HaED vs Artecy vs Mystic Stitch vs Scarlet Quince

[Allyn]

I'm kitting up a Scarlet Quince pattern (http://www.scarletquince.com/scale.php?pat=CLA002" target="_blank) as my next project and I'm pondering the difference between the art-to-stitch sites. A lot of folks here are quite enamoured with HaED designs. I looked through the HaED site, and I guess I'm just not feeling it. I get bored because I don't find much that holds my interest. When I look through Mystic Stitch (http://www.mysticstitch.com" target="_blank), Artecy (http://artecy.com/" target="_blank) or Scarlet Quince (http://www.scarletquince.com" target="_blank), however, I have long wish lists. They're all art-to-cross stitch sites, so I'm wondering what makes HaED the go-to site in some folk's eyes?

[bookknurd]

I think subject matter plays a big part. I agree with you, I'm not a fan of a lot of the artwork on HAED, but it only took me finding one that I loved and then all of a sudden I kept finding these pieces that I liked. There's still quite a bit of my wish list that I'm not even sure that I would stitch, and I'm even less sure I would hang it up in my house.

In addition to that, I know that at least compared to Scarlet Quince, HAED might seem a bit more manageable (as manageable as these BAPs can be) because they don't use blended colors.

Also, the team at HAED seems to really work hard to make good charts. As far as I know, they spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that the chart represents the art as much as possible. They are able to achieve a high amount of detail because they spend a lot of time trying. I believe that Scarlet Quince has a similar level of quality, but as for the other sites, I have no idea.

And the community over at HAED might play a part. The HAED bulletin board is a great place to see other people's work and be encouraged.

And then there are people that I know do BAPs of this nature from more than one of these sites. I myself just got a chart from Scarlet Quince that I'm very excited about. I'm slightly intimidated by the blended colors, but I can't wait to get it kitted up and get going on it.

All in all, it's great that there are so many choices out there for us stitchers, since we all have such different tastes.

[amandadawn]

The sites serve different purposes (to me, anyway) so it's a bit of an apples and oranges thing. When I'm in the mood for stitching a large piece of very well-known classical fine art, I go to Scarlet Quince. When I'm in the mood for something quirky and strange and lesser-known (without blended threads), I go to HAED. Mystic Stitch has a lot of the classical fine art pieces as well, sometimes on a smaller scale than SQ, so I go there for that. Every stitcher wants something different from every other stitcher, and sometimes they want something different from what they wanted yesterday.

[Allyn]

I'm doing a TW at the moment, and I figured if I could handle the blended threads in one of her designs, I'm golden. And then I looked at the SQ chart. Of the 78 symbols in the chart, 69 of them are blended. Really? Really? It'll be a challenge, but if there are that many blended colors, I feel the color reproduction in the stitched piece should be pretty accurate.

One thing I really like about some of these art-to-stitch sites are the ones that don't show you the image of the artwork; they show you an actual stitched model so you *know* how it will look stitched. I've already been burned by a site that showed the image they used to make the design, but the stitched design was horrible. If I had seen the stitched model, I never would have purchased the chart and wasted my time and materials on it.

So which SQ are you fixin' to do?

....In addition to that, I know that at least compared to Scarlet Quince, HAED might seem a bit more manageable (as manageable as these BAPs can be) because they don't use blended colors.

Also, the team at HAED seems to really work hard to make good charts. As far as I know, they spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that the chart represents the art as much as possible. They are able to achieve a high amount of detail because they spend a lot of time trying. I believe that Scarlet Quince has a similar level of quality, but as for the other sites, I have no idea....

And then there are people that I know do BAPs of this nature from more than one of these sites. I myself just got a chart from Scarlet Quince that I'm very excited about. I'm slightly intimidated by the blended colors, but I can't wait to get it kitted up and get going on it.

...

[bookknurd]

I'm planning on doing Lady with Fan, the larger version which has more detail to it. I think it's gorgeous and I love the colors.

http://www.scarletquince.com/pat.php?pat=KLI004-L" target="_blank

I don't know when I'll have time to work on it (I already have two HAEDs going as well and more I want to start), but I hope to at least get it kitted up and started by the end of the year. I think I already have the fabric I'm going to use for it, so I just need to figure out what floss I need before then. Still not sure how I'm going to go about doing the blended threads (i.e. preparing a bunch beforehand, or just getting them as I need them). I also need to get my floss organized before I start anymore big projects, so trying to get that done before the end of the year. Maybe I'll get the gridding done sometime in the next month or so as well.

Good luck with your project! It should look amazing when done. I'll look forward to seeing progress on it.

[Allyn]

I'm planning on doing Lady with Fan, the larger version which has more detail to it. I think it's gorgeous and I love the colors.

http://www.scarletquince.com/pat.php?pat=KLI004-L" target="_blank" target="_blank

I thought I had it bad. That is a lot of colors and very nearly all blended. It's going to be gorgeous, though. One thing I like about SQ is they tell you how much floss you need for each symbol, not just for each color. That helps a lot when kitting up so you know ahead of time how much of each color you need for those blends.

[Angel]

For me it's the designers. I love a few of the designers on the HAEDsite

[stitchnsew]

Cross Stitch Collectibles is one other site I've been very happy with. For me, their charts are easier to read than HAED. Their charts are printed larger, although of course I suppose I could pay more and try the larger version of a HAED chart. But CSC uses capital and small letters, numbers, and then some symbols, and these are just easier for me. HAED uses mostly all symbols, and some are so similar that I really have to look carefully. And some are very dark, large symbols that almost fill in the square, and make it hard for me to see when I've colored in or marked off the symbols that I've done on my chart.
And right now I'm not really feeling happy with HAED. I just finished a large chart, and do not like how the sky was charted in a scenery picture. The detail is exquisite in the rest of the picture, but then came the sky, and it's just a bunch of colored blobs, no blending or detail. This was one chart that did not have a mock-up so I could see how it would look. But now that I look with a more discriminating eye at their other charts with alot of sky, the same thing happens, and I would avoid their scenery charts with alot of sky and clouds.
HAED seems to have a huge variety of charts, which is why it seems to be such a standout, plus as stated up above, it has a very large, active community--bulletin board, that also spreads the word, and absolutely great customer service. Word of mouth is huge.

