Saga American Sampler/Advice on Frame

Olwynmary wrote:
Sometimes, pieces I have been working on for a long time look like a crumpled
rag by the time I finish, but I rest serene in the knowledge that once it is
finished and laundered, it will look beautiful. Just don't worry about the
wrinkles until every last stitch has been put in . ..

I really smiled a big smile when I read this. Embroidery - no matter
what kind you are doing (ok . . . the exception is Japanese and other
meticulous fastidious embroideries) often look absolutely horrible by
the time you're through stitching. Once washed and pressed (face down)
the embroidery comes alive - shining gloriously. The ground is
pristine. The threads looking fresh and plump. Embroideries look
doubly bad if you use that washable blue pen. That particular color
blue just screams around either white or colors, and you wonder why on
earth you ever started.

I pre-wash if the fabric shrinks LOTS. On unknown fabrics, I often wash
a test swatch just to see. But most fabrics we purchase has minimal (if
any) shrinkage these days, so the advice above is good, particularly
with some embroideries like padded whitework, French quilting, early
methods of candlewicking wherein you NEED the fabric to shrink up.

I've been so tickled to see you posting.

Dianne