Anita wrote to me earlier this week. She has a big needlepoint canvas, 14″ x 28″, she wants to do.
She thought of tacking it onto a 14″ square frame but that might leave holes from the tacks that will be hard to get out.
She thought of a scroll fame but is worried about keeping the tension tight.
She thought of longer stretcher bars, but wonders how you work on the middle of the piece.
I’m stumped, so I’m asking for your advice, tips, and suggestions.
Can you help this stitcher?
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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
upside down, sideways. since it’s needlepoint you don’t have to worry about the direction that you are crossing the X’s. a floor stand also helps to anchor it where you need to be.
We have done a huge one for a church and used scroll bars on a floor stand, worked very well. I agree with Joyce, I have one turned sideways in my floor stand right now in order to comfortably reach a piece that is on stretcher bars.
Use the full size stretcher bars – 14 by 24 and work on so you only have to reach the 12 inches to the middle section. Yes, you work stitches sideways at times, but it works. The middle inch or so is the hardest, but I have been working a large Amanda Lawford nutcracker this way for a while now. I use a floor stand to hold the canvas as it gets heavy otherwise.
Start in the middle and work out.
I’m doing a Heaven and Earth chart, 350X525 stitches, in tent stitch on congress cloth (Yes, I am insane)It’s on 22 X 27 stretcher bars. I glued shorter ones together to make the 27″ pair. I’ve worked the top part upside down and now that I have reached the middle I am working sideways. I just have to remember to reverse the tent stitch direction when I am doing it sideways and of course I have to watch how the stitch symbols change when the charts are viewed upside down or sideways. Started three years ago and I expect to finish in another five years or so.