As a reminder my colors are violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C) and copper metallic (D). The photo above shows my limited progress. When I started stitching last night, I realized just how warped and uneven the sides of the canvas were. There were several waves where the canvas arched up between the staples holding it to the stretcher bars.
The canvas is slightly distorted despite being on Evertites. (I loosened the Evertites before I put Stars away to reduce strain on the canvas, by the way.) I have never had a canvas do this before but have never worked on such a large piece over such a long period of time. Before I do any more stitching, I need to rip out what I've done above, deal with the wavy canvas, and reattach the canvas to my stretcher bars.
This calls for a tea kettle!
The first thing I did was fill my tea kettle half full of water and put it on the stove on high. Then I took the staples out and removed Stars from the stretcher bars. Then I made sure the dogs were secured in another room. You do not want any distractions while steaming wrinkles out of your canvas before putting back on stretcher bars. Steam can give you a bad burn!
By the time Stars was free of its Evertites, the kettle was beginning to boil and steam was coming from the spout. I held Stars above the steam pouring out of the canvas, moving the top edge back and forth in the steam, keeping my hands well away the steam. This took about 5-8 seconds with the canvas in motion so that the steam didn't hit any one spot too long and wasn't too near the threads already stitched. Then I put Stars down on the clean counter and turned the heat down under the kettle. After all, the canvas is now hot where the steam hit it and it needs to cool for 1-2 seconds before I handled it.
I gently pulled the canvas top until it was straight and attached it to the stretcher bars in the middle top with a staple. Then I carefully arranged the canvas (which the steam has made temporarily pliable) along the top and attached it in two more places closer to the corners. (Remember, with Evertites you DO NOT attach your canvas at the corners because the Evertites move apart at each corner. If you use regular stretcher bars, you would attach the top side at the middle and then close to each corner.) Then the kettle was turned up again until the steam flowed freely again.
I steamed the top again, turning the canvas over so the steam mostly hit the canvas, not the stretcher bars. Then the canvas was turned upright again and I carefully pulled and stretched the top again at a few more spots. Now it was time to attach the bottom. I repeated the above steps and got the top in position. Once I had the bottom reattached to the stretcher bars in a few spots, it was time to work on each side. Repeating all the above, the sides were reattached to the Evertites. Then I worked my way around the sides, alternating top and bottom, then side and side, adding more staples as I carefully steamed and then positioned the canvas so it was attached tightly (but not drum tight!) to the Evertites.
Occasionally I had to remove a staple and redo an area that wasn't as straight as I thought or which was moved out of position as I attached other areas. But that's ok. This is a slow, careful process. I didn't want to burn myself with the steam, or get the canvas too soft in the steam or get steam on my threads more than absolutely necessary.
In the end I spent about 45 minutes putting Stars back on my Evertites. The photo above has it straight and securely attached but not tightened on the Evertites. I will let the canvas sit all day, then see if I need to tighten the Evertites and will remove the first stitches in Gary Cooper and redo them. Stitching on a crooked canvas isn't a good idea.
If you attempt to do this blocking technique, be very careful. Steam and hot water are dangerous to pets, small children, and of course to stitchers everywhere!
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
