Help with higher fabric count

[Arianwen]

I use a sewline pencil and I've never had a problem with it washing out even after several months.

Just look for washable pens/pencils and you should be ok. I know people use lots of different types of pens and pencils so will have different answers on what to get

[rcperryls]

These are two different water soluble ink pens that I use: The Clover Water Soluble Marker and the Dritz Mark-B-Gone Marking Pen. I find either one easy to use and I've never had a problem with the ink not washing out and I've had projects that go on for years. I think one person on the forum said they had a problem with the ink turning yellow, but that was the only time I've heard it being a problem. Others like to grid with thread. I couldn't stitch any large projects without gridding now. So much easier and so fewer counting problems.

Carole

[cairee]

I like gridding in pen on aida or 22ct, as I can draw the line on the 'holes' but on evenweave or linen it is more difficult to draw inline with the holes rather than beside them (if that makes any sense at all) so I use sewing thread and just be careful not to peirce it. if you use parking I suppose you could just remove it as you reach it.

[red_scout]

My friends, I do believe you have solved the problem! I did this with only a single thread, and though it isn't as "full", it's not squishing the other squares and making a mess!
Does it look better to you all?

[karen4bells]

it looks much much neater!!

[rcperryls]

it looks much much neater!!

I agree!

Carole

[cairee]

yay! glad to see its working for you.

[stitchingmae]

I had an issue with a pen turning yellow, but I think it was because I did not rinse the pen lines out before I washed the fabric with detergent. Which I think caused a chemical reaction staining the fabric. SO if you use the washable pens...MAKE sure you rinse out all the lines with WATER only first, then wash the fabric in whatever detergent.

The reason I think this is what caused the issue, is that in the places on that same piece that I did rinse all the grid lines out, there are no stains. Only on the places that I did not rinse the pen out have the stain.

[fccs]

it looks much much neater!!

I agree!

Carole

Same here.

[jstrawson]

That looks so much nicer!

[Fibreartist]

WELL DONE! You have solved the problem!

[kinley626]

Much better!!!

[littleturtlegirl]

I had this same issue, so I took it out and did just one string instead of two. I love all the help on this forum! I also love how you can see what has been chatted about today, so I can follow.

[purvislets]

purvislets:
I know this thread hasn't had activity in a little bit but I'm hoping you will still see this question. I noticed on your project you did the grid pattern with a single thread. I forgot what's it's called but I'm considering learning that since I'm so paranoid about counting. I spend so much time counting and recounting because I've made mistakes previously. It looks like you used backstitch on the horizontal lines but the vertical lines don't even look attached in most places. How do you do this and how do you remove it? It looks like it would get in the way of stitching and be hard to remove. Do you use the same grid pattern that is on the pattern I guess?

I am so sorry that I am just now seeing this, but I figured I'd go ahead and answer!

I actually used 4lb red monofilament fishing line to grid that particular page. I've heard of people using sewing thread but I prefer the fishing line because it seems like it would be easier to pull it out after the stitching is done. Plus, you can literally just push the fishing line through the fabric holes and not have to use a needle. It does sometime get in the way of the stitching and I find I have the most difficulty trying to put a stitch through the same hole that the line is coming in or out of. It's pretty easy to remove as long as there aren't too many stitches that cover the line. Even then, though, it isn't too bad. You just cut out the waste knot at one end and pull it from the opposite end.

I've also used the blue marking pen by Clover to mark out the grids. That is much easier to stitch over, but I dislike having to wash it out. Just a personal pet peeve of mine as washing projects tends to make me very nervous.

Here are some pics to give you a better idea of what the two different types of gridding I've used look like.

In this one, you can get a bigger idea of the fishing line. I looped one longer piece around to do two different columns or rows. When I'm ready to remove the grids I'll cut the waste knots on the sides then pull the loop at the other end.



Here is the blue clover marking pen. It is a more complete way of gridding, but it can be seen through the stitches so it has to be washed out. I had these grid lines on for over a year before washing them out and they came out with no problems whatsoever.



There are a few other different ways to grid but I haven't tried those yet. I find that gridding has cut down on my frogging issues tremendously because I can easily double and triple check my counts quickly.

Hope that helps!