = 640

Now I know that I can choose any of my charts that have a stitch count of 384 x 640 or smaller. 

I've tried to make sure that I included every step required to do the arithmetic but if you see one I've missed, let me know and I'll update this post.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Answer #7 - Doing a project in half stitch

This is a two-part question/answer.

Cinzia asked:

...I read somewhere that it [half stitch] kind of distort the fabric in one direction, is it true? 

Well, I can only tell you what I know from my experience.  Hopefully, it will be enough information.

First of all, I am stitching this in half stitch.  I am not doing a tent/continental or basketweave stitch.  It wasn't until the last couple of years, that half cross stitch has been lumped in as a "tent" stitch.  Tent stitching used to refer strictly to needlepoint stitches.  In my opinion, that should still be the case.  Here's an illustration of the differences:

The stitches in black are half stitches; the red is basketweave; the blue is tent or continental.  I am using the first (black) stitch.

Secondly, how you hold your fabric when you stitch can make a difference.  I use scroll frames.  The frames that I have are excellent!  I got mine from Artisan Design.  The fabric is held very taut and doesn't shift.  If you were stitching in hand, I could see how you would have to be extremely careful with your tension to prevent distortion.

I have not seen any distortion in my stitching while using half stitches with my fabric in a scroll frame.

Cinzia also asked,

I was going to use an evenweave other than Aida, any suggestion?

That depends on what you are comfortable with stitching on.  Personally, I have great vision (thanks to lasik) so I am comfortable stitching on any count.

If you have primarily stitched on Aida in the past, I would suggest a gradual change.  Maybe Hardanger fabric which is 22 count.  If you want to make the "big leap", you could stitch on 28 count Lugana or Jobelan evenweave.  Once I'd switched to evenweaves other than Aida, I was hooked!  I only use Aida on the rare occasions where I purchase a kit that includes it.  The kits that I tend to purchase are ornaments, so I don't use Aida for anything but smalls.

Only if you want a real challenge would I suggest trying linen.  While you can get linen in 28 or 32 count, it is not an evenweave!  Linen has slubs (variations) in thickness of the individual threads used in the weaving.  This can cause the stitch count to vary slightly across the fabric in either or both directions. 

Currently, I have two projects that I'm doing on linen.  The PTP Floral Arrangement over 1 on 40 count and the Sistine Chapel over 1 on 34 count.  There haven't been any issues with using linen for either project.

I hope this helps!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy