My Canvas Is too Small – Help!

Recently I have gotten several questions about what to do when the canvas is just too small. For one reason or another you want the stitching to be bigger but the unworked margins won’t do.

Although it’s pretty picky, there is a way to add to your canvas as long as you have unworked edges.

Best of all the result is seamless.

Here’s what to do:

Cut a piece of canvas, the same mesh as your original, 2″ bigger on all sides than the size of the new size piece.

Cut a hole out of the middle about 2-5 threads bigger on all sides than the already stitched area of the original piece.

Put the original piece on top of the new canvas, with the holes of the unworked margins of that piece, lining up exactly with the holes of the new piece. You’ll know this is right if you are only seeing one set of threads for every hole, almost as if it were a single piece of canvas.

Pin it on all sides near the outside edges of the original canvas; these are just placeholders. Now start to stitch the pattern as of it was just one piece of canvas the new, larger size. Go to the overlapped areas as soon as you can and do some stitches on each side. Once that is done, remove the pins.

Once things are secure and partially stitched, you probably should cut away most of the 2″ margin of old canvas that is overlapping. You should only have 10-12 mesh of overlap where there are two layers.

Essentially what you are doing is treating the two layers of canvas as one canvas. There may still be a bump visible, but the pattern will be continuous and the finished stitching will be the new size. Also, because you based your “hole” on the size of the existing canvas, if the ridges are visible they will look regular as if it were planned, not as if it were a mistake.

Related posts:

1. What Size Will my Project Be if I Change the Mesh of the Canvas?
2. How to Repair a Hole in Canvas
3. Texture in Small Spaces
4. What Size Do I Cut the Canvas?
5. A Small Rant about Price/Value in Books