Compensating Diagonal Stitches - Part 2

This blog post is a continuation of compensation of diagonal stitches (on the true diagonal) for unusual shapes - arguably one of the more difficult areas of needlepoint.

Here is my shape that I want to fill.  And this is important - I want to fill this shape.  What does that mean?  That means I want to cover all those lines that are drawn on the canvas.  Many times the stitcher wonders if the lines should be covered or not.  Ask yourself, are you filling the shape or surrounding the shape or stitching next to the shape?  If you are filling the shape, cover the lines.  If you are surrounding the shape, or stitching next to the shape, do not cover the lines.

Initial Shape - To Fill

As said in the previous blog post, Compensating Diagonal Stitches - Part 1, begin stitching in an area that will give you a long enough line of stitches so that you can establish the stitch pattern.  Again I am using the Diagonal Scotch Stitch, though this technique will work for any diagonal stitch on the true diagonal.  So here is my first row of stitching:

First Row of Stitching

Notice that I am covering the lines.  The second row begins below the first row, and I choose to stitch the small tent stitch underneath the longest stitch of the previous row to start my stitch pattern.

Second Row of Stitching

The green arrow above indicates my starting point.  I don’t want to start where I need to compensate, I want to start where I know it is easy to establish the stitch pattern.  

Let’s look at the third row:

Third Row of Stitching

OK, now in this third row I have encountered my first real problem - indicated by the green arrow.  How long should this compensating stitch be?  Well, I”m not really sure.  This is where a lot of angst comes in for the stitcher.  Here is my advice, err on the side of caution - place a shorter stitch here if you are not quite sure, or skip this stitch for now and see how the curve develops with further rows of stitching.  If you skip this stitch, just remember to put it in later, if you place a shorter stitch and you really feel that to achieve a nice curve, a longer stitch would have been better you can fix it.  How?  

Shhhh... Don’t tell anyone, but place a longer stitch over the top of that tent stitch.  Watch the tension of the stitch so it lies nicely next to the stitches on either side, but in the end, no one will know what you did.

Does that surprise you?  

Confidence in knowing what to do in these situations is a difference in experience.  Learning tips, tricks and techniques for different complicated issues will allow you to gain confidence and tackle these problem areas without hesitation.

Another thing about this row, I stopped stitching when the next stitch is not contiguous with the previous stitch - I’ll just add those stitches later.  Notice this curve bends inward.  If I drag my thread to the next stitch in this row, I may have that thread run behind an open area, or an area with a lighter thread in color and it may shadow through.  Safer to fill it in later.

OK, let’s look at the next row:

Fourth Row of Stitching

The green arrow in the fourth row of stitching points to my starting point.  Am I concerned that I did not start lower down, because there is all that canvas below the green arrow that needs to be filled with this row of stitches?  No, I want to start stitching where I know that I can accurately begin my stitch pattern, and for me that’s the first tent stitch underneath the longest stitch of the row above it (here the longest stitch is a compensated stitch, so perhaps I should refer to it as the corner stitch.)

Let’s look at the next row:

Fifth Row of Stitching

Nothing very interesting here, just notice that I am at the bottom of the shape and the last two stitches are compensated, that’s what the green arrow is pointing to.

Filling in the last row of stitches:

Sixth Row of Stitching

I am now at the end of my regular stitching, defined as stitching below the previous row, and I need to fill in those open areas, most will be compensating stitches.

Where do I go from my last stitch?

Here is what I would do if I still had thread in the needle with which to stitch.

Seventh Row of Stitching

I have three arrows included in this diagram and they indicate where to place tacking stitches on the back of the canvas.  Remember that you want the pull of the last stitch to be consistent with the stitch before it so after stitching the last blue stitch in that corner, I place a tacking stitch at Arrow A.  This tacking stitch will maintain the downward pull on the last stitch in the corner.  I then travel up to number 1 and place those two tent stitches.  (There is really no good place to put a tacking stitch before placing the stitch at number 1, and my thread is coming from below that point so I will let it go.)  I need to place a tacking stitch at Arrow B to maintain the downward pull on that last tent stitch (ending at number 4) prior to moving to the stitch starting at the number 5.  However, I need to change the direction of the pull on that thread traveling across the back of the canvas, and need to place a tacking stitch at Arrow C.

Got that?  Sometimes one tacking stitch will do, but sometimes you need two tacking stitches.  Always look at the pull on the last stitch before traveling to a new location, and then again, look at the pull on the first stitch at your new location.  Both of these stitches must match the pull on the stitches as if there was no break in your stitching from one diagonal row to another.

OK, now the eighth row:

Eighth Row of Stitching

Oh dear, here is another compensating stitch in which there is not a definitive answer to the length of the stitch (green arrow.)  However, I am looking at the drawn line and it looks like it is pretty straight along this area, and I want my stitches to follow the line, not stick out from this line.  So I think that a stitch over one canvas thread will work well here.  Again, I will not know for sure until I stitch the whole area.

