I’m the first to admit that I make stitching mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. In fact, even the most expert stitchers make a mess of things occasionally. (What a relief.) The most positive thing about making a mistake is learning not to make that error again.
It’s better to learn from the mistakes of others than from your own. No one enjoys unpicking their work. So I’ve put together the four most common cross stitching mistakes (from my own and others’ experiences) and listed them below, along with tips to prevent them.
Mis-counting your stitches
Counted cross stitch takes its name from the fact that you count the number of holes in your fabric against the number of stitches made, positioning them correctly. It’s easy to miscount. We have all done this. The mistake is to bluff things out, and continue stitching, hoping that your rogue stitches will not be noticed. The bad news is: they will show. They will change the shape of the picture and leap off the project and dance before your eyes. So grit your teeth and unpick those mistakes now. Making a grid will help prevent those counting errors. There’s a Patterns Patch club tip to come soon about that.
Failing to pre-sort your thread (floss)
In your enthusiasm to start a project, it can be tempting to miss out the pre-sorting phase. This can result in using the wrong shades of colour, especially if you are using several shades of the same colour family. It’s easy to make your own thread sorter; in fact, you get can find out how from the Patterns Patch tips over the next few weeks.
Making uneven stitches
One of the first things we learn is that you should make one leg of the stitch first, and then the other, always starting at the same corner of the cross stitch, so that the top stitches are facing the same direction. This can be easy to forget, especially if you are not concentrating fully on your work. I’ve seen the results of this, and it does show - and it spoils the smoothness of the finished results.
Creating untidy backs of projects
We know we should not start and finish threads with a knot. We learn how to do away-waste knots and knotless loops but it’s tempting to make a quick and easy knot. We know we should not trail threads across the backs of our work. We hope the lumpiness and trailed threads won’t be noticeable from the front. But they can be.
I’ve learned the hard way that taking short cuts never works. Doing your best brings its own reward. What do you think?
Happy stitching!
Iona
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