The topic of the back of embroidery projects can be a touchy one.

Many, many people in the stitching world have an opinion on the back of work. For lack of a better term off the top of my head, I’m going to use the phrase “Old School” in this discussion. When I think “Old School,” I think of my aunt. She was an Absolute Stickler about the back of her needlework. I was a kid during the Counted Cross Stitch Boom of the mid-80’s, and while Auntie dabbled in other types of needlework in her lifetime, she was an avid cross stitcher in the 80’s.

When she showed me how to do counted cross stitch back then, I remember her emphasizing the back of the stitching more than the front. It had to be perfect. Little parallel lines everywhere…

And yes, I might be older – I’ve passed the half century mark – but I don’t tend to be Old School when it comes to the back of embroidery. Embroidery isn’t done for the back of the work. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always felt that people who flip your needlework over to inspect the back are looking for faults – and this has always annoyed me.

So I’m not here to nag you about the back of your embroidery.

BUT… (think of this as a mighty big but…)

Good morning! Let’s end the week with a little tip involving embroidery hoops.

This is a topic we’ve touched on before, but I don’t think it hurts to revisit it. I’ll use a note from a reader as a springboard into today’s article:

When you’re doing projects like a tablecloth or your runner that you showed us today, how do you keep the cloth clean in the hoop and around the hoop, and what about all the other cloth you have to hold? What if the circles from the hoop don’t come out? Wouldn’t it be better to work on a frame? …

Do you struggle to choose stitches or colors for your embroidery projects?

Don’t be discouraged if you do! It’s not unusual, no matter where you are in your embroidery journey. Often, it’s trial and error that will give you the answer you want: just the right stitch, or just the perfect color.

Sometimes, your choices will depend very much on the end use of your project. If you’re embroidering something that’s going to be framed on a wall, believe it or not, you have a lot more scope for stitch choice, for the materials you use, and perhaps even the colors that you choose.

If you’re embroidering something that will endure use – whether heavy or light use – you have to consider how it’s going to be used and what it’s going to go through. Will it be laundered? Will it be worn? What will it adorn? Where will it be used? What environment? How will it be stored?

These types of questions can influence your choices on stitch, thread, color, design, fabric – all the choices that you make with any embroidery project that you personally plan.

Let’s start Monday off with an interesting little bit of reading!

I find old needlework books interesting and inspirational, and I’m always grateful for the several online sources that supply access to obscure and hard to find public domain works from past eras of needlework history.

My friend Margaret (at The Sharp Needler) sent along a few publications she’s recently come across in her online explorations. She nerds out the same way I do on these old writings!

I dove into one of the books and was vastly diverted. I thought I’d share it with you today.

Monday, we chatted about my hesitation on the layout of this autumn runner I’m embroidering for my very own house.

Would you believe that this is the first embroidery project I’ve ever intentionally set out on, solely to make something for my own house? Go figure.

I could probably analyze and explain why this is so, if I thought about it long enough, but I don’t want to bore you!

So instead, I’ll just show you where I’m at on my Autumn Table Runner for Me Project.

Here’s a midweek update on our current project – we’re just finishing up a few more prototypes and testing our finishing ideas.

This is a continuation of the project that I showed you in this article on Fuzzy Stitches & Stitch Variety last week.

It’s always an adventure, trying to bring what you have in your mind into reality!

I’m working on the layout for an embroidered autumn table runner.

I mentioned this project last week in this article.

Today, I’ll show you my idea for the runner, we’ll chat about what’s wrong with it so far (as evidenced in the photos), and we’ll talk about how to fix it.