[Evedeve]

Drat you all! I had not heard of at least two of these sites and now ....now....
Gah! My wish list has just exploded exponentially.......
Can I have a second lifetime to just stitch all the things!

H-

[Mrs Milkybar Kid]

Just in case anyone needs any further enabling, here are a few other sites that deal in large HAED like / art charts:

Paine Free Crafts
Tilton Crafts
Love Thy Thread

All with instant download gratification - you have been warned !

[msufly]

Just in case anyone needs any further enabling, here are a few other sites that deal in large HAED like / art charts:

Paine Free Crafts
Tilton Crafts
Love Thy Thread

All with instant download gratification - you have been warned !

You are SO bad for telling me about these! I'm not a HAED fan and I wouldn't know which classic art piece to stitch but these look more tempting!

[cairee]

I have a few HAEDs and a Scarlet Quince. I prefer SQ because the blended colors allow for closer color matches and because the picture you see on the site is a mock up of the finished piece where as HAED shows you a picture of the original art, which may not be what it will look like stitched.

[cairee]

I'm planning on doing Lady with Fan, the larger version which has more detail to it. I think it's gorgeous and I love the colors.

http://www.scarletquince.com/pat.php?pat=KLI004-L" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I don't know when I'll have time to work on it (I already have two HAEDs going as well and more I want to start), but I hope to at least get it kitted up and started by the end of the year. I think I already have the fabric I'm going to use for it, so I just need to figure out what floss I need before then. Still not sure how I'm going to go about doing the blended threads (i.e. preparing a bunch beforehand, or just getting them as I need them). I also need to get my floss organized before I start anymore big projects, so trying to get that done before the end of the year. Maybe I'll get the gridding done sometime in the next month or so as well.

Good luck with your project! It should look amazing when done. I'll look forward to seeing progress on it.

get the floss lables with you SQ, they make organizing the blends so nice. heres what I do. I have all the bobbins labled, but only the solids filled, leaving the blended bobbins empty. I filled the blend bobbins this way: cut a length of each color and wrap it on the bobbin without separating the strands. when I need a blended color I find its bobbin and then I take one strand of each color and put the rest back. I refil the blend bobin from the solids when it runs empty.

other things that make my SQ easier. 2 bobbin boxes, one for solids one for blends, a needle organizer for quick color changes. I use this one from herrschners

[Mrs Milkybar Kid]

I have a few HAEDs and a Scarlet Quince. I prefer SQ because the blended colors allow for closer color matches and because the picture you see on the site is a mock up of the finished piece where as HAED shows you a picture of the original art, which may not be what it will look like stitched.

The majority of pieces on HAED do show you a mock up so you can compare what the stitched piece will look like compared to the original artwork. They are especially useful when comparing a mini and BAP version of the same artwork as you can see how much detail may be lost in a mini and whether you can trade the loss of detail off against the time saved in stitching a mini.

The other thing with HAEDs, as has been mentioned is the HAED BB - you can see hundreds and hundreds of WIPs and finish pics, so in the case of the majority of popular charts and artists, you can see a pic of a real piece of stitching not just a mock up.

[Allyn]

get the floss lables with you SQ, they make organizing the blends so nice. heres what I do. I have all the bobbins labled, but only the solids filled, leaving the blended bobbins empty. I filled the blend bobbins this way: cut a length of each color and wrap it on the bobbin without separating the strands. when I need a blended color I find its bobbin and then I take one strand of each color and put the rest back. I refil the blend bobin from the solids when it runs empty.

other things that make my SQ easier. 2 bobbin boxes, one for solids one for blends, a needle organizer for quick color changes. I use this one from herrschners

I've been looking at the floss labels. When I bought my first SQ, I thought, "Bah! I don't need the labels." I make little paper tags that I put in each bag with the symbol , color number(s), and color name(s) on it. But then I realized I spend the better part of an evening making all the tags; so for a couple of dollars, I'm thinking the labels would be worth it.

Yes, I agree with keeping the solids and the blends separate. I use floss-away bags and rings. I have one ring for my solids and one for my blends.
I do fill my blends when I kit up, though. SQ tells you how much floss you need for each symbol so I can put what the chart calls for in the bag before I start. (Or if it calls for a lot of floss for that symbol, I put in at least enough to get me started.)

[Allyn]

Just in case anyone needs any further enabling, here are a few other sites that deal in large HAED like / art charts:

Paine Free Crafts
Tilton Crafts
Love Thy Thread

All with instant download gratification - you have been warned !

Cross Stitch Collectibles is one other site I've been very happy with. ....

I'm with Heather. The folks in this community are some of the nicest evil people.

[rcperryls]

Don't know if I should be happy or not about those new websites! Somehow they have been added to the long long long list of "Cross stitch suppliers" in my Bookmarks. The only positive about this (besides, of course that some of the designs are great and very tempting) is that my list of online shops is getting so long I can't always remember which one has what and its so much fun on a rainy day to re explore them.

'm with Heather. The folks in this community are some of the nicest evil people.

Well said

Carole

[jocellogirl]

There's also Golden Kite. Just saying..............

[bookknurd]

Well thanks for all of the enabling, everyone! I'm being good right now and not buying anything, but I have added several things to my wishlist.