Friday, March 04, 2016

South Seas Mermaid post #4

Cruising right along on this lovely mermaid! She's bigger than I thought, or maybe she just seems that way because I'm not used to stitching on Cashel...


One thing that has been somewhat frustrating is dealing with the Kreinik. The coverage isn't bad, but it doesn't want to lay flat against the fabric, so the stitches end up loose even though my tension is good. If I pulled much harder, I'd end up with large holes between the stitches, which is probably the #1 thing I can't stand when stitching. I've had to undo/redo quite a bit to get the metallics to be tight enough without messing up the fabric. 

I wonder if it has something to do with the Kreinik being sold on a spool, giving the thread an arched shape that doesn't want to flatten out, especially on a higher count fabric with more distance to cover on each stitch. I guess I could try a sample in another type of metallic to test it out.

Another minor problem is that I've managed to stitch this so the steely blue-grey portion of the fabric is directly behind portions of the fins that contain... a steely blue-grey color. It's not quite as obvious in real life, and honestly I have no intention of "fixing" it, but I thought I'd note it anyway. :p

11 comments:

  1. She's lovely! I have had that problem too with Kreinik. You really can't tell from the photo - your stitching looks perfect.

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  2. Gorgeous progress so far :)

    I stay away from metallic threads at all cost. I tried them once on a Little House Needleworks design and they kept breaking....put me off metallics for life. Lol

    Have a wonderful weekend :)

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  3. She's gonna be very beautiful. Sunny greetings from New Orleans, Alice

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  4. Another beautiful chart. You are stitching her up quickly, even with metallic issues.

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  5. She does look wonderful. I haven't noticed that issue specifically with Kreinik. I will pay attention when I get to it on my current Alphabet Fairy.

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  6. I really like this one (actually I like all of your mermaids!). Regarding the metallics, have you tried using Thread Heaven? It won't stop the kinking or make your stitches lie flat but it will definitely help, especially with the arcing of the thread. :)

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    1. Hey Rachel, sorry I noticed this tip so late! I'm done with the kreinik in this chart, but I'll give it a try for next time! I generally don't like thread heaven (I feel like it leaves a residue on the fibers, no matter what the package claims) but I'm willing to give it another shot for these metallics!

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