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Hi all,

I am new to cross stitch but completely hooked! I started 6 months ago and have completed 4 5x7 kits already so you can tell every spare minute sees me with a needle in hand I have done a tatty ted, a christmas kit, golden puppy and a black and white golden retriever. I have been proud of the end results.

The only thing spoiling my enjoyment of this craft is the back of my work. I am a bit of a perfectionist and have looked up pictures of the backs of other people's work and am astonished at how immaculate they look compared to mine

I am not bothered about the technique where you can make the reverse have crosses like the front, i just want my back to look good as well as the front. I have followed all the tips i can find, i don't knot, I start with the loop method and run my thread under the back of stitches leaving a tiny tail. I don't jump more than three stitches and my backs still seem to look messy.

I am really just wondering if i am worrying too mcuh about this and it is a common problem or if anyone has any more tips i could use. Thanks in advance

Hmm...well the only thing I can add is to make sure you keep your thread taught, and to let it dangle every so often so that it can unwind... I dunno if that will help any, but it might be something to keep in mind.
Faith

I have stopped worrying about what the back looks like.. as long as the front looks OK, I don't really care what the back looks like. It's going to be covered by something anyways. Even on bookmarks I back them with another piece of fabric.
But I will say.. with more practice, your backs will clean up.

The way I stitch a pattern is usually horizontally.. unless I am doing tree trunks, then I stitch vertically. But.. when doing full crosses with solid thread.. my under stitches run ////// then I go back over them \\\\\\ . On the back it usually looks like |||||||. Now, granted my rows only look like that when stitching blocks of the same color.. the more color changes I have, the "messier" the back will look with all the starts and stops. I will trade lots of color changes and a messy back if that means I get more detail on the front.

Seriously don't worry about it. As Maggie says, they'll clean up with practise anyway. And once you get onto a piece with lots of confetti, you can completely forget neat backs. My current project has so much confetti with blended threads that even having discovered the pinhead stitch to start threads off, I'm still desperately seeking threads to fasten off into and my back is looking sort of furry This is a secret known only to me and the ladies on here though - it'll be framed eventually so all will be hidden

I agree with everyone else on here, it is the front that matters, not the back. If your back is so messy that it effects the front, then it is a problem, but that doesn't sound to be near the case here.

Think of it this way, when you go watch a play you see the front of the show floor and all the order and precision of the play. What you don't see is the chaos going on behind the seen where people are frantically running about getting ready, getting props in place, etc. And that mess in the back, who cares so long as it doesn't spill into the show and effect the performance. It is the same thing with the cross stitch.

I agree with what the others have said. Don't worry about the back of the work - it's the front that matters. I stitch the same way as MaggieM1750 and my backs are pretty much ok.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

Wow, what a helpful and friendly bunch you are!

Thank you so much for all of your advice. I am definitely going to stop fretting so much about what's going on 'behing the scenes'. I suppose i was just wondering how much time other, more experienced stitchers spend ensuring they have neat backs and if there was any trade secret i was missing out on . It's daft really cos as a beginner i really need to concentrate on getting the front spot on first

I am going to focus on getting as much pleasure out of this fab new hobby as i can instead of expecting too much too soon.

Thanks again everyone x

I've found that my larger projects tend to have neater backs than my smaller ones too. Unless my big projects have lots of confetti stitches. It really doesn't matyter about the back as I cover almost all of mine up at the end. I think only bookmarks have visible backs and even then...not all of them. So long as the work lies flat, that's the important thing, the rest will come in time.

Lessa54 wrote: And once you get onto a piece with lots of confetti, you can completely forget neat backs.

This is SOOOOO true!

I used to really fret about my backs but after doing a few photo-to-pattern conversions I realized that there's just no way to make the backs look "unfuzzy" if there's confetti at all. My backs look great if there are big blocks of color...but otherwise it's more "modern art".

I'm honestly glad you posted this because I was wondering whether I was just getting lazy...sounds like messy backs are a necessary evil when one has a detailed/confetti pattern.

As a stitcher who has been doing cross for 30+ years I can tell you that my backs are just as messy now as they were when I first began. And that is with all of the new suggestions that people have shared over all of those years and guess what????????????? I don't care. My focus is on the front and those people that want to see my backs are told to go away. The picture is the front and the back does not matter. As long as I have not got knots the size of my little finger then I am happy. Some stitchers do take the time to make sure that their backs are perfect and that is nice but I just don't bother, it is called the back for a reason.

Enjoy your stitching and don't let something that will never be seen worry you as much as the front picture does.

As usual our Rose has put it beautifully. Like Rose I have been stitching for more years than I care to remember. At first I worried about the backs as well, but the more you get into this wonderful craft of ours the more you realise that the finished picture is all that matters, not the back. Enjoy your stitching and don't worry about the bit that can't be seen.

And I agree completely with the others. A nice back would be a bonus but who really cares?

I do like a nice back but it's not always possible and its only there to hold the front together so lets just enjoy our stitching and ignore our messy backsides

Oh how I wish my backs were always neat--but sadly that's not the case, but I'm definitely not going to worry about it, so long as the front looks nice and neat--life is much too short to sweat the small stuff

Thanks everyone. I was taking some pics last night of my projects so far and i had a look at the backs again. They really weren't all that bad but i can see a definite improvement on my more recent one. So yup i am agreeing with you all and going to stop stressing

I have put the photos in my gallery if anyone wants a look. Front view only lol. Please keep in mind i am a newbie and they haven't been washed or framed yet, never seem to get round to that bit

Hellooo

Just had a look at your gallery and it all seems fabulous to me - and I see we have a bit of a dog theme going on here

Thank you very much. It's a relief to know my efforts are ok. I mean i am proud of them but you guys are the experts. Yes i have a much loved golden retriever pup called honey so i naturally gravitated towards those two I am working on a horse kit for my mil at the mo. My next will probably be a ballerina kit i have seen for my niece. I can see myself heading towards some beautiful angel kits i have found after that x

Well now, of course, we have to see a photo of the gorgeous Honey

Ask and you shall receive Will stick one in my gallery now. Not good enough on a computer to attach one to this thread unfortunately x