Moving on to the next row:

Ninth Row of Stitching

Remember to place tacking stitches!  OK, now I have moved down to the bottom of the shape and put in the brown stitches.  The green arrow is pointing at a last compensating stitch that needs to be placed.  Again, it is not completely obvious that the stitch goes there, but if I want to have a curve there I had better put that little tent stitch in - which is shown in the next diagram.

Tenth Row of Stitching

I have now filled in all of the compensating stitches for the bottom part of the shape and now must move to the top part.  My advice is not to pull your thread on the back all the way to the top, but end your thread at the bottom and begin a new thread.  

I am showing all the rest of the stitches that fill in the shape in the final stitch diagram:

Filled in Compensating Stitches for Top Part of Shape

At this point you can look at your filled in shape to determine if you have achieved a nice curve or need to adjust some of those compensating stitches.  We will look at that issue and a way to smooth out curves in the next blog post.

Herringbone Stitch Compensation

For this blog posting I am going to concentrate on the Herringbone Stitch.  There are many variations of this stitch, depending on the slant of the stitch, the width and the height of the stitch, as well as the numbers of threads in the separation of each “v” of the stitch.  Compensation must take into account all of these variations, there is not one way to do it for every variation of the stitch.

Let’s look at the Herringbone Stitch that is two threads high and two threads wide:

Herringbone Stitch - 2 wide x 2 high

The red lines show the compensating stitches.  Since this stitch follows the 45 degree diagonal of the square grid, the compensation is straight forward and no guessing is needed.

Here is a stitched sample:

Herringbone Stitch - 2 wide x 2 high

Looking at the back of the canvas:

Herringbone Stitch - back of canvas

There is not much thread on the back of the canvas to weave in ending threads.  In fact the stitches on the back of the canvas are over one thread. 

Let’s look at two difficulty issues that the Herringbone Stitch may cause:

1. It is hard to end threads on the back of the canvas.
2. The step back stitch (as in going from 2 to 3), the thread goes back one canvas thread and many times it can be pulled under the thread that is supposed to separate where the needle went into the canvas (at point 2) and where it is brought out of the canvas (at point 3.)

For Point 1:

The first piece of advice that I can give about weaving in ending threads is :  get a sharp needle - a crewel needle or an embroidery sharp needle is better than a sewing needle, but that will work too.  The embroidery sharp needle is the easiest to use because the eye of the needle is as large as a tapestry needle.

Let’s look at a stitched Herringbone Stitch sample:

Herringbone Stitch ending threads showing through to front of canvas

The arrows are pointing to ending threads showing through to the front of the canvas.  Let’s look at the back:

Red arrow - ending threads diagonally on the back of canvas

Blue arrow - ending threads horizontally on the back of the canvas

This is the back of the sample and you will notice that you do not see the ending threads on the left side of the stitching where the ending threads are woven into the stitches on the back (and I had to use a sharp needle because there is not much thread on the back of the canvas.)  Notice that ending the threads horizontally means that the ending threads show through to the front.  It is much better to end the threads on a diagonal on the back, meaning you have to weave through a top stitch, then a bottom stitch, then a top stitch, etc.

Other options for ending threads - weave them into stitches next to the Herringbone Stitches.  This is an option, but unless I absolutely have to (like for darning stitches) I always try to end threads behind the stitches that the thread was used to stitch them.  Why?

First, I don’t have to worry about thread shadows showing through stitches with lighter colored threads.  Second, if I have to rip out stitches, I don’t want to disturb stitches in surrounding areas - this just makes it easier for me.  If you’ve ever ripped out stitches and had all these ending threads in them from other areas you’ll know that this can really be a problem.  Maintaining stitch tension on those stitches from surrounding areas is nigh impossible.

Now for Point 2:

Having threads slide under the intersection of the canvas thread is a pain.  Let’s look at the canvas:

Canvas thread on top is vertical

When the top thread is vertical, any stitch over one horizontal canvas thread (as in the Herringbone example above) may slip under that vertical canvas thread.  This usually happens when the area you are stitching in has been disturbed (as in ripping out stitches and stitching over the area again.)  Canvas has some starch in it and that makes the canvas threads “stitck” a bit to each other when you first stitch on the canvas.  However, if you break this bond, then threads can easily slip around, as well as disforming the canvas threads with tight stitching tension.

This is a problem with a linen ground fabric also.  People who work on linen have to take more care in their stitching tension than canvas stitchers.  So watch your tension.

Try not to start a horizontal run of Herringbone Stitch that has an over one canvas thread stitch across the back of the canvas with a vertical stitch on the top.

If you are stitching Herringbone vertically, the opposite is true, don’t have the top canvas thread be a horizontal thread if you have an over one stitch on the back of the canvas.

