A Difficult Needlepoint Problem
It is a lovely canvas. Someone has givewn it to you, or you’ve found it at an unbelievable price.
There’s only one problem. It’s partially stitched, but hasn’t got the threads with it.
A reader wrote to me recently with this problem and it got me thinking about what to do.
The easiest thing is to find a friend or a shop who knows alot about threads and get their help identifying what’s there. Most likely you will do this at the end of the process but there are ways you can start the process yourself and make it easier.
You’ll need a pad of paper and a pen or pencil for this task. Use several sheets labelled New Threads (three columns), and Old Thread (five columns).
Begin by doing triage on the canvas.
Is all of a color or area stitched? Don’t worry about it.
Is none of an area or color stitched? Write that down on a piece of paper headed “New Threads.” These you’ll be able to pick yourself.
Is an area partially stitched? Is one of a pair of something (like shoes) stitched? These are where you will concentrate your time. Put them on the sheet labelled “Old Threads.”
The New Threads will be the ones you buy at the shop. They should be in keeping with the other threads in the piece. So you wouldn’t pick rayon for a new thread in a piece that was all wool so far. But for these threads you’ll be able to pick from what’s available now without a problem. There a very few threads that have no current equivalent (I can only think of a couple).
Spend your time on the old threads. In the second column note if this old thread is in an area that is part of a pair, partially stitched, or not contiguous with other areas in this thread. If it isn’t contiguous, it’s basically a new thread and you will only do the next step. Note this in the second column.
The third column is for characteristics of the old thread. Write down as many as you can figure out. What fiber is it? Is it stranded? Is it metallic or a ribbon? Is it shiny? All these things help identify the thread. For example a shiny, non-metallic ribbon might be Neon Rays, but if it’s kind of translucent, it’s probably Flair or Rachel. All you need to know is the characteristics, not the thread.
The fourth column is for your suspect thread, if you know it. If you’ve been needlepointing for awhile, then you might recognize some threads. If you know the age of the piece, you can ID some threads. For example, a stranded wool is likely to be Medici. An overdyed floss from several years ago might be Needle Necessities. Neither of these threads is made. But there are some equivalents and substitutes. That Needle Necessities would now be Threadworx.
At this point the canvas has given up its secrets to you. Now you need to find a friend or a shop with a large selection of threads. That’s what the last column is for — the new thread.
To find the new thread you will want to match the thread and color as closely as possible. Once you have found these threads, you can stitch away unless the area is partially stitched.
In a future column, I’ll talk about matching stitches and what to do if the dyelots are different.
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