Hello to any new people checking out my blog! :) I feel like this was pretty successful for my first IHSW because I... I actually finished it! *squee* Without pigs flying or the piece bursting into flames or my eyeballs falling out of my head (though they did come close).
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| "Even if the world becomes your enemy... I'll be your knight, I'll protect you." |
I thankfully didn't have to frog whole letters; it was the backstitching that was making them look a little odd. Once removed and redone, the letters looked more appropriate. I did redo Rinoa's flying hair a little bit. It's more inline with the original image now, but not quite there. I didn't have to adjust the cloth to finish her swoop! I could jussst barely stitch the last few on the end, but it was possible.
Squall's jacket poof remains unfilled. I practiced the clipped velvet stitches and while they do look pretty awesome, they don't really have a feeling of fitting in with the rest of the piece. Perhaps I need to think more on it. If anything, they'd have to wait until the piece is washed or they'd get a weird stiff sort of feeling I would guess.
Which brings me to a question. To wash or not to wash? I'm still (relatively) new at this, so more experienced stitchers stopping by, please let me know what you think. I think the piece needs a bath as it has been on the frame for 5½ months. It's a bit dusty and has a few kitty helper hairs. I've washed other pieces with no trouble, but I'm afraid of washing this piece with its abundance of bright reds (floss is DMC cotton). I'd probably shrivel up into a little dust heap if the colors bled.
- Chart designed with KG-Chart and featured 46 colors originally. In my tweaking, however, it actually wound up being ~15. Yeah. I discovered early on that KG-Chart likes to go crazy with artifacts in web images and can't handle blending or fading.
- 1 over 1 on white 22 count (hardanger). Black 2 over 1.
- Finished size: 11" x 14" (26.5cm x 35cm)
- Started: April 1, 2011, Finished: September 18, 2011. Roughly 60-70 hours.
(hopefully)
- Tweak chart. Tweak again. Tweak five more times. Tweak. Think you're done? Tough, tweak more. No matter how much you tweak, once you start stitching, things will look different and you'll tweak some more.
- Confetti color transitions.
- Half stitches are so much easier to pick out when a mistake is found and make it much easier to discover areas that aren't going to look right. Exception: black.
- Work black one line at a time, preferably up. My eyesight is horrible to begin with and I darn near went blind stitching black that had been tent stitched first.
- Maybe bright lights and magnifiers would be helpful.
- For the love of potatoes, GRID, YOU FOOL.
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| The "artsy photo" attempt. |
Wow, that looks so cool! I just saw this on Deviant Art and ended up on your blog, but I really love how it came out- the emblem at top of Squall and Rinoa is really cool, and your lettering looks remarkably tidy.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful piece. I never wash, lol. I barely touch my fabric since it is on scroll rods.
ReplyDeleteWow..... congrats on the finish. It looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteI never wash my finished pieces. Just hold it on ends and flap it a few times to get any dust out. :)
wow, the finish is awesome! Love all the details <3 On the question, I usually have to wash, because I stitch in a loop and touch the fabric all the time. (but sometimes I'm lazy and i skip it - but that's a secret!)
ReplyDeleteI really like your picture, it looks awesome! As to your question about washing, you should be alright if you soak your piece in luke warm or cold water (not hot!) with a little bit of soap. DMC is supposed to be colorfast, but you can run across ones that do bleed. If you're worried, maybe you could test the thread you used by just soaking that to see if the water changes color. Otherwise, if you soak your piece and it does bleed, just keep soaking it in cold water and it should be alright. Sorry for my rambling response, hopefully this will give you some ideas. Looking forward to whatever piece you decide to start next :-)
ReplyDelete@missy-tannenbaum
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you! I'm glad the DA link came in handy. And I'm really, really glad you think the lettering looks tidy; it gave me no small amount of frustration. XD
@Lissanne
ReplyDeleteThank you! I didn't touch this piece much as it was on the floor frame, but so... dusty! I might just be paranoid. A lint roller was suggested for the fuzzies, so that might be a less stressful option. :>
@Joysze
ReplyDeleteThanks~ :D I usually wash when something has been on the frame for that long (or it's a thrift store find that smells like cigarettes; different story). But nothing I have stitched before had this level of reds and I've read horror stories, eek~
@Topcho
ReplyDeleteYesh, anything in a hoop I generally wash, too. My first large piece was in a hoop -- yuck, lol! I think washing really makes the stitches pop out. And I won't tell if you won't. :x
@Reaper
ReplyDeleteThanks~ When I have washed projects, I use cold water and a speck of dish soap. I haven't run across any bleeding but I've read horror stories about some of the DMC reds. Someone over on LJ suggested that I be properly paranoid and stitch a bit on a scrap of fabric and wash that, haha. I usually ramble about everything, so feel free to make ramble-y responses. :D