I absolutely hate French knots and I cant make them to save my life!!!I also dont like beading much and ive heard some say they just replace the French knots with beads.Is it really better than the French knots?I can bead far better than those CrAzY knots LOL.
I have real trouble with French knots too, and when a pattern calls for a lot of them, I usually substitute beads.
But in the past I have made an occasional decent French knot. Ive found that to do it right, you must do the following:
* Use a shorter thread (dont use a super long piece of floss -- nothing more than 4-5 inches)
* Two strands work better than one
* Pull the thread tight to make sure its up all the way through the fabric, then hold it up with one hand and loop the needle around with the other
* Wrap the thread around your needle 3-6 times to make your knot -- less and it wont show up
* Hold the wrapped area (the knot) down against the fabric with one finger while poking the needle through
* Slowly ease the needle through the fabric, careful NOT to let the knot slip through as well
When the needle is all the way under the fabric, continue to pull gently to tighten the knot until it is perfectly shaped and sits on top of the fabric. Sometimes I get a perfect knot that doesnt sit flush on the fabric, and I have to stitch the extra floss on the backside to hold it down. It takes a lot of practice, and you have to go really slow. It helps if you always use a fresh thread and dont try to tie off a French knot from an existing piece of floss. That way if you mess up, you can pull it out without screwing up anything else.
Mine still dont always come out right, and I still dont like making French knots, but when I cant find a bead in a particular color, I give it a go. Hope this helps!
At first, and I do mean at first as my first project ever required French knots, I couldnt figure it out either, despite the help of 2 experienced stitches. It came suddenly with a later project.
I have found that the secret is to keep the tension on the thread after you have passed it around the needle twice, and to not to have the needle too far above the fabric. Then, as Dmcjms says, go slow and hold the knot as it forms against the fabric. But k the tension on the thread as you do so. I do this by holding the thread in my left hand, and using my left thumb to hold the knot.
Now rarely does a knot give me trouble, and most turn out very well.
Im currently working a piece that has lots of knots. Ive been dreading doing them!! Im going to try all these suggestions as Im sure some of them will help. I really like the bead idea too. Thanks for all the great ideas.
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