Managing Transitions Part Three

The last thing I want to mention in this discussion on handling the transition between two very different stitches on a painted canvas is compensation.  Both Pat and I thought that I'd not stitched the compensating stitches just under the Rabbit Geisha's nose as we were going by the photograph.  In Real Life, the stitches are there, just very very small because of the compensation.  I solved this issue by overstitched the tiny compensatory stitch but I could have just made the regular stitch a tad longer.  I generally don't extend a stitch to cover one more thread as I find it breaks up the rhythm of the stitch and looks odd.  However, you may find extending a stitch a bit does work for you.

Compensation is a tough topic and a problem for many stitchers.  I almost always try to start a new stitch I'm unfamiliar with at the widest point on a canvas so that I have plenty of practice doing it before I get to the edge of the stitch area and have to compensate.

Tony Minieri wrote an article about compensation that was published in four parts in Needle Pointers magazine in the mid-1990s.  ANG has put this on their website and you can read it in the link below.  I would urge anyone who has trouble compensating to read it.  Tony breaks stitches down into various types (straight, diagonal, etc.) and then explains for each type how to compensate it on a diagonal, straight line, oblique line or curved line.  It's helpful information and once you understand the stitch you are working with, will tell you exactly how to compensate it to the best effect.
http://www.needlepoint.org/Archives.php

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow