Using half stitches in place of full stitches

I believe I read in the Nordic Needle newsletter some time ago that
using half stitches instead of full cross stitches will make a project
go faster. No kidding. But, to get the same coverage -- would you use 3
strands of floss for the half stitches if you would have used 2 for the
full stitches? Has anyone tried it to make a large project move a
little faster? I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

Thanks - Denise B

On 7/2/06 7:58 AM, in article
, "deniseb"
wrote:

I believe I read in the Nordic Needle newsletter some time ago that
using half stitches instead of full cross stitches will make a project
go faster. No kidding. But, to get the same coverage -- would you use 3
strands of floss for the half stitches if you would have used 2 for the
full stitches? Has anyone tried it to make a large project move a
little faster? I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

Thanks - Denise B


I've seen some very elegant things with mixes of half and full crosses. I
went and looked at Solitude (neat piece BTW) - it could work. Caveat - what
fabric are you doing it on?

Cheryl

I've seen some very elegant things with mixes of half and full crosses. I
went and looked at Solitude (neat piece BTW) - it could work. Caveat - what
fabric are you doing it on?

Cheryl

Like some of the others here --- aida. My eyes just can't take the the
detail of linen or other evenweaves. I love linen for small quick
projects, but my eyes just aren't up to much more. Solitude's pattern
calls for full stitches, no back stitches or half stitches - Do you
think I should mix full and half stitches???

Denise

I've seen some very elegant things with mixes of half and full crosses. I
went and looked at Solitude (neat piece BTW) - it could work. Caveat - what
fabric are you doing it on?

Cheryl

Like some of the others here --- aida. My eyes just can't take the the
detail of linen or other evenweaves. I love linen for small quick
projects, but my eyes just aren't up to much more. Solitude's pattern
calls for full stitches, no back stitches or half stitches - Do you
think I should mix full and half stitches???

Denise

deniseb wrote:

I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

What they're doing with the Mystic Stitch and Heaven and Earth
Designs-type patterns is "tent stitch" (aka half cross), where they're
going over 1 with 2 strands on small counts (e.g., 25-count lugana). I
believe that's the classic needlepoint stitch, so they sometimes have to
be blocked when when you're finished.

I personally wouldn't do it on Aida or anything bigger than, say
22-count Hardanger or if you're going over 2 on linen/evenweave, but
that's just me.



--
Elizabeth
aka LizardGumbo

Pop the bubbles to reply.
www.effervescentdesigns.com

Using half stitches would probably make the project go faster, but it
will also distort your fabric, making it more difficult to stretch and
frame. I used to work for a cross stitch shop, and we saw that a lot on
pieces that had the background done in half stitches.

Just my 2 cents,
Mandy

deniseb wrote:
I believe I read in the Nordic Needle newsletter some time ago that
using half stitches instead of full cross stitches will make a project
go faster. No kidding. But, to get the same coverage -- would you use 3
strands of floss for the half stitches if you would have used 2 for the
full stitches? Has anyone tried it to make a large project move a
little faster? I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

Thanks - Denise B

"deniseb" ) writes:
I believe I read in the Nordic Needle newsletter some time ago that
using half stitches instead of full cross stitches will make a project
go faster. No kidding. But, to get the same coverage -- would you use 3
strands of floss for the half stitches if you would have used 2 for the
full stitches? Has anyone tried it to make a large project move a
little faster? I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

Thanks - Denise B


I did a pattern once, I think it was a Dimensions kit of three cats
looking out of a window. Part of the sky was done with the same colour as
full crosses, and some half crosses. The effect was beautiful, and it
does make a difference to the look of the piece if you mix full and half
stitches.

On 7/2/06 8:29 AM, in article
, "deniseb"
wrote:


I've seen some very elegant things with mixes of half and full crosses. I
went and looked at Solitude (neat piece BTW) - it could work. Caveat - what
fabric are you doing it on?

Cheryl

Like some of the others here --- aida. My eyes just can't take the the
detail of linen or other evenweaves. I love linen for small quick
projects, but my eyes just aren't up to much more. Solitude's pattern
calls for full stitches, no back stitches or half stitches - Do you
think I should mix full and half stitches???

Denise


I agree - aida is a good choice. But I was more thinking along the lines of
what color?

Cheryl

No matter how many strands you use the coverage will not be quite the
same. Do a test block of ten by ten stitches to see how many strands
look sufficient to you. You can use this method and it will be faster
than full crosses. Tent stitch won't distort Aida as much as it would
some other fabrics as long as you don't prewash the fabric or pull your
stitches too tight. Aida tends to be rather stiff and hold its shape.
Using a real tent stitch instead of merely a half cross stitch will also
help keep the fabric from going askew.
Examples (working from left to right):

Half-cross Up at A, down at B, up at C, down at D

B D

A C


Tent stitch Up at A, down at B, up at C, down at D

A C

B D

One thing to consider is you will have a lot less coverage on the back
to hold your thread ends so you might want to run the thread under a few
stitches, whip it around (the back of) a stitch, and then run it back
the other direction under a few stitches to keep it secure. It will
also be more obvious on the front where you have buried thread ends on
the back because the stitches you have run the end through will be
pulled tighter. Go back and gently lift the front of those stitches
back up after burying an end. You also will not be able to carry thread
from one location to another easily because that will be more visible
from the front than when you stitch with full crosses. I'm not familiar
with the chart so don't know if it has confetti stitches, but those will
be much more of a pain if present.

I think Solitude will look even more misty and ethereal if done with
tent stitches so go for it!

deniseb wrote:
I believe I read in the Nordic Needle newsletter some time ago that
using half stitches instead of full cross stitches will make a project
go faster. No kidding. But, to get the same coverage -- would you use 3
strands of floss for the half stitches if you would have used 2 for the
full stitches? Has anyone tried it to make a large project move a
little faster? I want to start a new Mystic Stitch pattern - Solitude
and thought this might work well on it.

--
Brenda
Zuma Survivor!

"Brenda Lewis" wrote in message
...


--
Brenda
Zuma Survivor!

If you`ve finished Zuma - I`ll spit in your eye!!!

Pat P