
Many needlepoint stitches have discrete units as well as obvious rows. Box, Straight, and many Cross Stitches are examples of these. If you are using this kind of stitch and have a dyelot problem, there is an easy fix.
In each row, leave out one or more units of the stitch. The number you leave out depends on the length of your row and the shortfall in your main dyelot. When you leave out units always estimate you’ll have less of your main dyelot than you expect. You can always go back and fill in some of the skipped units with your main thread.
They key to making this work is that no two empty units should touch each other vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. That’s because adjoining units in the second dyelot will create visual holes and draw attention to themselves.
By scattering the units in the second dyelot randomly throughout the area, you dilute the difference in color. Each unit will be less noticeable. You will not have the hard line at the color change.
The more variety there is in the initial color or thread the less obvious the difference will be. In this block the variation in value in theses Threadworx silks means a similar color would be hardly noticed, even if the dyelot were different.
Once you have completed your area with the main dyelot, fill in the random blocks with either the original thread or a new dyelot.
If you like this, it’s one of the projects in this year’s Quilty Needlepoint Club. Contact me if you want more information.
Many thanks to Steve, my DH, for this idea. He saw what I was doing to solve this problem in this project a couple of days ago and suggested it would be a great blog post.
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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