Lone Stitches

[ChicagoMay]

I'm not sure if there's another term for it, but I was wondering if there was any tips or tricks for reaching those lone stitches in a pattern. some of the stitches for the color I'm working on are 5+ squares away from any of the other symbols of the same color and I'm not sure what the best way to reach them is.

[freelady]

Those are the *wonderful* confetti stitches that we all love to hate but which make the final pictures so wonderful. I do them as a single stitch when there isn't another of the same colour nearby. I use a loop start even if it is a short piece of thread and run it under one or two nearby stitches at the end. The back doesn't look great with these, but I'm not worried about the back as it's the front on show.
I don't like to run more that two or three threads as a general rule.

[ChicagoMay]

I will try that. I'm noticing *a lot* of these type of stitches though, hopefully it works out.

I don't like these stitches lol. I like doing all of one color, otherwise I get a little OCD about it

[stitchiemom]

I will usually stitch them last right before I wash it and leave a little bit longer tail when I anchor, then trim it when I am ironing it dry. There are times though when I know this is not possible. Good luck finding what works best for you.

[carolynbb]

True confession time....*soap opera music plays*

I always START a piece saying that I'm going to do single stitches for confetti and never run a thread more than 3 or so stitches.

Then I get about halfway through and start running thread all over the place to avoid single stitches. I have no willpower!

[freelady]

I wouldn't leave all the confetti till last as it gets harder to do. I have been doing a quarter page or so then going back and filling in the gaps but it got harder and harder to count to see which colour goes where. Now I'm trying to work each 10x10 completely as I go along. My unicorn has mostly single stitces - it's a Mystic Stitch.

[Jaki :)]

Since Carolynbb has confessed it's my turn ....I also run my thread over more than 3 squares when doing confetti & when jumping to area of same colour

[ChicagoMay]

My unicorn has mostly single stitces - it's a Mystic Stitch.

I don't know what a Mystic Stitch is lol but my project has a lot of single stitches too, which I am not used to. I figure this'll be the project where I learn what way I prefer

[carolynbb]

Since Carolynbb has confessed it's my turn ....I also run my thread over more than 3 squares when doing confetti & when jumping to area of same colour

We can form a support group.

[XandraS]

As long as the confetti is amongst other stitching I trail all over the place, just hate finishing and starting again

[ChicagoMay]

That's pretty much what I'm doing XandraS Because they are so far light colors. I tried the loop start that was mentioned though and I like that for starting a single stitch.

[Sarah Gixxer]

I run my thread along the back quite a long way to reach them, by threading the needle underneath the areas already stitched so that I don't have long loops of thread on the back. I often bring the thread across the back up to odd stitches an inch or so away from where I'm stitching by this method. I find it uses less thread than finishing off and restarting also.

[kerbear879]

I run mine too and sometimes I wait till the end of the page to do the confetti..just depends how much is on the page. This last page of Wrath I did had a ton of confetti and I did a lot more trailing since I didn't want to keep rethreading every 2 minutes. I don't really care if the back looks bad or not..no one but me (and the framer) will ever see it.

[Becca]

I just run my thread as far as it needs to go to reach confetti stitches. The only reason I will stop and start a new thread for them is if I am clearly wasting way more thread by running it under the back. So I find myself carrying threads easily more than 50 stitches away, just because it's quicker than stopping and starting again.

[franacropan]

I do parking and so confetti stitches are dealt with as they come up. I have a self made rule that I will allow myself to park the thread up to 2 blocks away in either direction (on high count fabric that's only an inch or so) other wise I finish it off. Since I started using a pako organiser, and a pinhead stitch to start and finish I don't really mind confetti. The reason I settled on the two block rule is because I decided that I wasted more time scanning for the next symbol of that colour than if I'd just finished it off and got on with the row.

[ChicagoMay]

I do parking and so confetti stitches are dealt with as they come up.

I don't understand parking. o_O

[Rose]

I don't use the parking method as it is just not the right type of stitching for me. but if you go to this topic http://www.crossstitchforum.com/viewtop ... f=3&t=3909" target="_blank and go to the bottom of the first page there is an excellant explanation of how it is suppose to work. Not sure if it will help you much or not.

[ChicagoMay]

I don't use the parking method as it is just not the right type of stitching for me. but if you go to this topic http://www.crossstitchforum.com/viewtop ... f=3&t=3909" target="_blank" target="_blank and go to the bottom of the first page there is an excellant explanation of how it is suppose to work. Not sure if it will help you much or not.

Ooo, that was a great explanation of it. Not sure if I would do that, but I'll consider it! Thanks for the link!

[ohstitcher]

I learned the hard way not to long ago not to leave single stitches till last. I am working now in a section that has alot of 4-5 stitches of the same color I do those and then fill in the singles I don't have a hard fast rule about doing 10x10 areas I just go with the flow. If I have a single stitch and the next stitch is only 5-6 squares away I will carry floss that far.

[Smiley]

Sorry can't give advise of my experiences since I haven't yet stitched big projects or that have much confetti in. But thank you Rose for the link! Someone else somewhere was talking about parking and I was clueless, so at least now I know what it is (although I don't think I'll try the method, I like to end off things and restart, If the stitch is within 5 or 6 six stitches, I will trail it underneath the other already stitched stitches to get there and I'd rather stitch the next section finished and end off, not just let it hanging - but thanks for the explanation of the term!!! )