Scroll frame convert
In my last update on Frederick, the picture was taken before I bought a scroll frame. I finally got to the middle and right portions of the piece, and rolling/bunching the fabric in my left hand was giving me hand-cramps.
I didn’t want to have a hoop chafing the floss on areas I’d already stitched, so in spite of some people loathing the wooden scroll frames, I purchased one. To successfully use one requires a bit more prep work than I’d anticipated. I tried just slipping the fabric I’m stitching on into the bars. But then the middle portion wouldn’t clamp nicely and remain taut while stitching. Frustration! I solved this by scrounging a bit of cotton flannel. I cut two rectangles slightly wider than the width of my Aida, by about six inches. Then I folded them in half the short distance to make long narrow rectangles. I ran each through my sewing machine to make a pocket wide enough to slip onto the wooden bar. Then I used a longer stitch on my machine to sew the Aida to the excess material side of the flannel pockets. One on the top, one on the bottom.
Instead of just slipping the pocket over the complete bar, I slipped over just one half. This allows the bar to grip the fabric evenly along the full length, and roll up pleasantly instead of the bar rolling inside the pocket.
Progress pic 26 March 2006. Focusing on completing the lower half of the piece. Stitching endless numbers of the same color floss gets really quite boring, so I’ve been jumping about a bit instead of working the entire quadrant one color at a time. (one reason of many to take the time to grid the cloth before starting to stitch a large project)
A close-up of the lower left quadrant. This is completed, including back-stitching. I’m not impressed with how poorly the lettering on the books “pops”. I may re-stitch the lettering with another color, or go over it with a metallic or blending filament. I have seen other people’s photos of Frederick, and the lettering on theirs also is obscure.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Counted Cross Stitch, Frames and Stands, Stash, Works in Progress
4 opinions for Scroll frame convert
Ternezia
Mar 26, 2006 at 11:29 am
You can surely experiment with the lettering; maybe backstitching the small letters and book cover ornaments with black would help. But overally it looks good, me likes :)
I always have difficulty with large projects (mean: large piece of fabric to stitch). I thought about a tool of some sort, perhaps a tube from flexible material that could “wind” the cloth around itself and stay that way until I unwind it. This is because the difficulty is coming not only from the need to hide the already stitched low part so to move to the upper part, but also hide the right part for example (to not hang).
This is the only way I can describe the picture in my head in English :( Perhaps Q-snaps are such a thing, do you know?
Deb
Mar 27, 2006 at 9:58 am
I don’t think the Q-snaps let you roll the fabric around the bars, it just dangles like it would with a hoop. I haven’t tested a Q-snap yet, though it is tempting to try it for smallish pieces. You can get them sized for larger works though, which wouldn’t let you roll the cloth, but the whole thing rather would be stretched like a painting canvas.
Another thing that comes to mind is getting a frame stand to clamp your hoop/frame to, that would allow you to do two-handed stitching. I haven’t bothered to hunt for a laying tool yet, because I realized I need to use both hands for stitching to use one, and well, I only have two hands. One of which holds my frame. So, either I need a stand, or a 3rd arm… lol!
Ternezia
Mar 27, 2006 at 10:45 am
A thid arm would be a nice addition :lol: Though at the moment I’d rather use it to slap my boss with. Pay no attention to me.
I will post a question about rolling tool in the forums, if there are ideas I’ll update in my blog.
Tangled Thread » Stitching WIP update
Apr 4, 2006 at 10:46 am
[…] For comparison, the Last progress update on Frederick. […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: