Hints please on starting a big project

[clumsymum]

Hi
I'm new, a bit of a novice stitcher so I hope you won't think I'm daft ...
I bought a kit a while ago, for a cricketing scene, and I'd love to make a start.
But ... it's a bigger project than I have ever done before.
The chart for it is split into 4 sections, and the piece of aida is quite big. I know that one is normally advised to start in the middle, but as the chart is split up, I don't know which direction I should then go in.

Instinctively I want to start in the left hand top corner, leaving a 2 or 3 row margin. If I do, will I cause myself a huge problem?

I want to give the finished item to my sister as a Christmas present, but seeing as I've had the kit for months and been too scared to start, it'll be years away before I finish ...

Thanks for any help
Angela

[karen4bells]

Hello and welcome to the forum
You have asked a very good question---I know that the first time I ever did a chart like you are mentioning, I too was a bit confused.
What I did then and almost always do now, was to take the chart to a photocopy store and make a working copy or 2 of it. Then I match it up and tape it together---so that it is one chart---you will likely need to trim down some of the edges of the copy, so that you can line it up properly---I then find the center of the chart and the center of the fabric and start stitching. Make sure that your aida or fabric is at least 2 inches more on each side so if the design is 8 by 10 inches, you will need at least 12 by 16 inches.
I hope this all makes sense

[Allyn]

I do as Karen suggested if the chart is small (12 pages or less) then trim the edges and tape the pages together to make one big sheet. Or you can also do as you are inclined to do -- start in the upper corner. If you're comfortable calculating the size of the design from the stitch count and you measure the fabric so you know what the margins are, it's perfectly okay allow for those margins and start in an upper corner. I would measure and do my own calculations, though. I wouldn't trust the finished size printed in the kit.

[richardandtracy]

I think the normal advice is to mark the centrelines (I do it with a thread) and then count each way to get all four edges of the edges of the picture. I mark these with thread. Finally - and it is something that works for me and not necessarily for you - I go and mark the edges of each page of the chart with thread - not always all the pages at once (because it takes a long time & I want to start the picture), but enough to be getting on with, so I end up with something like this:

(this picture was one with 24 chart pages, but a lot of them were all black, so I didn't need to bother with them)

A number of people go further than this, and put in a line every 10 stitches horizontally or vertically with a washable marker or a thread (sometimes coloured fishing line). I do not do this, because I am fairly confident in my counting, and I mark the edges of the plan page with stitches 5 holes long.

Anyway, doing this, I then start where convenient on the page I want to start with - in some ways it doesn't matter where on that page you start, top left, bottom right, some random point in the middle - though it's always easier to start at a corner. If you try experimenting with the 'Parking' method for very complex pictures, it's usually best to start at the top left of the image - but I am not the best one to give advice on Parking as I am only starting my second effort.

Regards,

Richard

[Serinde]

Welcome from the West of Scotland!

Preparation is always tedious when what you really want to do is STITCH. But the 6P rule applies to embroidery, too, alas. Marking the vertical and horizontal centre will give you correct starting point if you want to begin in a corner. And why not? But, as Allyn rightly reminds us, never believe the printed size as given in the kit. However, the kit should give you a stitch count in some form (x wide by y high). Use these numbers divided in half to put in your centre markings, and you're away.

Be sure to keep us up to date... we love

[rcperryls]

Hello and welcome to the forum from South Carolina! A very good question and one I wish I had asked many years ago. I didn't do a good job of finding the middle of a large design which was the center of an afghan I was stitching and had to leave a few elves (it was a Christmas design) off because I didn't have room for them. Many charts even with several pages will have arrows helping you find the center but I always check if it is a piece that I plan to start from there. Generally I am a upper left corner starter and leave 3 inches of fabric at the edges if I can. I always make a working copy of the chart (especially since I have a cat that has decided yellow highlighter tastes good and has licked through a few pages. Vet says it won't hurt her). Also depending on the size of a project I will use a washable fabric marker to draw grid lines to make for easier counting. It is tedious but I usually grid a page plus a few extra columns and rows at a time. Hope this makes sense.
And I will echo Serinde's request:

Be sure to keep us up to date... we love

Looking forward to getting to know you!

Carole

[StitchinWitch]

I use a washable marker to mark out the entire dimensions of the project, and then I count out the pages if it's a multiple page project and use the marker for that. If I'm not feeling really confident, I'll grid every 10 blocks with thread.

And I like to start at the bottom left. Don't know why.

[cairee]

I usually start in the upper left corner, so if you want to do that you are certainly not alone!
most kits will give you a 2 inch margin of fabric arround the edge of the picture, but best measure to be sure.
be sure to take pictures of your progress, we all want to see!

[Kibakyu]

Hi from Iowa! It's ironic that you would ask this because I have struggled with this since I started too! For smaller projects it's usually ok to start anywhere, honestly, so starting from an upper edge is very easily done. But since it's been bigger projects lately like my samurai, I have (grudgingly) gotten into the practice of finding the damn middle every time! BUT! No one said anything about staying in the middle now did they?

So I always start in the middle and then immediately head northwest with every single project, and won't come down again 'til I reach the top, and get my "bearings", then head left and down again in a logical fashion. But that's just me Cheers!