Fastening corded edging to needlepoint

Well, after having been dry cleaned, my needlepoint tea cosy hung in the closet
for two months and I am finally getting around to finishing.

I have sewn all together, and before inserting the lining, am sewing on a
corded edge over the seam between the fabric backing and the needlepoint front.
I made 'barber pole' cording by twisting two thread segments of pearl cotton in
matching colors. I was expecting more cooperation from the threads in twisting
the two colors together, but any variation in the twists can be worked out
easily. I combed the threads before twisting with an old wig brush, so the cord
is fairly smooth.

I am at the point where I am ready to sew on the cording. What do you think? A
fairly small stitch? The canvas is 14 count. About 14 stitches to the inch?
The cord is about a cm thick. Should I do 2 lines of stitching, front and back?

TIA
Dora

KLUNK!

Not a bad idea, but I would get glue all over everything.

dora

Lucretia Borgia

Hope nobody faints but I have often used fabric glue for this purpose
on items that are not going in the washer regularly. I only have a
household sewing machine, am not great at using it and find glue gives
a far nicer, smoother finish, placing the cording exactly where it
needs to go over the canvas and butting right up to the stitching.

Sheena

The way we were taught in finishing class with Marcia Brown was to use
thread the same color as your twisted cord and use a simple overcast stitch
being certain that the thread goes into the "valley" of the twisted cord and
does not show...hope I am explaining myself clear enough-Marie in Pa

"Lucretia Borgia" wrote in message
...
On 03 Apr 2004 04:47:48 GMT, ospam (Bungadora)
wrote:

Well, after having been dry cleaned, my needlepoint tea cosy hung in the
closet
for two months and I am finally getting around to finishing.

I have sewn all together, and before inserting the lining, am sewing on a
corded edge over the seam between the fabric backing and the needlepoint
front.
I made 'barber pole' cording by twisting two thread segments of pearl
cotton in
matching colors. I was expecting more cooperation from the threads in
twisting
the two colors together, but any variation in the twists can be worked
out
easily. I combed the threads before twisting with an old wig brush, so
the cord
is fairly smooth.

I am at the point where I am ready to sew on the cording. What do you
think? A
fairly small stitch? The canvas is 14 count. About 14 stitches to the
inch?
The cord is about a cm thick. Should I do 2 lines of stitching, front and
back?

TIA
Dora
Hope nobody faints but I have often used fabric glue for this purpose
on items that are not going in the washer regularly. I only have a
household sewing machine, am not great at using it and find glue gives
a far nicer, smoother finish, placing the cording exactly where it
needs to go over the canvas and butting right up to the stitching.

Sheena

Dora wrote:

I am at the point where I am ready to sew on the cording. What do you think?
A fairly small stitch? The canvas is 14 count. About 14 stitches to the inch?
The cord is about a cm thick. Should I do 2 lines of stitching, front and
back?

Couch the cording down. But don't let the couching thread pass over the bumps
of the cord; hide it in the valleys of the cord. Your couching stitches will
have to be at an angle as they pass over the cord, but they will disappear.
You can adjust the twist of the cord as you sew along and you may want to use a
sharp needle.

HTH

Nancy Sue,
Professional Project Starter
Nancy Sue,
Professional Project Starter

From: ospam (Bungadora)

I am at the point where I am ready to sew on the cording. What do you think?
A
fairly small stitch? The canvas is 14 count. About 14 stitches to the inch?
The cord is about a cm thick. Should I do 2 lines of stitching, front and
back?

Have you thought about couching the cording on? IMNSHO, it's much easier.
If you use thread or floss of the same color it will be invisible. I will do
my couching stitches at an angle so that the couching thread lays in the
depression where the strands of cording have been twisted together -- does that
make sense?
With heavy cording, I will usually do two passes and depending on the size
of the cording, I stitch every other "depression" on each run. If you have
heavy cording and you alternate the start point, eventually every "depression"
has a couching fiber holding it down. This is necessary on heavy cording to
keep it in place.
On lighter weight cording, I will do an angled couching stitch every 3 or 4
"depressions" or whatever looks close enough. Every now and again, I also
stitch right through the cording just to be safe -- you know how anal I get --
LOL!
Anyway, I find this method much easier for attaching cording that lays on
the top of something as opposed to flanged cording. Good Luck and let us know
what you finally decide to do, OK? CiaoMeow ^;;^
..

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ Queen of Kitties
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their
WHISKERS!!
Nothing is complete without a few cat hairs!

Good Morning Mary,
I did mine the way you described it and it's held very well. One pillow has
been tossed around for years. The only thing I can add is if you're using
heavy cord you could use the very thin nylon thread. It's kind of hard to
keep it from kinking when you're doing the overcast, or couching stitch, but
it really does hold well.

Lucille


"Tia Mary-remove nekoluvr to reply " wrote in
message ...
From: ospam (Bungadora)

I am at the point where I am ready to sew on the cording. What do you
think?
A
fairly small stitch? The canvas is 14 count. About 14 stitches to the
inch?
The cord is about a cm thick. Should I do 2 lines of stitching, front and
back?

