11 February 2016

How To Railroad

Last week in a conversation among stitchers on the 123Stitch message board, the subject of stitching with white thread came up, and I was surprised at the number of stitchers who said they didn't like stitching with white because the stitches didn't look nice or cover well. I suggested railroading, and yesterday I posted a couple of photographs to show how it's done and how well it works. I was surprised again to learn that a number of stitchers hadn't heard of this technique. I had a request to do a blog post about it, so here it is.

Railroading is simply placing your needle between your threads before you pull it through the fabric to ensure the threads lie next to each other smoothly instead of on top of each other or twisted. If you've never done it, it may slow you down quite a bit, but once you get the hang of it it will go much faster. You'll also probably develop a "feel" for how to manipulate your needle as you're stitching so that the threads lie next to each other on their own and you don't actually have to constantly railroad. 


I railroad both bottom and top legs of stitches, which results in nice chubby stitches and full coverage. I don't like to see a lot of fabric under my stitches; I prefer more of a "mosaic tile" look instead of an "xxx" look.

I railroad all my stitches, no matter the color, but I particularly like the results when stitching with black. To me, if something is supposed to be black, it should be black... not flecked with little peeks of the fabric underneath. Here's an example of railroaded black stitches.

I hope this post is helpful to someone. It's been helpful to me to be reminded to share tips and how-to's, and to not assume that everyone already knows. 

Happy Stitching!

06 February 2016

Another Color Conversion

Epic fail on my January stitching goals, but I do have a finish to share. If you've been visiting for a while, you know I love changing colors. This color conversion is one I've had in my head for a while, and I finally accomplished it. 

This is an old Passione Ricamo freebie from 2008. I don't think it's available on her website anymore (at least I haven't been able to find it), but if you want to stitch it you might try contacting the designer. Here's my green conversion, and the original blue version:




linen: 28 ct. Neutral Snowflakes with Silver (Fabric Flair)
blue to green color changes (all DMC):
333 to 890
340 to 320
341 to 368
791 to 319
792 to 367
3747 to 369
eye: 938