Finishing Ideas for Handcrafts
Snowman Love Part 2
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I’ve not made the progress on this that I had wanted to – I still have the facial features to backstitch and the specialty stitches to go.
Can you see the tiny white French knots in the eyes? When I took painting classes, we were always told that a touch of white in the pupils adds life to a painting. Do you think the principle transfers to cross-stitch? I do think the backstitching is critical in this design. Compare the pic above with this one:
I have been busy with other things – chronicled tonight on Nita’s Notes.
Next update will be the final backstitching, specialty stitches, the finishing and then I’ll publish my chart – as a freebie, natch.
So, what do you think thus far?
Snowman Love Part 1
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I thought I might share the steps I took in developing an original cross stitch chart from start to finish.
I’ve mentioned before that I have PC Stitch Pro, so these notes refer to steps I took with that program.
First – the idea. Here’s a scan of the pencil sketch I made.
A little faint in the scan, so I took a fine tip marker and darkened it some.
I knew I was going to use 14 count aida, and that I wanted an ornament about 3 inches tall, so I used my photoshop software to reduce the scan to 3 inches tall. That made it about 3 ¾ inches wide.
In PC Stitch, I open a blank chart and set my dimensions. Then I underlayed the scan of my sketch.
After a little playing around with backstitch lines (I used 321 Red so that I could clearly see my underlayed sketch), I had a workable outline.
Clear the underlay and change the outline to black, and I’m ready to start adding color.
First the white.
Hmm, needs a little shading to define the areas.
I don’t like to do ¼ or ¾ stitches on aida, so I’m only using full cross stitches.
I love yellow and turquoise together.
I like those two colors – now I need some punch.
Red and green are good christmas colors.
My little snowman is blushing!
If possible, I like to use the same color in a couple of different areas.
Orange carrot noses, check!
Black hat and charcoal eyes.
A little highlighting and finishing touches.
And here’s my stitching thus far.
Next time – backstitching, french knots, some specialty stitches and the finishing.
So, what do you think thus far?
