scruffy back??

[mumof2littleboys]

hi does everyone have the same problem as me?? the back of my cross stitch looks real scruffy and untidy!!! any tips would be great to make it look tidier.

[pinkywinky]

I try to work along a row of a block of colour and not 'skip' over too many aida blocks. This leaves you with a row on the back looking a bit like l l l l l l l l this then alows you to run your end of thread through it to finish off. When starting I leave a small tail on the back and catch it underneath this row on the back as I go. I tend to work my stitches from top right to bottom left (working from right to left in a row) and on the way back my top stitches lie from top left to bottom right! If that helps Single stitches are more of a problem and tend to contribute to the mess on the back off a piece, as you have to weave your thread into the back of stitches to start off and finish off. This gives a lot of thread at the back for just one stitch - but hey ho these are the joys! Hope this is of some use to you.

[MaggieM1750]

I try to keep the backs of my projects looking tidy- but by the end they are a mess. Especially when there are lots of color changes in small areas. I don't worry much about it, nobody will ever see the backs once I frame them and get them on the wall.

I tend to stitch like the poster above me. On the front side, the under stitch all run ////// then cross with \\\\\\ so on the back it generally looks ||||| When I am done with a color I run my needle under the last 3 or 4 to anchor my threads. So the back ends up looking like ++++ (Of course, it only looks like that when stitching a long straight line and how often do you get that?!)

I do try and cut the tails of my threads close to the anchor stitches- just make sure you don't cut your stitch.

[Squirrel]

I always try to remember my grandmothers teaching from oh so long ago, do not carry your thread for any distance ( half an inch I think it was). This was in the days of embroidery which i have interpreted to be don't go over more than 3 squares on 16 cnt 2 on 14 cnt before hooking your thread under a previous stitch.

I tend to do most of my stitches as a full cross each time. I agree that when you are working on a piece with a lot of 1 or 2 stitches in different colours it is hard to keep it as neat as you would like, but hey ho thats the joys of stitching.

Squirrel

[kerbear879]

The back of mine usually look really neat with a lot of l l l ....but on Wrath the back looks horrific in some spots because I had 45 color changes..I am not really sure how I could get it to look much better since there was just so many different threads I was using in a small area!

[Rose]

I have said before as long as the back is not bunched up so that framing would be difficult I don't worry about how it looks. The back is not the focus of the stitching. I try as best as I can to make it nice but it is what it is. I don't run thread more then a few stitches when jumping areas but that some times can make a mess starting and stopping so much. The back is not meant to be as nice as the front so I don't worry over it.