You’ve probably heard, as have I that the same thread in different colors can be different thicknesses. I knew it to be true but hard never, until this morning, had the experience where it actually made a difference.
The story goes that the darker the thread the thicker it will be because to get dark colors it has to absorb more dye.
I was working on a Maggie Co geometric this morning and using a kingfisher blue Tapestry wool from DMC. This is not the first time I’ve used this thread, nor was it the first color of this thread used on this piece.
But I hadn’t had any problem, but this stuff was the pits. It distorted the canvas, was hard to pull through, and mad my hands hurt with all the work.
Why?
It was just enough thicker than the other colors to be too thick for the 13 mesh canvas.
Now conventional needlepoint wisdom says you can’t ply tapestry wool. But making the thread thinner was my only option. I couldn’t get more threads as I bought this at a thrift shop. So I pulled out one of the four ply after I had cut about 12″ of thread.
Yes, it was more fragile than an intact strand, but short stitching lengths overcame this, with the thinner thread, the problem was solved.
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
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