Hi, this is my first question on this forum so please be gentle with me!
I've been stitching for many years and I was taught to start in the centre of the pattern/fabric and work outwards. This has always worked fine for me, but I have read on various forums that most people start on the top edge, left or right corner.
What are the benefits of starting at the top, and are there any pitfalls with starting in the centre? I don't really want to change my technique but if it would give me a much better result then I might give it a try.
There really is no right or wrong way! I've always started in the center. Sometimes it just depends on the project someone is working on. A lot of the HAEDs find that starting on a corner is easier. It's all personal preference!
WIPs: There Be Dragons, Feed My Sheep, Canyon Flight HAED, Lotus Flowers HAED, Christmas Cove
Yes just like Busy B said there is no wrong way to do it. I find that the reason for starting in a top or bottom corner is the fact that the pattern comes one numerous pages. So if you start at the corner it is supposedly easier to follow the pattern along. I start from the middle because it is how I taught myself and it makes me more comfortable to do it that way. I have always done this even with multiple page patterns and I find it the best way for me.
If you are comfortable with working from the middle then don't let anyonr tell you it is not right or that it is better to do it a different way. We are all different so we all stitch to a style that suits us.
If you are looking for some one to help change you, look in the mirror
I usually begin in the centre of a new cross stitch design, but used to start at the top left of a tapestry (needlepoint), just because it was easier. HAED designers do suggest you start at the top left, but that has to do with the complexity of the designs themselves.
As long as you leave enough fabric empty around the design space, start wherever you want!
I think even my 45 page HAED does indicate where the centre is on whatever page that works out to be! so really you can start from wherever you want; I just find it much easier to start at page 1 (top left corner) and go along the row & so on.
Start wherever you find easiest. I usually start in the centre, because it's so easy to be sure your design will fit on the fabric, but with my HAED i started in the top left because it has so many pages and i had to measure out the fabric anyway.
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Hello and welcome.
I always start in the centre. I have never done a HAED but even my TW peacock I started in the middle and that has several pages to the chart.
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i always start from the center on anything that is a one or two page chart..anything more than that..upper left corner.
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I always start in the center too! But I have never done any big patterns until just recently. With the HAED I am doing, its nearly 30 pages long and although starting from the center wouldn't be bad, I do think it will be easier to start in the top corner and work from page 1 to the last page. Of course, like everyone else has said it's really just a personal preference and there is no right or wrong way to do it.
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HAED Chessie-10,200 of 90,300 - 11%
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HAED Wrath-46,630 of 240,000 - 19% http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerbear879/sets/
I've only ever started at the centre, I'd be worried I wouldn't measure the design out right and would mess it up, but then that's just because it would be so typically me to do so!
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~threadbear~ wrote:I've only ever started at the centre, I'd be worried I wouldn't measure the design out right and would mess it up, but then that's just because it would be so typically me to do so!
~threadbear~ wrote:I've only ever started at the centre, I'd be worried I wouldn't measure the design out right and would mess it up, but then that's just because it would be so typically me to do so!
you are not alone there
That's my worry, too!
WIPs: There Be Dragons, Feed My Sheep, Canyon Flight HAED, Lotus Flowers HAED, Christmas Cove
I do both so there is definitely no right or wrong way to start a piece off. It depends on your preference and for me the chart as well. I have done a couple of pieces with no stitching in the centre so I have decided if I'm gonna count I'm gonna do it properly. Then I get lost and annoyed and hand the fabric to my mum to count
..and as for where to start xstitching?....I do it in different ways, top left hand corner and in the middle...depends on the pattern really and what I feel like doing...like what the others said...there's no definite rule....just follow what you like best! Happy stitching!
charmagne "As we count our stitches...let us not forget to count our blessings..."
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99% of the time, I start my stitching from the centre of the design, mainly because that's the method I was taught from the beginning, so that now it's the method that I feel most comfortable with.
I've tried stitching one or two projects from the top left corner, but I guess there's always that tiny bit of doubt in my mind about the design not fitting the material properly. Even if I've measured it a hundred times, the thought would still be very distracting to me
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