I had stitched for over a decade before I ever did a painted canvas and had done many of them before I encountered a stitch guide.
Now they are very popular. Unhappily the growth in guides also means a growth in sloppiness.
How often have you stitched something where the guide:
didn’t list all the threads that were used?
had you buy lots of threads where only a yard or so was used?
had stitches that do not fit the area in a guide that came with the canvas?
didn’t tell you what thread to use in an area?
It’s hard when you are writing a guide to keep everything straight, I know. My way to do this is to put two asterisks (**) whenever something is left out. As I write the pages are littered with them. I’m missing the color number of the thread, I haven’t decided on the thread, or I need the page number where the diagram can be found. Heck I even put them where I skipped an area to go back to later.
Because I know I’m fallible, I also encourage folks to get back to me with questions, most stitch guide writers welcome this.
As a result I can understand why Katherine of the Boots & Beads blog was frustrated by the missing information in the guide for a recent project. The similar thread colors and the lack of instruction meant she stitched this project three times!
Read her post to find out what happened and to see her pretty result (at long last).
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Marsha 8urad says
I ordered a stitch guide to do the Klimt design Fulfillment for my goddaughter’s wedding present. I used it for the hair. After that, I set aside and made my own decisions. Everyone tells me it turned out beautifully. I think I just needed some help getting started. After that, I knew what I wanted to do. And I wasn’t afraid to rip out what did not work to my eye. It was quite the adventure.