how to stitch quick?

lydiya

Hi all,
Im doing a quite large stitch (104cm x 50cm) for me, right now im doing stitch by colour, but it still takes long, do anyone have tips to stitch fast? and how to organize the thread for current stitch?
thanks a lot.

Crimson

For large projects I always stitch 10 by 10 and in that area, I start with one colour and do all stitches then start with the 2nd etc... this makes me stitch abit faster than stitching line by line..
As for organizing my threads, I always have a small see-through plastic sealed bag to save extra floss so when I move to next 10by 10 squares and I still need same colours I have some around rather than throwing the remaining floss off..
:)

Kelara

I will watch this post as I would like to learn to be faster as well :)

LouAnna

I will work an area, it may not be a 10X10 block but I dont hop all over the piece I will try and complete one small section but dont hold myself to the blocks as Ive seen some finished pieces where the straight lines show once its finished.   Or I might select one piece in an area to finish......... like a face, or an eye, or a certain cloud and make it my goal to finish that one section.   Its not instant gratification but once its done I am very pleased to have finished that one section...........like cleaning a house room by room and each room is tidy when you leave.

karriboo

I always start in the upper left corner and work down. I stitch ambidextrous so for me that is pretty quick because both hands are passing the needle. I usually keep my wip floss in snack bags. Until I joined this forum I didnt know anything about the grid method everyone does. I still dont fully understand it. I use a row minder to keep my place on my chart. thank you for sharing with us :)

rteixeira63

Row riminders great tip. I am always loosing my place.

lovestitches

I also do it by colors but I dont jump all over the fabric. I choose an area (not necessary the center) to stitch and expand from there but just contain myself at about 3" by 3" space, where I can easier carry my thread to finish it before moving to another colors.

I used to stitch with a lot of needles and use a pin cushion to keep them with their own leftover threads when working on a frame.

tcca

I stitch HAED using parking. I dont like to leave gaps to fill in later, so I park and stitch from the top down, but not always in a strict 10x10 grid. Sometimes I do a wider area or a smaller one, just to work similar colors at the same time.

I grid everything. It takes time at hte start, but then it is easier to keep track of later.

I listen to audiobooks while stitching because it gets me in the zone, and I can block everything else out, so I dont get distracted

Mary.Jane

I tend to use multiple needles so Im not threading and re-threading the same needle over and over again.  I also use parking a lot
I havent used grids in the past, but I think I will try it on the next large project I start - it sounds like a great idea and then I can start at the top left corner rather than in the middle and be confident of the stitch count.

robynd24

I usually start dead center and work as much of the color as I can within a "reasonable"  number of stitches. If the next area for the color Im using is more than say an inch away, I will leave the floss hanging until I fill in the area near it. Then I will re-thread and continue with the color. If the same amount of floss will be used whether I leave it intact or tuck it under, cut it and restart, I will just leave it intact as long as the color wont show through to the front. (Who cares what the back of the piece looks like?) I am interested in the gridding technique Im reading about. Sometimes I would love to start in the upper corner but was always concerned on how to center the piece.