Have you thought about couching the cording on? IMNSHO, it's much
easier.
If you use thread or floss of the same color it will be invisible. I will
do
my couching stitches at an angle so that the couching thread lays in the
depression where the strands of cording have been twisted together -- does
that
make sense?
With heavy cording, I will usually do two passes and depending on the
size
of the cording, I stitch every other "depression" on each run. If you
have
heavy cording and you alternate the start point, eventually every
"depression"
has a couching fiber holding it down. This is necessary on heavy cording
to
keep it in place.
On lighter weight cording, I will do an angled couching stitch every 3
or 4
"depressions" or whatever looks close enough. Every now and again, I also
stitch right through the cording just to be safe -- you know how anal I
get --
LOL!
Anyway, I find this method much easier for attaching cording that lays
on
the top of something as opposed to flanged cording. Good Luck and let us
know
what you finally decide to do, OK? CiaoMeow ^;;^
.

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ Queen of Kitties
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their
WHISKERS!!
Nothing is complete without a few cat hairs!

Ok. I'm getting a consistent message here. Couch, stitch in the depressions, at
and angle. Got it.

I figure making the cord was the hard part. The cats won't find the stitching
to be half as tantalizing.

Dora

You can do this, Dora. sometimes you end up angling the needle,
sometimes it's exactly perpendicular. It depends upon the cord. For
instance, home-made cord sometimes isn't consistent in twist.

People call it "couching" and it is. But it is *also* whipping, since
you use a whip stitch to couch it down. How's that for confusion?

It is quick once you get the hang of where to poke the needle - so watch
what you're doing so you can figure out exactly where "the needle goes
in here and out there". :-)

Done correctly, you will NOT see any thread. On home-made cord, you can
sometimes twist up a bit to get it more consistent and make it easier to
whip down.

Dianne

Bungadora wrote:
Ok. I'm getting a consistent message here. Couch, stitch in the depressions, at
and angle. Got it.

I figure making the cord was the hard part. The cats won't find the stitching
to be half as tantalizing.

Dora

Good show Dianne. I'm not surprised that you know the correct name for the
stitch I was trying to describe.
Thanks again for having so much useful knowledge.
Lucille


"Dianne Lewandowski" wrote in message
...
You can do this, Dora. sometimes you end up angling the needle,
sometimes it's exactly perpendicular. It depends upon the cord. For
instance, home-made cord sometimes isn't consistent in twist.

People call it "couching" and it is. But it is *also* whipping, since
you use a whip stitch to couch it down. How's that for confusion?

It is quick once you get the hang of where to poke the needle - so watch
what you're doing so you can figure out exactly where "the needle goes
in here and out there". :-)

Done correctly, you will NOT see any thread. On home-made cord, you can
sometimes twist up a bit to get it more consistent and make it easier to
whip down.

Dianne

Bungadora wrote:
Ok. I'm getting a consistent message here. Couch, stitch in the
depressions, at
and angle. Got it.

I figure making the cord was the hard part. The cats won't find the
stitching
to be half as tantalizing.

Dora

Lucille wrote:
Good show Dianne. I'm not surprised that you know the correct name for the
stitch I was trying to describe.

Perfect opportunity for me to add some more info to all your (and our
collective) vast stitching knowledge. :-)

Two years ago (about) I started a drawn thread curtain for my bathroom.
Thanks to Stefania Bressan (our resident Italian expert), she helped
me figure out a "picture" I wanted to copy in drawn thread. I learned
about "rules and no rules" and eagerly began this project. It was going
smoothly.

Then I got very ill.

This curtain sat in its tambour hoop. I stared at it every day.
Wistfully some days. Regretably other days. Guilt-ridden more often
than not.

I didn't have the will to pick it up again. I lost my nerve. My verve.
My enthusiasm.

Last week, new medications, new doctors, impending more bad health news
seemed to trigger something within me. I wanted that curtain.

Mind you: it's drawn thread. It's partially done . . . with lots of
dangling threads on the back. It's a good-sized curtain. It was
FILTHY. About two-years worth of dust and air pollution.

Last evening, I said, "Enough!" I undid the hoop with a screwdriver
(yes, it was clamped tight). I got out a plastic tub, filled it with
Woolite and soaked it an hour in hot water.

Still dirty.

New hot water, more Woolite, this time a good handful of Clorox2. After
an hour: still dirty.

So, more rinsing, more hot water, more Woolite and a bigger handful of
Clorox2.

This morning: it's pristine white again, draped over my ironing board.

Now don't everybody encourage me. I still have to get up my nerve and
only I can do that. But I'm relating this story because so many are
fearful of washing less delicate projects, and worrying about getting
things clean, about removing hoop marks (I mean, we're talking about 2
years here clamped tight). My piece is fine. Like new. Ready for me
to get just a little more courage. The courage I need doesn't have to
do with the embroidery (well, getting into the rhythm, maybe), it has to
do with "doing".

There's a bit of a tangled thread mess, but I can straighten that out.
I was careful not to agitate the piece to avoid any more tangles than
were necessary.

Dianne