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Cross stitching a blanket

(10 posts)

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  1. Marie
    Member

    Good morning,

    I have been doing cross stitching for a few years but have only been doing projects that you mount on frames and basically hide the back. I have just started on my first blanket project and I am not so certain how the back of it is suppose to look like.

    For some reason, when I stitch going towards the right, the back of my work is more padded because I tend to loop the thread more so when you look behind the work, you can't see the blanket anymore, it is completely covered with thread. However when I stitch towards the left side of my middle mark, the padding is not present.

    The main question I have is more about which of the two will be more durable or maybe to find out which of the two is the "proper" way to stitch (with or without the looping). I would post pictures but I don't see a way of attaching images to posts.

    I hope the description is enough to get a good idea of my dilemma.

    Thanks in advance for your help!

    Best regards,
    Marie

    Posted 14 years ago #

  2. Brigitte Gant
    Member

    Hello, Marie, I do not seem to understand what you mean exactly. Not having stitched a blanket myself, I am not sure what you mean by padding. However, I am sure, someone more clever than I will be able to help you.

    Posted 14 years ago #

  3. Marie
    Member

    Maybe then another way of asking the same question would be: What should the stitches at the back of blanket look like? Would anyone have a site I could refer too? I have searched online and can't find anything.

    Thanks!
    Marie

    Posted 14 years ago #

  4. Christine Berrett
    Administrator

    Marie - have you looked at the 'Cross Stitch Basics' section of the Cross Stitch Guild main website? There are diagrams and instructions on there, and I don't think you even need to log in as a member to view them!

    Posted 14 years ago #

  5. Barbara Stone
    Member

    I've been thinking about what you say about the 'padding'. I don't think there is a right or a wrong way to cross stitch a blanket - I certainly didn't change the way I stitched when I did my niece's cot blanket, or my afghan, and they both look alright. As Christine says, have a look at the cross stitch basics and see what it says there, but I don't think you need worry about what the back looks like. Its the front thats the most important, and think of the pride you'll feel when you look at it and know that you stitched it. Good luck.

    Posted 14 years ago #

  6. Marie
    Member

    Well, who would have thought. I am doing my basic stitches wrong! I was always starting my stitch bottom right to top left instead of the bottom left to top right. I'll try and change that tonight and see what is the outcome.

    I have been doing this for so long... I can't believe it never occurred to me to go back to basics.

    Thanks a lot!
    Marie

    Posted 14 years ago #

  7. Brigitte Gant
    Member

    Hi, Marie,
    please please please don't think that your basic stitch is wrong. It really does not matter which way you do your bottom stitch as long as your top stitches are all going the same way. There are some stitchers in my German stitching forum who are puritans of the Ebenseer method - only upright stitches on the back - making it necessary to do the top stitch first at times and then go under it for the bottom stitch. I kind of do it, especially if it saves thread or dragging the thread along unstitched material. However, it is a bit challenging at times and often I cannot see the extra 'headache' is worth it when the back of the work is never going to be seen. I totally agree with Barbara, as long as the front looks good and the back is reasonably tidy, who's to say what's right and what's wrong.

    Posted 14 years ago #

  8. Christine Berrett
    Administrator

    It's not like the stitching police are going to come and inspect our work, after all! I would only say that it's probably not a good idea to have loops on the back of a blanket in case they get caught and pulled.

    Posted 14 years ago #

  9. Marie
    Member

    Well, thank you everyone for the great feedback. I suppose we end up trying to be too much of a perfectionist and forget the whole point of the exercise. It's the intention that counts! :)

    Thanks again!
    Marie

    Posted 14 years ago #

  10. Anonymous

    I stitched an afghan blanket some years ago for my grandson and I lined the back with quilt lining. It covered the stitching on the back and it also avoided the stitching getting caught.
    I don't know if this helps at all.

    Sally H

    Posted 14 years ago #

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