Using non-evenweave woven fabric (Update with more pics!)

[NeedleAndFork]

Yesterday I was in walmart, which in my small town is the only place to get cross stitch supplies and as I always do, I wandered over to the craft department to just look incase anything sparked an idea. While I was wandering through the fabrics, I came across some that the weave on was large enough to see, and so large enough to stitch on. Just looking at it, I could tell it wasn't 'even' weave though - there were more threads running one way than there were the other. But just for the heck off it I bought half a yard - at a whopping $1.50

I got home, zigzagged up the edges and started stitching.. Here are the results..





I tried stitching 1 over 1 (the tiny red bit), 1 over 2 (the larger red bit) and 2 over 2 (the white) and decided that I liked the coverage of 2 over 2 best. Since I'm working on ornaments right now, I decided to give one a try on this fabric - it's not quite evenweave, but it's not TOO far off, so on something small like an ornament I can pick a pattern that won't matter to much if it is a bit off and try it out.

So far I'm really liking it! Turns out that the thread count on the fabric is 40x30 in an inch - so by stitching over 2, I'm doing 20x15. The fabric is lovely to stitch on and even though it's cotton, the fibers are slightly uneven, so it has the look of linen. And I just love the color - I've been stitching on nothing but white 32 count linen for so long since that's all I have in my stash that I'm happy to try a different fabric!

I figured I'd share on here incase anyone else wanted to try the same idea out. I wouldn't use this fabric for a large piece like a HAED at all, but for small items, especially those where ratios being a little off won't matter, it seems like an ideal fabric, especially given the price - 2.95 a yard!

I'll update on here when I've gotten more stitching done and we can see whether the weave on the fabric not being even is having any major effect on the pattern. Right now I'm working on the snowman from this set:



I figure worse case scenario, he'll be a bit squished - not too big of a problem.

[rcperryls]

Interesting fabric. Its nubby in places like linen, but isn't linen. Looks like it is stitching nicely. I will be interested to see your next update.

Carole

[littleturtlegirl]

I too would love to see more updates as this might be a good find. I will keep my eyes peeled when I go to wally world.

[kinley626]

Very interesting. I sometimes find myself in the fabric department and wondering if I could stitch on a particular piece. Thanks for sharing!

[NeedleAndFork]

Just a little update after a day of stitching - so far it's going well - though I can see that I'll have to choose my patterns more carefully - the one I'm working on has a snowflake that's meant to the same size top to bottom as it is side to side and it's a bit squished. I think as long as I pick patterns that don't have any elements where ratio of height to width matters, I should be ok.

Also.. after this ornament is finished, I'm going to try stitching over a 'square' that's 2x3 threads. It seems that it will be closer to square that way so I'll get a truer representation of the pattern.

I'll post a picture tomorrow most likely - right now it just looks like a bunch of nothings as I've been working al over hte place - but once I finish the snowman's face it should start looking better and I'll update with a pic.

[Serinde]

What an interesting experiment. I wonder how this fabric would be to surface stitch on, since the actual number of threads then wouldn't matter. Any idea what it's called and who the manufacturer is?

[NeedleAndFork]

What an interesting experiment. I wonder how this fabric would be to surface stitch on, since the actual number of threads then wouldn't matter. Any idea what it's called and who the manufacturer is?

I think it would work just fine for that! I'm thinking of experimenting a bit with that too once all my christmas stitching (which is getting more and more frantic by the day) is done with.

The next time I'm at Walmart I'll look closer at the bolt to see if I can figure out a name/manufacturer for the fabric, but for now if anyone else wants to go looking for it - it was located with the bolts of burlap and muslins and costs $2.95 (or $2.97 or whatever it is walmart is ending their prices wit these days)

I'll be visiting friends the week between christmas and new years and the place they live is much bigger than where I am, so I'll see if I can get to a fabric store or two and look over their selections and see if any other fabrics look like they'd be suitable to stitch on. I'll be that crazy lady at the store who brings bolts of fabric to the cutting table and then starts measuring the count of the warp and weft of it using a couple of pins and a ruler.

[stitchingmae]

They have this on a wooden frame at my walmart too!! A burlap canvas LoL.

[MaggieM1750]

I'll be that crazy lady at the store who brings bolts of fabric to the cutting table and then starts measuring the count of the warp and weft of it using a couple of pins and a ruler.

I've been that crazy lady! Trying to balance a bolt on top of other bolts, counting threads without marking the fabric. It really seemed to mess up the employees at Hancock Fabrics when I asked if they had a table available for me to spread out on. They didn't.. which I found odd for a fabric store.. but then said I could use the cutting table they weren't using.

Is that not a common thing to have tables available to play with fabrics on? How do quilters look at fabrics, and coordinate colors and such if all they are looking at is 6-8" of a piece of fabric? Or people making clothes? I want a spot at a table.. even if all I am doing is looking for a piece to back a pillow with.

[NeedleAndFork]

The stitching on the ornament is finished so as promised, here's a picture!



It's a little 'squished' since the fabric isn't evenweave.. its supposed to be a rectangle that's wider than it is tall, but I ended up with something much closer to a square instead. But considering that the snowman's face was supposed to be round, and it still appears pretty close to round, I'd say the distortion isn't too bad at all! I'm not thrilled with the snowflake, but it's hard to say whether that's because I didn't like the way it was charted or because of the fabric.

Overall, I'd say this fabric is definitely a keeper! I really like the color of it and as long as I choose patterns that are appropriate for it, they will look great. The only thing is that it can sometimes be hard to count the threads just right - in some places they're very thin and it's easy to get moved over by 1 strand without realizing it. I lost track of how many times I did that.

[karen4bells]

I love it!!

[curly sue]

It worked out nicely!

[rcperryls]

Great update and finish!

Carole

[kinley626]

It looks great!

[stitch addicted]

I like it!!