Self-finishing Woes

Starting with a Sudberry trivet I made for my future mother-in-law in 1978, I’ve been a fan of self-finishing. But right now, I’m frustrated because the size we are told an item is is incorrect. I first noticed this with luggage tags and wallets. The non-needlepoint wallets I used for years included an ID card in the windows. I could use the card as a template and the needlepoint fit every time.

Then I tried Mindy and Planet Earth items. These were not the size of my template. They weren’t even the size I was told they were; they were off by a few threads. Unhappily neither originally came with something to use as a template. I ended up folding a business card to fit. Planet Earth has fixed this.

But ornaments are worse by far. The Studio Decor ornaments I love all have thin, clear plastic “glass” to go in front of the photo (they are made for photos). I can use that to mark the outline for the design or to cut the canvas to fit. Works like a charm. Lee’s luggage tags, coasters, and ornaments also have this. Unhappily, their other items do not.

Sudberry items, new and old, have paper inserts that can be used as templates. These have worked for every one of the company’s items I’ve used. Another maker of wood items is Beth Gantz. The wood back pops out and is painted to match the frame. They can be used as an accurate template, just like the glass and paper.

For Planet Earth’s ornaments, there is no template. Instructions are included on the same size card as the one in the luggage tag, but that doesn’t help. There is no way to accurately judge the size of the opening against the finished needlepoint. Here’s my latest problem. I needed to finish the beachy Christmas round pictured above. According to the designer, it’s a 4″ round. According to Planet Earth the ornament has a 4″ round opening. By putting the needlepoint on top of the ornament, it looked like it would fit. Because Planet Earth recommends a narrow margin of unstitched canvas, that fit needs to be perfect. There is no way to check.

Of course, it did not fit, it was off by a thread or two. This left unsightly unstitched canvas and areas where there was nothing to fit into the edges. Big fail. I would have chalked it up to bad luck, except that the same canvas fits just fine in a Beth Gantz frame.

Proper templates and accurate measurements are important if you don’t want your hard work to go to waste (I’ve had to throw out stitched needlepoint because of measurement mismatch. It’s essential if you are designing your own projects or are a commercial designer. We all want the projects we make to be beautiful. We want to be able to use the wonderful self-finishing projects out there with confidence.

We don’t want to be finishing poorly.