Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Page 1 Finish | Sharla

Heaven and Earth Designs Sharla Cross Stitch Update

I'm so happy to be stitching on Sharla again! She's so much fun. Starting her over using tent stitch was the right decision.

Here she is after page one:

Page 1 of Heaven and Earth Designs Sharla Cross Stitch WIP

I was pretty unhappy with how uneven my stitches were turning out through the first page. I couldn't seem to make any changes that would make a difference. I finally figured out it was due to the tension of my fabric. The tighter the tension, the more consistent my stitches look. This probably should have been obvious, but it's the first time I've run into any issue.

I would love to hear how you maintain good tension on your fabric. I imagine a millennium frame is a good investment, but for now I only have a set of q-snaps and a floor stand frame that doesn't hold the tension adequately for long.

18 comments:

  1. That is looking fantastic! I have this german hoop that the outer ring is plastic and a metal spring ring goes inside holds and keeps the fabric as tight as a drum and super light for holding.

    If you find your q-snaps are loose I've heard to put your clamps in the dishwasher the heat sems to tighten them up again.

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    1. Dani, thank you so much for the qsnap suggestion. I may stick just one of the clamps in there and see what happens. I didn't think they were loose, but the tension doesn't hold like I'm expecting. It's definitely possible it used to hold much better.

      That german hoop sounds great. I've seen a tension hoop (I think) on youtube. It sounds similar.

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  2. I think a hoop keeps it the tightest but you have to remove it after each session. I use a FE Edmunds frame it was only $15 on Amazon, it's a split rod scroll frame. It works great for me.

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    Replies
    1. My floor stand/frame is an Edmunds. I'm wondering though if the clamps/knobs are the same on the regular scroll frames. I will have to check into that. My frame uses the same knobs as the stand and they seem to slip easily on the whole thing.

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  3. Love the colours so far on this project. What fabric count are you using? The coverage is excellent. I use a Millenium Frame and for smaller projects I use the stitching frame I bought from Sew it All. They are so much better than Qsnaps as the fabric stays taunt and it never loses that tension like the Qsnaps do. They have 2 websites one in Australia and the other is in the UK.
    xo Alicia

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