When stitching apiece with several colours...

[MinnieMouse]

Hi everyone,

When stitching a piece with several colours, do you stitch one color at a time, or do you generally have several floss colours "threaded" into your fabric at the same time, picking up the loose ends as the color comes up?

[Stitchhitch]

Hi Minnie Welcome ! (like you i'm a Newbie)
I've already heard the phrase 'scaffolding' here on this wonderful forum and that's what i do usually - (though there is no 'right' way - only your way Ie i stitch the area which has the largest number of stitches of the same colour first - then cast on into the back of that for the adjacent stitching / 'confetti' etc - for me i have never bothered what the back looks like and i don't bother with 'parking' BUT do like long threads if and when i can - i find stitching very absorbing - how is it for you ?

[Amar]

hi, dear.
Welcome and enjoy this helpful forum. For me it depends in what project I am working on.
Happy Easter.

[MinnieMouse]

Thank you! I'm new here and have recently picked up my stitching again after a few years hiatus.

[MaggieM1750]

I take a color and follow that until either my thread is gone or there is no more of that color in the area I am working in.

I generally do not leave loose ends- I somehow will manage to stitch through it, or get it all knotted and tangled that I can't really stitch with it. Exception is when I get close to my hoop and that thread will follow into an area once I move my hoop- then I sort of tuck that thread into my frame cover to get it out of the way.

[Rose]

I work the same as Maggie. I follow the color and then finish off and move to the next. I know their are those that park threads and that works for them but since I get confused rather easily I have not found a reliable way to use that method.

You will find what works for you once you progress.

[rcperryls]

When I have large blocks of color I will work each block and then move on to the next one. I can't park either, so when I have a lot of confetti I will do the color with the least number of stitches in an area and then the next and the next so that when I am stitching the one with the most stitches it covers some of the threads in the back that may cross as many as 6 to 8 to 10 spaces (depending on how I'm feeling at the time). I can't park either. Tried it once and got really confused. Cross country stitcher and go across pages often if it makes sense. I don't know if any of this makes sense, as I'm not really the best at describing what I do.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

I've never tried parking (Stitchhitch, is that the same as "scaffolding"?) but tend to stitch everything in one colour and then go on to the next. Having said that, I've never done anything as confetti-heavy as some of the projects you see on here!

[Stitchhitch]

I've never tried parking (Stitchhitch, is that the same as "scaffolding"?) but tend to stitch everything in one colour and then go on to the next. Having said that, I've never done anything as confetti-heavy as some of the projects you see on here!

Hi Mabel (love your profile pic !!) 'Scaffolding' - i took the term to simply mean 'building on' (from) like you described and i treat 'confetti' in the same manner - i have never stitched in 10 x 10 blocks like some other stitchers (perhaps it's required if it's a truly massive high - count chart ?) if you stitched your profile pic what did you do there - if i may be so bold as to ask ? For those that have done this method of stitching by block - does this leave the finished job looking a bit 'grid-like' close up ?? Great forum thanks Mabel & thanks Minne - happy stitching

[Nachstenliebe]

I still can't see how people who park keep the threads from getting tangled lol.. It would never happen around me I focus one color at a time.
Faith

[BizzieLizzie]

[quote="StitchhitchFor those that have done this method of stitching by block - does this leave the finished job looking a bit 'grid-like' close up ?? [/quote]

It can do if you stick rigidly to the 10x10 blocks. The trick to avoid the grid-like look is where a colour continues into an adjacent block, continue stitching into that block until you finish the row of stitches of that colour. I don't know exactly how it works (something to do with tension, maybe?) but it seems to solve the problem. Hope that makes sense - I'm not very good explaining things.

[Stitchhitch]

[quote="StitchhitchFor those that have done this method of stitching by block - does this leave the finished job looking a bit 'grid-like' close up ??

It can do if you stick rigidly to the 10x10 blocks. The trick to avoid the grid-like look is where a colour continues into an adjacent block, continue stitching into that block until you finish the row of stitches of that colour. I don't know exactly how it works (something to do with tension, maybe?) but it seems to solve the problem. Hope that makes sense - I'm not very good explaining things. [/quote]

Aah great - much obliged BizzieLizzie - i thought that after i had made that comment / question that i should have made it a 'Topic' but you have found and read it !! Could it be that one is creating a 'gap' in the thread because of the stitch direction ?? Funny this because i found it once when doing a lot of one colour background stitch and so when i read of this 10 x 10 block business i did wonder - so many thanks - happy stitching

[Stitchhitch]

I still can't see how people who park keep the threads from getting tangled lol.. It would never happen around me I focus one color at a time.
Faith

Hi Nachstenliebe - Like you i don't 'park' and assumed that the stitcher just left them at the back until i saw a photo where a stitcher had neatly parked all their threads at the front above where they had stitched and - here's the twist - it looked like a 'flap' of fabric had been stuck at the top of the whole work and then left to hang down and was holding these threads - like you i focus one colour at a time - more relaxing - happy stitching

[Lessa54]

I do one colour at a time too. I find it easier to keep track that way, even when it can be really frustrating on a confetti heavy piece to be constantly changing thread. However, I don't think I could manage the number of threads that would be parked on my SQ if I tried parking, and I'm sure I'd end up with the mother of all knots at some point