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| KNOW-HOW |
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How can I limit the number of colours when designing a sampler?
The best way to limit colours when working on a design is to choose, say, four main colours, and then choose a light, dark and medium shade in each colour, so that you end up with twelve shades of thread. While this will give you the freedom of using 12 shades, the fact that they are all from four basic colours will help bring the design together.
I would like to try stitching on different coloured fabrics but how can I be sure that the colours will work?
Lay the threads used in the design across the colour of fabric you wish to use. This will give you an immediate impression of whether the colours work or not. Check that the colours work on the fabric both individually and as a whole, and also check that none of the shades are lost in the colour of the fabric. If you are still unsure, it is worth stitching a small test area on the fabric to indicate how the threads show up.
I want to backstitch round a simple floral design, but black seems to look too harsh - what shade should I use?
Black thread CAN look very severe when added as backstitch to delicate designs. Try using a darker colour of the shade already used in the design. For example, if your flower is in shades of pink, choose a very dark pink to use as the outlining colour. You should find that this gives the stitching a much softer finish.
I tried designing a picture recently, but found that the colours looked darker when stitched on the fabric than they did in the shop.
Threads do tend to look just a touch darker when worked as cross stitch than on the skein. This is because the top arm of the cross stitch creates just a very slight shadow on the lower stitch, making the finished colour darker. Although this shouldn't make a lot of difference to the finished design it is worth bearing in mind when you first choose your threads.
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