Stitch Play Sampler

[Sheila]

Hi Oriel!

That's fantastic! I'm so glad! It will be a lot of fun having you along, and no worries about questions. This is sewing by the seat of our pants, and figuring it out and designing it to suit our tastes and ideas as we go along.

You can pick whatever color of fabric you want as long as it's 25 count, although you could do a different thread count, if you wanted to. I can't say with any certainty, but I think the main thing that would be affected would be the lettering for the cover.

Regarding colors, I'd pick colors and threads that appeal to you - without regard to what the others are doing. When we were working on the Nesting Place, it was really fun to see how Mirabilys introduced different colors into her book than those originally specified. It got several of us thinking about trying out some different things on our books so that in the end, they were all different.

So use some threads from your stash, or get some that you have had a hankering to try! It is Needle Play after all!

Also, I have a feeling I might try to incorporate some of Mary's little stitching projects into those squares. Wouldn't that be fun?

I'm glad you're joining us.

If you use a fat quarter size, I think a 14", 15" or 16" frame or combination of those lengths will make finishing easier at the end.

~ Sheila

[KAKS]

Nice to meet you Oriel. A long time neighbor whom I refer to as my aunt, is originally from England and she lived in New Zealand many years ago. She will get a kick out of my group of stitching friends! Regarding the fabric, for me, I thought a neutral color fabric would be good so that I can play around with the threads and see what the heck I am doing as I stitch. And, the cream one was out of stock. For this, maybe the color doesn't really matter too much??? I have no knowledge about ground fabric, so I just read Mary's info and go from there! Looking forward to Stitch Play.

[Oriel]

Thanks for the nice welcome! I have purchased my fabric 25ct white Lugana 20" by 27" which is a 52% cotton and 48% rayon fabric, I may even get some 25 ct Linen before we start depends if I go to the next town before we start. I have a frame which I haven't used before (I have always used hoops) so I will give it a try before we start. I am also going to be on the look out for different threads and different colours as I usually tend to use shades of pinks and purples.
Now for my first question ........
Will I cut the fabric in half so that I have two pieces of say 10 x 13 and a half inches and then stitch around the edges to stop any fraying so that I am then ready to start? I have printed out the PDF file so am ready to embroider.
So looking forward to starting.
Cheers
Oriel

[Sheila]

Hi ladies!

I got the fabric ordered from Joadie at Hedgehog this afternoon. I'll let you know as soon as it comes in.

I guess the first order of business when it arrives will be sewing the edges to prevent fraying, and then soaking it in water and getting it on the frame?

~ Sheila

[KAKS]

What size frame? I need to order one. I hope I can order that today. I bought a 1/2 yard, so should I just use half of it? I can whip stitch ithe edges. Is that ok?

[Oriel]

I have just looked at Mary's tutorial on Dressing a Slate Frame for Embroidery and it looks quite daunting to me I may even have to revert to using a hoop if I cannot master the frame!! Will give it a go though but will have a practice first!

[Sheila]

(Pssssst. Kathy - I think you missed the part where I said I wasn't exactly sure of what we are doing... *wink*)

If you have your fabric, let's see what frame size looks comfortable. I won't have mine for a few days yet. Do you want to wait to order your frames until I get my fabric and I can see if my 15" Evertite bars will work? This is what I'm *planning* on working with, but my plans may have to change if I get the fabric and it's clear that the frames are too small, or too big. I *think* they'll work, but it's good to be flexible, right?

Regarding the whipped edges, I'm guessing that will work. I don't have that nifty machine that serges the edges, so one of the projects I'm working on, I just hemmed so I didn't have straggly frayed ends all over the place.

~ Sheila

[Sheila]

Just reread your question, yes, let's use the minimum for framing up. The design is 8 x 10 inches or so, but you want to leave turning under room, exactly like we did for the Nesting Place. This is sort of a larger version of the Nesting Place, with an embroidered liner, or a fabric liner, instead of the needle felting.

Sheila

[KAKS]

Hi Guys, I downloaded the polar graph paper today that Mary mentioned in a post regarding placement of flower petals. I am thinking of using it to make a flower on our sampler. It was very easy, once I learned which download button to hit. If you are interested in printing the default polar graph paper, use the download button at the very bottom of the page. It looks like the parameters can be customized as well. I didn't try that yet. Thanks for the tip Mary!

[Sheila]

Hi Kathy and all!

I got my fabric a few days ago, and finally had time today to get things set up. I think, just to keep it easy, I'll post my steps on another thread titled "Stitch Play Setup"...

Sheila