Gridding |
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I grid by 10's around the perimeter of my piece.
I work on linen, so my basting is over-two threads, under-two threads, and I put a perpendicular stitch across the basting line thus: --|-- at every 10th stitch. You can usually *eyeball* as you get to these *tick* stitches that they are lined up. You can begin with your two lines closest to the center markers and just grid one quadrant at a time as you work there. You can, on many fabrics, get in the habit of basting just the vertical OR the horizontal lines. The tick marks let you "see" the connecting lines you haven't basted. There are lots of shortcuts you develop after you get used to working with a fabric that has been gridded.
I know gridding is tedious, but it does result in every stitch being on an equal footing with every other, and not having to count loooong passages from one place to another, which is where most of my mistakes USED to occur. Once you get used to placing stitches in relation to the grid, instead of just in relation to each other, the rippit count (tearing out stitching that was incorrect) goes way down. I verify every time I come to a grid line, now, just out of force of habit.
On aida, I baste over two squares and *tick* every 10th, so it goes faster than on linen.
For more gridding tips from Elna, read her article posted on Martha Beth Lewis' website, Stitching Grid Lines on Fabric.
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From: Debbie Floyd When I grid my fabric I pick a color thread that is not in my pattern and really stands out as not being right. For instance, I'm doing a pattern with a lot of pastels in it right now so my gridding thread was some green thread I had that did not go at all with the colors. This just makes it easier to see the grid and easier when it comes time to remove it.
Then I stitch my lines in. I stitch one long line (I think it is called a basting stitch-- under, over, under, over)across the center horizontally and another down the center vertically. I stitch over one (or over two threads if I'm using linen) and under one all the way across and I don't knot the thread on either end. So basically I have stitched a broken line all the way across.
Now I have my center vertically and horizontally marked. So I look on my pattern and see where the closest horizontal and vertical lines are to my center. For example, on the pattern I'm currently doing my closest vertical bold line on my pattern was three rows away from the actual center of the pattern, so I counted over three rows and stitched that line all the way down. Then I do the same thing with my horizontal line. Once I have done that I put in the rest of the grid lines on the pattern using those lines as a guide. That means I'm never counting more than 10 and it is much easier.
Once that is through, I take out my original center lines, horizontal and vertical and I have the pattern gridded in the exact place it needs to be to do the chart. Now you can literally start your pattern anywhere without worrying that you are too far over one way or the other and you can jump around to your hearts content doing big patches of color.
I always check and recheck my grid lines to make sure they are correct. And granted that takes time. But once they are correct and you can start, you can really fly through the pattern because it cuts your counting time tremendously. Also, I find that if I get bored with one section or color I can move to something else in the pattern in a totally different place very easily. If (heaven forbid!!) you run out of thread in the spot you are working on, you can move somewhere else on the chart with a different color and still make progress.
I have a 4 year old at home and am 3 weeks away from delivering baby number 2 so I have to stop and start ALOT. The grids make it much easier to pick up and find my place quickly.
I hope this helps you. I know it sounds like a lot of extra work, but I promise you once you have the grid done and can start, you will be amazed at how much faster you can go and how much less you have to rip out from starting in the wrong place because it is so much easier to check at a glance if you are in the same place on the fabric as you are on the chart.
Just for your information: This method is also highly suggested for folks doing hardanger to make sure their kloster blocks and other stitches that have to parallel to each other exactly match up. You have to be very exact with your placement before you can do your cutting.
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From: Tracy Hite I've done this on both Aida and linen. The extra setup time is definitely worth saving the aggravation of miscounting, and the advantage of being able to skip around and know it'll line up.
Try to pick a floss color for the grid that both shows up well against the fabric, and if possible does not appear in the actual design. I try to make each line with one continuous length of thread, with several inches extra on each side. I also make a working copy of the pattern to draw on, and highlight the grid lines on it in color.
First off, find the center of the fabric and the pattern. Find the closest bold grid lines to the center, going both horizontal and vertical. Baste these two lines first, being sure to keep the same distance relative to center. (ie the intersection is up two stitches and over three, or whatever) To make things even easier, use a different color for the lines closest to center than for the rest of the grid. To make later counting easier, I try to make each basting stitch two stitches wide. Once the first two lines are in, just place lines parallel to them every 10 stitches. Remember, if you're working on linen or evenweaves over two, that 10 stitches apart is actually 20 threads.
Take your time with the grid, triple and quadruple counting the spacing to make absolutely sure it's 10x10. I was partway through Earthdancer, frogged the same little section three times because it wouldn't match the grid, only to finally discover I'd left 12 sts between 2 lines instead of 10!
Gridding is aggravating, tedious, and boring, but it saves a LOT of headaches in the long run!
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From: CameoRoze
I've found that the easiest way for me to grid is to go over two threads, under two threads, over two threads, etc. while counting out the grid. Usually I can stitch several stitches at a time this way before pulling the needle through the fabric. That makes it quicker than gridding by 10s. I also have a horror story because my grid by 10s was off!.
I also find that it helps me to count more quickly when I grid by 2s, because counting by 2s is simple. And if I want to make it really easy for myself, I'll put a perpendicular tick mark every 10 stitches on the very outer edge of my over 2 grid.
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