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From Cross Stitch Collection November 2012 magazine.



This is my start. I started in the center with the skunk, or is he a raccoon? I'm stitching it on 28 ct. Lugana, 2 over 2. It is hand dyed and sparkly, tan and light green.

I think it went into my Q-Snap frame on a slight slant. I will have almost a three inch border all around. I'm figuring it's ok, but I know it's going to bug me a bit. I didn't notice of course until I took it out of the frame.
How do you all make sure your fabric is perfectly straight? Or do you?


Thanks for looking! -Marnie

I find it harder with lugana and linens generally. I just rely on my frame and try hard to keep my tension steady. If it's still slopey I rely on framing to fix it.

great start on a very sweet project--it's one I hope to do sometime in the future. And I agree totally with Mystonique

Great, you've made me feel better! I do think it can be fixed with framing, I definitely don't want to restart it!

That is a great start on an adorable chart. I think that cute little critter in the middle is a skunk, not a raccoon, but it's hard to tell. Reminds me of "Flower"in Bambi.
I think framing will take care of any slanting of the fabric. I haven't had a lot framed, but any slant was gone. And sometimes putting it back on the Q-snaps less slanted, will take care of it too.

Carole

I've never worried about the slant in my qsnaps, tho it is annoying. I mean the fabric rows are straight and if I stitch in the rows, the project should be straight.

I love the cute little animals in your piece. It's going to be charming to do!

pattiebelle wrote:I've never worried about the slant in my qsnaps, tho it is annoying. I mean the fabric rows are straight and if I stitch in the rows, the project should be straight.

I love the cute little animals in your piece. It's going to be charming to do!

I don't use a q-snap but I got the last thing I did crooked in my sit-on hoop frame and once it was out I couldn't see any problem.

Don't worry....it's going to be lovely!!

I stitch in hand so don't usually have these problems. Framing however does get rid of all sorts of issues, especially if you have a good framer. My SIL does embroidery and even when she's ended up with very puckered fabric from where her tension on the stitches has really pulled the fabric, the framer has evened it out to a smooth finish.

The black and white fellow is Bert the Badger

Lovely project, can't wait to see it grow!

Bert the Badger! Lovely, now I can refer to him by name as he comes to life.
I thought I was all good and ready to stitch over 2 on that fabric but the holes are soooo small! I kept kind of counting over two with my needle poking each hole to be sure I was doing it right. The good thing is that once I went over 3 and it definitely didn't look right. Like anything else, just takes a little bit of getting used to!
I'm thinking of backstitching each character as I complete them. And I have no idea what I will do with this piece when done, maybe give to a friend's daughter.

We'll see! Thanks for all of your lovely comments!

I like the idea of backstitching each critter as it is done. It will be very motivating.

(but the "cuteness" is motivating enough sometimes! -lol- )

Those little critters are so cute and they would make an adorable baby announcement, just add name and date.

Very cute!

Here's a list of your cute little creatures Frankie hedgehog,Boris hare,Bert badger,Sally squirrel,Tody fox and Ollie owl

willow wrote:Here's a list of your cute little creatures Frankie hedgehog,Boris hare,Bert badger,Sally squirrel,Tody fox and Ollie owl

I love having that information, I had no idea that these guys had names.
Thank you so much for sharing that!

Such a cute project!

I tend to use Hoops, so crookedness isn't much of an issue so long as there is plenty of room on all sides for framing.

The Hoop I prefer has an indent on the inner hoop, and the outer hoop has a portion that sticks out in the middle that fits into the indent- keeps the fabric very taut and easy to work with.

Lovely project you've made a great start

This is going to be a lovely project. Don't sweat the start. I like to wash all my finished stitching. I take the damp project, place face down on a white fluffy towel and with a dry iron I lightly press back into shape or I block it to towel covered foam by pinning it square at the corners and let air dry.
Whatever course you choose, it's going to be great.
Happy stitching.