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Sunday, August 25, 2013

Background Worries

Finished off all the cross stitch on Misaki and now I'm on the backstitched background. Except that I'm worried and need advice/help.

Misaki
32 ct Ruby Wine Lugana
What you can't tell at all from this photo because it isn't ironed or on a flat surface is that the tension isn't even. The rightmost yellow edge bends a little where it goes from the parasol to the middle yellow part. And the bottom isn't a straight line either. The top is actually straight; the picture is not taken straight on. Actually this is an awful picture but the rest are even worse. (Maybe I should take a class on taking decent photographs!)

Anyway, back to the main worry. I'm worried that the rest of the half-stitched background is going to skew the whole thing even more. I had that happen to a needlepoint canvas years ago which drove me away from needlepoint. I'm worried that if I try to pull/stretch it I'll just warp the threads and make everything worse.

I know knitters/crocheters damp and stretch things out with pins. Does that work for cross stitch too? Is there something I can do now to make sure the edges come out as a proper rectangle or should I wait until I'm finished and then try to make everything straight.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should picked a different colour fabric and skipped the background but it was the whole effect that I like and and and

help

3 comments:

Mouse said...

is this on a scroll frame ??? if so you could Lace the sides of the fabbie to the sides of the frame to help.
is your tension too tight for the half stitched bit too ?? , I think you should be able to wash and block it afterwords if no hand dyed threads in there, hope that helps a wee bit with out actually seeing the piece ... love mouse xxxxx

Katie said...

One chart that I stitched with a large area of half crosses recommended using the basketweave method to prevent fabric distortion. You might try that for the rest of the background. It may use more floss though.

Dylimes said...

As a framer, I've seen many needlepoints and cross stitches that are askew. Usually with stretching while framing you can even most of it out. Better yet, mats hide askewedness very well if you mat them so a small portion of the piece is hidden under them.

Sorry, I don't have any advice on how to prevent it since I can't tell what's causing it.