BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Embroidery Time to 'Fess Up: Bad embroidery habits!

Yup. We all have some very bad embroidery habits that we KNOW we shouldn't do but do anyway.

Mine is not removing the piece from the hoop after I've finished stitching.

And let's not even go into the number of UFO's I have.

I'm guilty of both of those. I just got some Mexican hoops with spring rather than screws that are really nice but so stiff that I can barely get my fabric in, so I'm certainly not going to take my fabric out when I finish stitching for the day. I am pretty good about loosening my roller frame though.

I'm also lazy about finishing ends.

Julie

I think that the term unfinished object (UFO) is negative. Why not call them Work in Progress (WIP) even the progress is painfully slow, sort of like road building.
Frits

I have UFO's and I Have WISP's (Works In Slow Progress). Then I have the project I'm desperately trying to finish for my brother's wedding in 3 weeks, which I now hate and would hire a ghost stitcher to finish except that I think it's faster to do it myself.

Julie

I am 40 now and have been stitching since I was 13. My confession is that I hate to give my projects away. I know I am selfish but I can't help myself. There are of course times that make something for someone and give it too them. BUT all too often I find a project that I think is pretty and can't part with it once I am done. This has led to a huge selection of projects that are completed but not made into anything, pillow or framed or something like that. One of these days when I can find someone who quilts, I want to take the projects that I have and put them in order from earliest to latest and have it made into a quilt, to sort of show my evolution as a stitcher. Many of my earlier projects actually have my signature and date stitched into it so I think it would be a fun thing to have.

I found another bad habit I have. I have a large tablet of tracing paper. I often see things that I want to make into a pattern, sketch them up and there they sit in my portfolio.

Lisa, I wish I had both of your bad habits! I tend to give away all of my embroideries - and for that reason, I've not progressed in my rankings within the Embroidery Guilds I'm a member of.

As for patterns, I have good intentions of drawing patterns, but always seem to forget!

Tell me about your embroidary guilds, I have heard of them especially the one I read about in England. I would love to belong to a group like that. I tend to be rather solitary in my embroidary efforts. When I lived in Texas I had a friend who had the same obsession but here in Florida I am on my own.

Dear Lisa,
Go to the dealers of embroidery machines and ask them about embroidery groups. Other than that maybe you can put an ad in the local paper and ask for fellow embroiderers.
We live in a small town. The whole administrative unit (Council) has no more than about 4500 people and those are spread over several towns. It looks though as if my wife and a few friends are able to set up a small embroidery group locally. This is for machine embroidery, but the principle is the same. Here in Australia is a women's organisation called the Country Women Association(CWA) and they have craft groups, cooking, baking and what have you. In the UK it is called the WI. Surely something like it must exist in the US. Your town hall might know or even the local tourism organisation may know. Just ask around.
Cheers, Frits

We do have a thing here called Meetup.com, I should set up something if there isn't already a local chapter. You can set up something and then when others go to check, once you have enough people, you start your own group.

I have some VERY nice embroidery magazines that are from Austrailia, I purchased them when I was in the UK AND they used to have a great embroidery magazine in the UK I loved as well. I don't think Americans are into the art so much. Cross stitch is pretty popular here though. I love historical embroidery, I think Jacobean is my favorite, I love the complicated stitches but I also love Elizabethan, I love the extra sparkle.