Haed Question on fabric and thread?

Spookytooth

HAE designs are truly a labour of love.  From the ones I am doing, the one essential thing is to have a supply of gold plated needles, size 28, and ditch them if the plating comes off.  This makes a real difference to the needle going through the fabric.  I bought some really expensive gold plated needles, guaranteed not to lose the gold plating.  This was true, but the eyes eventually broke, so I could not justify the price difference.

chaos557

I LOVE haeds on 28ct evenweave stitching one thread over one square.

The coverage is perfect. and its not bulky at all. You use a lot less thread  and the color blending and shading in the picture turns out amazing!

Id recommend trying it

catusiana

Now I'm doing Lily of the Valley by Rachael Anderson on 25ct evenweave stitching 1over1, it's look great, by I think a HAED looks greater on 28ct evenweave.

Here my project :P

With zoom

teddyje8

I am also thinking about starting a HEAD, but I am a little intimidated by the size :)
I have read all the comments in this thread but I am still not sure which count of fabric I will take. Is 1 over 1 not very small and tiring? I stitch most of the time on 14 count Aida, and that is really comfortable to do.

abbysmom1976

Thanks to you all for the advice, I have always thought the HAED patterns were so big and time-consuming - I like to get a piece done fairly quickly so I tend to stay away from larger projects.  However I always use 14 count Aida fabric and just stitch everything that way and it always looks good :)  I don't know though much about HAED patterns.  I am going to just steer clear of them LOL!

jewelofottawa

I use aida cloth instead, and I use the stitch and park method (gonna write a bit about that soon).
I don't really care about the back

jladesigner

I will admit I had to Google HAED - and wow! stunning patterns!  I can definitely see where you would feel like you were getting nowhere though!

tcca

I know HAED recommends on their site to use 2 over 1 on 25 count, but that makes a really dense stitching and it gets hard to push the needle through the holes. I would recommend to use 1 over 1 on either 25 or 28 count, or even 32 count if your eyesight is really good or you have a magnifier.

You CAN stitch a HAED on any size fabric you want, even 14 count, but remember that HAEDs are designed to not look like individual crosses but to be seen as a whole image.. little dots of color, so I find that smaller count is better.. you don't see the crosses any more, just dots of color so the shading looks perfect. It is perfect for people who want their stitching to look like 'art' rather than stitching.

eapodaca

LOL. You are right. Haed patterns are for the brave and courageous only. I think I may have my daughter hooked now too.

hollywould89

i'm stitching on 28 count, tent stitch, 2 over 1. it goes so much faster that way!