One of my blog readers, Jackie Welch, has sent me a picture of a card she has made with a reduced size pattern. Jackie says “I am quite pleased at how delicate the design looks”. If you fancy having a go at this it is easy to reduce the size by changing the print settings in Adobe Reader.
Stitching techniques
Beading needles for prick and stitch card making
Beading needles tend to be much thinner than embroidery needles. The main requirement is that they go through the beads that you are using with room for the thread as well…
How to select the correct size of embroidery needle
When it comes to choosing a needle for paper embroidery it is really a matter of what works best for you. If you have a range of needles in your sewing box then the best thing is to try them to find which one you like best.
How to convert fan stitch to loop stitch on a leaf
Stitched leaves often employ a fan style stitch where most of the thread goes from points on the rim of the leaf into a single hole where it joins the stem. This can easily be converted to a loop stitch using the same holes but having much less thread on the back of the card.
How to find the correct hole to stitch from the back of the card
As you know 50% of the work is stitched from the back of your card and 50% is stitched from the front. The stitching diagram shows you the view of the front of the card. When you turn the card over to work from the back you get a reverse image of the pattern. If you are working on a circle or line it is easy to see which hole to use next. However, if you are working on an area with random dots it becomes more of a challenge…
How to add a stitching font to your computer
There are several stitching fonts available from the Stitching Cards web site. When one of these is installed on your computer you can use any of your word processing programs to type words of your choice ready to stitch.
What else do you do whilst stitching cards?
People sometimes ask if I do my own stitching when I design a card. The answer is that I do stitch them myself. I see it as part of the design process. It enables me to refine the design by having first hand knowledge of how it is working. This brings me to the subject of what else do you do whilst stitching a card.
How to work the ‘S’ curve stitch
When a pattern includes an S shaped curve that is worked with evenly spaced stitches along its length it is hard to visualise. The section where the curve changes from an inside curve to an outside curve is the tricky part.
Once you realise how it works it is just a matter of continuing the stitching and the shape will form itself. However, if you try to analyse it in advance you may find it confusing.
How to stitch a complex pattern
Some prick and stitch patterns are easy to follow whilst others are very complex. The easy ones tend to have shapes based on circles and curves. When the design involves realistic shapes such as human figures, the shapes become more random. The result is that the dots are harder to follow.
How to check for missed holes when pricking out your pattern
When you are stitching your pattern it is very inconvenient and confusing if you missed one or two holes when you were pricking it out. This is most likely to happen where the holes are in a random pattern or there are lots of them in a small area.