New to Painted Canvas?

Patt and Lee Designs' Pirate Cat

Because I know several folks who are new to stitching painted canvases are reading Blog right now, I'm going to try to explain how I stitch a painted canvas in detail with the beginner in mind.  If you are about to go on vacation or something and can't read tidbits over the several weeks it will take me to stitch the Pirate Cat, you can read a good summary at the link below.  I wrote this several years ago but all the information is current and it lays out how to embellish canvases quite well.
http://www.needlepoint.org/FAQ/phobia.php

The Pirate Cat canvas above is the one I'll be stitching while I talk about how to choose threads and stitches (and sometimes colors) for painted and printed canvases.  Pirate Cat is on 18 count canvas and is six inches long and 3 3/4 inches high.  This is a good canvas to start with as a beginner because it isn't too detailed and there isn't too much shading.  Some canvases, like this Kaffee Fassett design for Ehrman Tapestry, has too much shading, detail and color changes for it to be easy for a beginner. It is easier to do in all tent stitches, although it can be embellished with fancy threads and stitches.  It is just much harder when you are first starting out. Stick to the simpler canvases for your first attempt.
http://www.ehrmantapestry.com/detail.cfm?ID=1053&Currency=1

The first step I always take when I start with a new canvas is to make one color copy and two black and white copies of the design.  See the skull on the cat's pirate hat?  With a color copy I know exactly where the skull is located, even if I cover it up with hat stitches and then go back and put the skull in on top.  The same thing might happen with the Trick or Treat sign--I might want to cover the lettering with my background sign stitches, then put the lettering in on top.  The black and white copies I use for paper patterns and to help pick colors.  More on that later.

Once I have my copies made, I mount my canvas on stretcher bars. You don't have to do this, but over the years I've become a convert to mounting my canvas on stretcher bars.  It really helps with the distortion you can get if you stitch in hand.  Of course some folks have great stitch tension and never pull their canvas into a parallelogram, but I'm not one of them.

I use a staple gun to mount my canvas but thumbtacks are preferred by lots of stitchers.  Whichever way you go, pull the canvas as tightly as you can.  I normally attach one side at each end and then the middle, then pull tightly to attach the opposite side.  Then I switch to the other ends and attach them in three places.  Once every side is secure, I pull and staple the empty spots on all four sides.

This is enough for today.  Tomorrow we'll talk about choosing stitches and the principals I use when I pick my stitches.

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