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I have been doing all sorts of "home arts" for quite a while including cross stitch, gobelin and latch hook. What I would really like to know is why is it that when it comes to complete kits, cross stitch kits never really seem to have enough thread? This is a problem I have not had with gobelin and latch hook, but of all the kits I have done (10 or more) even the smaller kits do not contain enough thread.

And before anyone asks, yes, I do follow the included instructions using either 2 or 3 strands of the 6 as well as the other things which are written.

Thanks for your help!

William

Funny you say this as in the past I have not had a problem but recently I had threads short in 2 dimensions gold kits which is even more annoying as they use their own threads and they come from USA. I am now having the same problem with a small 'Forever Friends' Anchor kit, it's not so bad as I can get the Anchor threads easily and I have DMC threads.
Like you say I follow the instructions, I start with the loop method when possible and don't carry my threads acrosss the back more than about 3 stitches. I think it's called economising.

I have only once come across this problem, that was with the "Dressed for dinner" in DMC, fortunately the chart did give the thread numbers and I was able to make a good match with my Anchor threads so it is impossible to see where it is plus it is only a few stitches.

I can see where there might be a problem if a kit doesn't give the thread numbers or any identification as to what the make is.

I have never had this problem with the kits I have done. And with my last kit, I had enough left over to come close to stitch up another one.
I always thought that with kits, manufacturers assume we are beginners and don't know what we're doing so they add extras for knots, frogging, breaking threads, etc. Sounds like I have been lucky with my kits.

So far I've had left over threads on the occasion I've done a kit, but if I didn't have enough in the kit, I'd contact the manufacturer and hopefully get extra from them.

I have had the same problem with some of the Dimensions kits that I have done. However, if you contact them via their website, they are very good about sending you more of whatever colors you need. They don't charge for it, and they usually send it very quickly - last time I got my thread 3 days after sending them a message online.

I've had the same problem with a fair few kits myself, which has led to the irritating habbit of getting as much stitching as possible from one thread. And yep, this means stitching until I get to the very end where I can't stitch anymore then continuing so I stick my needle through ther eye as it's halfway through the hole, bring it up and put it back down using the eye first. Terrible habbit, but kits forced me.

Dimensions are pretty good, if you're low on thread, email them and they'll send it out to you for no extra charge.

I don't very often do a kit but the ones I have done always have more then enough thread in them. Funny how this is so different with the same companies just different places that we have bought them.

I wonder whether it might depend on how we stitch. I have seen people who discard threads when I would still get another 20 stitches from them. Also if you stitch every cross as a full cross, rather than in lines of half crosses and then do the other half, you use far more thread. I learned to stitch from my Grandmother who came to this country along with my Grandpa and three children with nothing but a big travel debt to homestead in a free country. I am not as frugal as she was but she taught me well. She would stitch until her thread was down to just a bit longer than her needle, slip off the needle, make the next stitch with the empty needle, thread it and pull through until that was no longer possible and then do the same to weave in the final bit. There was nothing left to snip and discard.

I've been fairly lucky with most of my kits in that I've usually had thread left over and been able to use it for other projects. However, I've noticed that Lanarte seem to be a bit stingy with their thread. I received a large Lanarte kit for Christmas a year ago and I ran out of about 8 different colours. I'm very frugal with my thread when I stitch and carry on until the end is barely long enough to thread into the back, so it's not like I waste it, but these colours ran out with probably between a hundred and two hundred stitches left to do so they were considerably short.

I did two Lanarte miniatures over this Christmas too and although they didn't actually run out, I was down to the last couple of inches of thread on some of the colours when I finished. You'd think they'd be a bit more generous, judging by the amount they charge for their kits!

Granny wrote:She would stitch until her thread was down to just a bit longer than her needle, slip off the needle, make the next stitch with the empty needle, thread it and pull through until that was no longer possible and then do the same to weave in the final bit. There was nothing left to snip and discard.