Canvas thread on top is horizontal

Now let’s look at a variation of the Herringbone Stitch that is not square.  

Herringbone Stitch - 3 high x 4 wide

The important issue with respect to any stitch that is not a a true diagonal - the compensated stitches must have a slant as close to the slant of the original stitches.  I drew the compensating stitches in the diagram in red using the same angle as the original stitches to find where they would enter the canvas.  Let’s look at a stitched sample to determine if the slant is correct.

Herringbone Stitch - 4 wide x 3 high - Arrows pointing to compensated stitches

The compensated stitches are executed with white thread so that they stand out.  I will look at the slant of these stitches to determine if they are correct.  With this sample, I am happy with the slant - that is the only way to know if a compensated stitch will work - look at the slant of the stitch and compare it to a previous whole stitch. 

A Look at Eyelet Stitches

Have you ever given thought to how your eyelet stitches look?  Sometimes they do not look very good because of how they are executed.  Let me explain.

First let’s take a look at a typical eyelet stitch and how it is executed:

I stitched this eyelet with #5 perle cotton on 18 count canvas.  I did not enlarge the center hole and I followed the stitch diagram to the right of the stitched sample.  If you look at this sample, and it is more evident if you look at one that you stitched yourself, you will notice that the stitches start to build up on top of each other as you go around the circle of the eyelet (esp. stitches 25 through 31.)   That is because you have 15 stitches all going down into the same hole in the center and there is just not enough room for them all, especially if you do not open that hole a little bit.

So let’s compare this first stitch sample with one stitched the same way except that I opened the center hole prior to stitching.

By enlarging the center hole I have eliminated most of the thread build up towards the end of the eyelet stitch.  One thing that you need to be careful of is that you enlarge all of your holes exactly the same size.  The tension that you stitch with will also affect the hole size, you do not want different center hole sizes with your stitches.  I enlarge my holes with my laying tool, a very large needle will also work.

Now, let’s say you really do not want to increase the hole size, that is fine.  But you want to eliminate that thread buildup.  Here is a way to achieve a nicer looking stitch without increasing the size of the center hole:

I have changed the way I have executed this stitch.  I am now going around the circle of the eyelet 3 times, instead of just once.  This produces a nicer looking stitch.

As a final note, remember to execute stitches consistently.  Here is an example of stitching eyelet stitches with 2 different starting points.  After stitching the first one, I decided to stitch the next one (to the right of the first stitch) and wanted to start as close to the first stitch as I could.  This saves me thread and also I do not travel across open canvas with the thread on the back, which I am concerned about too.

You may wonder, just what is wrong with those concerns?  The concerns are justified, but you are sacrificing how nicely your stitching could look if you stitched consistently.  Remember about thread buildup - the first eyelet has thread building up as you approach the first stitch which is the vertical one on the top of the eyelet.  However, the thread build up on the second eyelet is at a different location.  It looks different.  You want all of your eyelet stitches to look the same.  So start all of your stitches in the same place.  

If you are concerned about thread travel on the back, run the thread underneath the first eyelet to the right most edge of the stitch then place a tacking stitch in an area of the canvas that will be covered by the second eyelet.  As for saving thread, you won’t, but there’s not that much extra thread used with this method.

Also, placing a tacking stitch underneath an eyelet, even with perle cotton, is not a problem, because the tacking stitch will easily be covered with all of the thread used with this stitch.

Scotch Stitch Tips

Many stitchers could stitch Scotch Stitches better if they know two things, and both have to do with thread tension.  These two techniques may also be used for Cashmere Stitches and Pavilion Stitches, basically any stitches that have short stitches and long stitches.

Both issues can be seen in this example.  The first issue involves that short stitch - it really needs to be plump or else it will be buried by the stitch next to it.  This is due to too much tension placed on the (typically) first stitch executed in the Scotch Stitch, though I have pointed out the first stitch on the right and the last stitch pointed out on the left.

To solve this problem, ease up on the tension for that diagonal stitch over one canvas thread.  This should leave that small stitch plumper.

The second issue is that the middle stitch wants to lift up higher than all the other stitches, basically  because it is longer and the tension is just not maintained well.  

The picture below shows one stitch in the upper right hand corner that pulled up, while the other three are not raised.  You may find that placing a tacking stitch just before stitching the longest stitch will solve this problem.

The tacking stitch is underneath the Scotch Stitch and therefore hidden.  Remember the thread type may mean that you can not use this technique, only those threads that will lay low enough to be hidden when stitched over will work.

Here is a stitch diagram of a typical Scotch Stitch:

These two stitch diagrams show where to place the tacking stitch during the execution of the Scotch Stitch:

Next time you see these two issues with your Scotch, Cashmere or Pavilion Stitch, try one or both of these tips.