Where to start a big project?

[stitchingmae]

Okay...so...here we go...I don't know how to really word this questiong lets see if this makes sense..
I know that most charts you start in the middle....but I have noticed that on the HAED's it appears that people are starting in the upper left corner...do the patterns tell you to start there..or is it a preference...

i am thinking...quote the word thinking...of possibly...maybe doing the starry night from freecrossstitchonline.com and it has multiple pages when talking to the friend at work she said you always start in the middle..but then the info seemed to be that you started in the middle of each page...but wouldn't that leave room for a lot of counting mistakes...there for frogging....blah this is what scares me from the bigger all stitch designs.

[ali-cat]

I have never started in the middle of a pattern!!

I just divide the number of length and height sitiches by 2, sew a small coloured thread in the middle of the fabric and then count up and then to the left, to show where my first stitch will be.

If it's a big piece I grid 10 squares at a time, with a really bright coloured floss, to be sure I don't loose count half way up!!

[kell]

I grid so that I can start wherever is easiest according to which colour is used most. I don't think I have ever started in the centre of a design. I presume that gridding and starting in the corner is also helpful if the design runs to several pages as you can start with page one and work onwards in numerical order from there, rather than fishing about finding the centre of the design and working the pages outwards from the centre.

[*barb*]

I always start in the middle, regardless of if it is a big or small design. I had one that came over four pages, so I join them together so it was one HUGE chart, find the centre and start stitching.

I dont grid.

[kerbear879]

I had always started in the middle until I started doing HAED's in which case I start on page 1. I did not want to make mistakes and so it was easier for me to just start in the upper left corner. I just measured the whole piece of fabric and figured out how much I needed for framing and extra and then just measured down from there.

You can really do it however you want though. If you are more comfortable starting in the middle, then that would be just fine as well.

[karen4bells]

I had always started in the middle until I started doing HAED's in which case I start on page 1. I did not want to make mistakes and so it was easier for me to just start in the upper left corner. I just measured the whole piece of fabric and figured out how much I needed for framing and extra and then just measured down from there.

You can really do it however you want though. If you are more comfortable starting in the middle, then that would be just fine as well.

I totally agree with kerbear!--I've always started in the middle as well, until I started on Lady of the Woods---it has too many pages so I just started with a piece of fabric that is large enough to have 1 1/5 borders all around and then started in the upper left corner, which is where the start of page 1 of the project is.
It really is up to you though--whatever you feel most comfortable doing

[pamelam]

I almost always start in the middle and then work up and make my way down the fabric.

[frankattleborough]

I haven't done an HAED but Sylvia taught me to always start in the middle, and make sure that there is at least an inch of fabric all round the edges.

However, I was talking to a lady who has done some fabulous designs and she told me that she invariably started at the top of her designs by counting up from the centre.

So it is a matter of preference, though to my untrained mind, if you have a number of pages which are numbered it makes sense to start at page 1.

[meerkat]

I always start in the middle, and I have never tried gridding anything beforehand, but as I have not attempted an HAED over several pages I can't say what I'd do.

[Nachstenliebe]

I am another that always starts in the the middle, unless an HAED is involved.. I started mine on the first page just because everyone else was on here
Faith

[Dazbo666]

I always remember being advised to start from the middle, which I often do.
But with larger projects, and particularly since I started gridding my projects, I've also started stitching from a corner, completing one page at a time

[Lessa54]

I've done a mixture depending on the project. On my first large kits, it said start in the middle, so I tacked out the middle and dutifully started there. For my Christmas ornaments though, I've counted out from the middle to the top left of the border for the start point. And for others, I've simply measured the fabric, worked out the size of the pattern and measured in from the edge for the framing allowance and started in the top left. I'm very bad and I don't grid at all - I don't have the patience and I've never had a problem with stitch counting to persuade me that I should have the patience.

If you're doing a work with multiple pages though, I certainly wouldn't start in the middle of each page Just work out what's best for you for starting and stitch the pattern as you would any other pattern.

[ohstitcher]

I was taught to start in the middle of projects. Then I discovered HAED and for the first couple I started in the top left but for the most recent I started in the middle. I think it is a matter of preferance but from now on I think I will start all in the middle like I was taught

[Granny]

As a number have stated whatever works for you is fine. I was a middle starter for 60 years as that is what I was taught. Having discovered griding, thanks to this forum, it will no longer be a cardinal rule of mine. In fact, griding is allowing my designer side to show a bit for the next major project. I will be stitching a photo of a former dog and I will be starting in the lower right hand corner to position the dog after I have determined my border fabric. The background will be step 2 and I am pulling that from several charts and modifying it to put him in his natural setting. I already have a 16 x 20 inch frame on hand that I am planning to use.

[SusanF]

Starting in the middle would be really difficult for a HAED as many of them have 40 or more pages. That's why most HAEDers start from top left with page 1. Remember to leave a good bit of border and PLEASE make sure your fabric is big enough to do this. Can you imagine howawful it would be to find out well into a HAED that you don't have enough fabric

[~threadbear~]

I've always started in the middle. Even on the dogs and the big cats I'm doing now.
I've got a HAED here I'm ready to start, but I'm having real problems with the gridding. If I can ever get it done, I'm going to try starting top left, page one for the first time.

[nikecam]

i do start some projects in the middle and work my out.

i have my fabric cut with a 3" border so i use a 3x3 post it note to mark the corner starting area if i do start in the upper left corner. i recently started a drawn thread pattern that suggested working the whole border first so i used my post it note tech. i'm very sorry that i did because now the bottem row of the border doesn't match up. i have miscounted somewhere. so now i'm filling in from the inside in the area that i know is correct and then i will frog the border when i find the error.

on my large piece, not a haed but same idea, i started in the bottom right corner. i copied the pattern pages and taped the whole row together into one giant row and i work it from side to side with no deviation. it reminds me of the world's slowest dot matrix printer as the picture emerges line by line. i work this direction as it covers all my parked threads as i stitch over them.

good luck with your piece.

[alx008]

I start top right, but have never stitched a HAED, I know that is a completely different ball game! Just started a dimensions one which is really exciting!

[Nachstenliebe]

What Dimensions project did you start? I Dimensions designs
Faith

[ali-cat]

I start top right, but have never stitched a HAED, I know that is a completely different ball game! Just started a dimensions one which is really exciting!

You can't just come on, causally mention that you're starting an exciting project and then do nothing!! Excuse me ... photos or SAL thread, please!!