Although I have done that too (and not for reasons as good as your grandmother -- just because I didn't want to use a new thread for those last few stitches), I wouldn't advise it unless it is really necessary -- not only does the last bit of the thread generally look rather thinner than the rest because it's been rubbing in the needle, it has also collected oils from your fingers, as I found to my cost in the very first kit I did.

Back then, because I was finding out everything for myself (no stitchers in my family) I used up every thread to the very last bit. It was a white cat, and after a few months you could see exactly where the "end bits" of thread were, as they had all gone a grubby yellow . I could probably have prevented that by washing it when I finished stitching, but I didn't know then. Even so, it's made me very wary of using up end bits in general, and of light colours in particular!

I've never had a problem with kits before. I've done both DMC and Lanarte and always had oodles of thread left over at the end. Like others, I'm pretty frugal and will eke out thread where I get to the last stitch of a colour in particular. Having said that, I'm doing an Anchor kit at the moment and have some concerns about thread but will see how it goes. They've given the thread numbers anyway if it does run out.

Mabel-I don't believe there were any issues about whether we should wash or not like we have nowadays. Anything that was stitched was used and washed and it all held up. That generation and the next generally, particularly farm folks, used what was at hand and made do. The fabric was flour, sugar and feed sacks. Feed sacks were printed designs with paper labels but flour and sugar were a homespun look with labels printed on them. They were washed with lye soap to remove the labels and then used for tea towels, curtains, dresser scarves and underclothing. Other than on the underclothing ornamentation was added in the form of embroidery with waste canvas a staple in my grandmother's house. From there I graduated to stamped items, either with transfers or eventually with purchased pictures. Frustration with the stamping being large and uneven led me to needlepoint canvas over 40 years ago and then Aida. I have always washed because there was no question that we needed to remove the hand oils.

I really have no recent experience with kits in the last 20 years because I like too much control. I stitch strictly from charts and my floss boxes. This way I can change colors which is why I had so much frogging on Thistle Stop. The more I did the less I liked the darkness of the tree trunk with all the other grays that were necessary so I went to a brown gray rather than the black gray and am so much more pleased with it.

wow granny, that's really interesting. I can't imagine stitcher's doing that again, we really have been spoiled ^_^

Angel--We now stitch for sheer fun. They stitched so they had something pretty in their house. My ancestors didn't make quilts as we know them but spent their creative time on embroidery. Here's a little tidbit. Until I was near or early teens I had to wear flour sack bloomers. I have a photo from when I was about 6 or 7 where they are actually hanging out from under my skirt.

I remember flour sack dresses. That is were a lot of my old skirts would come from is the bags that we would buy.

Wow - so many different ways of looking at things...

Anyway, I have also been one to finish off the end of a thread's last stitch using the eye... Maybe I have just had poor luck with the kits I have been given / bought, but there have been a few where a colour just has not been enough for even half (and yes, i make a row of half-stitches before going back over them the other way to finish) and, in one unusual case, one kit where one colour was not even supplied.

As I am now doing most of my stitching from patterns withought supplied thread, this is really not a problem -

I've used quite a few kits, from various companies, and only once did one colour did not hace enough; it was a Permin kit, of Strawberries in a Bowl. (i used floss from my stash to finish it).
I guess it depends on the way you stitch (method) and the brand or company of the kit. I've noticed that Anchor supplies a very generous amont of floss and fabric in their kits, but Permin is very stingy on theirs. Dimensions, so far, for me, has supplied enough floss, but they could do better on the cut of fabric. I have a couple of kits by DMC, but I haven't started them, so I don't know whether they're generous or stingy.
HTH!

I am doing the freebie kit that came with the WOCS Magazine that our Stitchers Sampler story was in. It is a somebunny that you can make up as a card or other smaller project. So far every color except 2 have been short for finishing and I am very frugal with my threads. I don't normally do these as they are not something I find all that fun but this is going as a Thank you card and it is rather cute so thought what the heck. Little disappointing that they have made it so short on all of the threads. Really thread it not THAT expensive.

Awww sorry you're having kit issues... I really don't like kits, but one's I've done haven't given me a problem concerning floss amount.. Maybe charts and developing your own floss collection is the best way to go for you?
Faith