Confessions of a scatterbrain: Using 'waste linen'

Saturday, 17 December 2005

Using 'waste linen'

I can't use waste canvas because of it's starch (I'm allergic to most of it's sources), and therefore tried even weaved linen one day. It worked and since I've used waste linen.

It works fine, in fact I think I may be even better solution than waste canvas, as waste canvas is stiff and linen isn't. Therefore I thought that I could write short tutorial for using waste linen:

Preparations

Cut linen piece which is about 5 cms (2 inches) wider and taller than your desired design.
Stitch horizontal and vertical gridding lines in the exact center of your linen and to the actual fabric.
Be careful with placing waste fabric, and double-check is it in it's right place - gridding lines are there to help you.
Baste linen well on it's place.
Remove gridding stitches from actual fabric (In case you forget them, it may be very difficult or even impossible to get them of when you're finished)
Stitching:
Make sure you do not split any threads of your waste fabric.
Pull your stitches bit tighter than you're used to do normally - otherwise your stitches may end up loose after you've removed linen.
Finish cross stitching and backstitches.
Finishing:
Get yourself pair of good tweezers.
Do not hurry when removing the strands.
Linen is more durable when it's moist so in case you have problems when removing it dampen it a bit. (In regular waste canvas you dampen it to make it slippery, with linen you may have to dampen it to make it more durable)
Do not use excess force if it seems that some strand of linen is not getting off. Leave it be and continue with some other area. Some strands just need to be left last.

In the end it doesn't differ that much from using regular waste canvas.

In case there's something unclear (or I have forgot something), do comment on this post or email me. (You're free to link into this post, but not copy it without my permission - as I like to take all the honour. )