Thursday, May 7, 2015

New start - Boreas

I've started my next big project - Heaven and Earth Design's Boreas! This chart was given to me by the lovely Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher as a prize for her blogaversary giveaway.


This project is a LOT of firsts for me: it's my first HAED pattern, my first time stitching on evenweave, my first time parking, my first time stitching one over one, my first time using my Lokscroll frames. It's a very different experience than stitching over two on Aida, but I'm happy to say that I'm LOVING this project so far!


Progress as of 5/7/15 - page 1

I've just finished the first column in page one. Since I'm new at this, I have a LOT of questions. If anyone has any advice or can point me to any resources or blog posts, I'd be really grateful!


  • I'm liking the Lokscroll frame, but I'm having trouble getting good tension compared to my Q-snaps. Is that just a difference between Aida and evenweave? Or is there some trick to getting the fabric more taut? I'm rolling the scroll bars as tightly as I can, but I can't seem to get the fabric how I want it. It's something I can live with, but if any of you have tips, let me know!
  • I'm stitching one over one on 28-count evenweave. I'm pretty much stuck with all these waste away knots, right? I can't use the loop start method since I'm only using one thread, and I've heard of pin stitches but I'm not sure that'll be any easier. Again, I can live with this, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something!
  • I'm really getting the hang of parking, which is awesome, but it seems like most people I've seen don't stitch one column at a time, but rather multiple columns at once. How does that work? I'd totally get it if I were still cross-country stitching, but with parking, I need a place for all the knots so I'm not sure how I could work more than two column at a time. Is it okay to stitch column by column? Or am I going to end up with horrible grid lines? What strategies do you all use for working down the page?
  • I guess my biggest question is that this first column has gone well, but I'm not sure how to approach the "big picture" of the entire first page. 
Any tips and advice would be very much appreciated!

- Leigh


10 comments:

  1. OOOHH you are soo brave!!! I cannot see myself ever being brave enough to tackle a HEAD chart...! I am looking forward to reading other peoples tips and advice though; you bring up some things I've been wondering about too! Good Luck, and I cannot wait to see your progress on this one!

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  2. What a courage you have, again a big project. I wish you a lot of happy stitching hours. Sunny Greetings from New Orleans, Alice

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  3. When I can't do a loop start, I just leave a little bit at the back when I first pull my needle through to the front, then anchor it with the rest of the stitch. Does that make sense? I also don't stitch in columns, but rather in rows. I park my needles down rather than across.

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  4. WOW!! Love your new start :)
    Sadly, I can't really help/advise you on any of your questions as I have tried & failed stitching Haed, I'm not a fan of frame (love my qsnap) and obviously don't use the parking methods because most of my projects are small...
    I'm sure other bloggers who have experience with this type of designs will soon come to your rescue :) Rachel for one, I'm sure!

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  5. What a gorgeous chart you chose from Rachel. Now, I may be misunderstanding but are all those knots the waste knots or the threads for parking? I start my threads the same way as Elaine and find that a lot easier.
    There is a great tutorial on Pull the Other Thread's blog - she is an expert when it comes to large projects!

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  6. Thanks, everyone! I should clarify - those are all waste knots; there aren't any parked threads in the picture. I might try Elaine's method for starting threads! I'm not entirely if I'll be able to manage anchoring the thread without flipping the frame over, and since my frame is huge (30 inches!) I don't think I want to flip it every time I start a thread. Hence all the waste knots. I'll keep experimenting and see what works!

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  7. What a wonderful new start! The tension thing is frame related. It's difficult to get the same amount of tension on the fabric with a scroll frame... The q-snaps are definitely easier to use in that respect. You can buy side clips to attach to the sides of the scroll frame so you can get more tension on the fabric. These are pricey so I came up with an alternative solution that costs several dollars (rather than $30!). A couple of pairs of bulldog clips attached to the sides of the frame with string/wool will pull the fabric taught and solve the tension issue. I've got pictures on my blog under the Treasure Hunt tab (My blog is called "The Girl that Stitches). Also I noticed you've rolled the fabric outwards on the scrolls (when viewing from the front). I've found if you roll inwards from the front the tension is better. Pin stitch is usually used with aida... you could still try it but it might be difficult to split the evenweave, especially with the high count fabric your using. I don't generally park, so don't think I can help much with that. You may end up with lines if you stitch in columns... I tend to work in whole pages rather than columns... I guess if you keep your tension consistent you might be lucky and this may not be a problem. You could always stagger the stitches and this will help prevent lines-but that means moving outside of the box/column, which may upset your workflow... Good luck! Hope that helps! :D

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  8. Thank you all so much! Joelle - I re-rolled the fabric inwards, which helped a bit, and your binder clips idea is BRILLIANT. I think I'm in much better shape now!

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