welcome back to part 6 of my needlepoint self finishing journey
today we’re gonna cover the lacing methodology
for securing either your needlepoint to the backboard
or your backer fabric to its matboard
so great tutorials out there on lacing already
they’re all LinkedIn my profile
Coco Frank
Lita from the national needle pointer
so random threads
um Katie stitches
lots of girls are out there showing lacing
and you might find their tutorials are even better than mine
so this is what we’re gonna do
lacing methodology I’m gonna show you
there’s two that I’ve seen
oops
again taking any old embroidery floss
you could use any needle pointing floss
any floss you like and have line around
thank you
help
and what I did was measure two links to the inside elbow
because that’s a sustainable length for me to work with
but you can work with much longer if you have the patience to
or shorter if you wanna start to knot them together
I’ll show you what I mean
there’s two lacing technologies
sorry I had to have my puppy nearby
gotta have a puppy kind of where the DC
they’re two methodologies
you’ll see national needle pointer does sort of a winching method
where she put a knot in the end of her thread
just like I have starts anywhere and goes around it with a running stitch
continuously a running stitch is just what you think it is
in out
in out between the tabs you can Google it
but it’s not really a specialty stitch in this application
it’s just sort of what your brain would think you would do
and then she winches it and it pulls the whole thing closed
like a drawstring jewellery pouch
that’s especially successful on around
I think with a funky shape like this
you’re gonna have a better time of it if you have that pool table
the game of pool strategy like this one is gonna get most taught
if you lace into this one right
or this one is gonna love it when you lace into this one
not so if you lace them to this one
quite like if you lace them to this one
so I hope that helps to understand
I haven’t heard anybody talking about that
but there’s two different lacing ways
and I think with again a strange shape
go ahead and go criss cross applesauce
no one’s gonna see this lacing
it’s just meant to avoid glue
so you do you boo
looking one more time to make sure
I like how things are kind of lined up
made my puffer is a little bit uneven up there
but that’s probably not gonna cause any trouble
some people actually make their batting a little bigger then their boards
so that they’re batting wraps around their board
and softens the sides for finishing
that sometimes creates too much bulk for me
especially with a very small ornament like this
but I’m game for trying people do that a lot with backer boards
so they instead of cutting this board smaller than this one by a few millimeters
they just use extra batting to wrap around the sides
to make the pieces of the cookie the same size
that might be over your head for the moment
but I think as you get into this
you’ll come back to this conversation and realize aha
you might have like
a light bulb moment
another thing I’ve noticed
before I close this up I wanna show you
can you see how much of my brown stitches are showing on the side
so I told you this batting is so squirrelly
it’s like
not revealing what I needed to reveal
it’s just being it ends up flattening out
and it’s just a sign
I can’t wait to tone out of it so I can re up on the kind I told you to buy
it’s not even mashes down too easily
it’s just not great buying
oh well
thanks Hobby Lobby
okay aside from where the batting is sticking out
you can see that I have several rows of stitching exposed
beyond my matboard and batting
and that’s what we want on 18 mesh
which this is 18 mesh
we wanna see about two rows of new work
and on 13 mesh we wanna see two to three rows of needlework
because that tells me that it’s just gonna kiss the surface
when you lay it down on your table
you want it to kiss it and not fully to come around it
like I would wanna see a lot of brown stitches right here
but you also don’t want it to be like this
when you’re done wrapping around the board
showing a bunch of loose canvas
because that’s gonna be pretty hard to hide as well with all of your finishing
stitching and cording so
the rule of thumb is to be looking at about two rows of exposed needlework
from the back like this
and I know I thought that tip was very
very helpful when I heard it from Lita
it made a lot of sense to me
and I think it will make sense to you over time
even if it doesn’t right now
so I’m gonna start from the sides
I just know that’s gonna be easier
kind of keeping everything affixed with my left hand
and I’m just coming in here
not too forcefully especially with this first pull down
if you’re not careful you’ll rip that knot right through the mesh
and that’s because mesh isn’t really that strong
and so that’s why lacing can be a little tricky
and I’m just going across the side
and pulling just tightly enough up here to give it a clamp with a quilting clip
okay and that way keeps it taught
and I don’t have to like
keep my finger on that but I didn’t pull
so hard that this pulled through here
that starter knot is just
you know not your strongest point
and then from here you’ve probably seen other people’s finishing videos
where they go really swiftly and they speed this piece up
cause it can be kind of dull to watch
but I thought we could talk through the nuances of
I’m clamping down on a piece I just stitched
to keep things taught as I lace back and forth
also I’m too lazy to go edit all this to be sped up
without accidentally speeding up my voice and what not
it’s just I’m too tired today
so we are along for the ride
and it’s kind of up to you right now
if you want to start to remove your bolting clips
as you feel things are pretty stable
I’m pulling fairly tight though
like I want that to kiss it
so I’m I’m working the canvas around as I do it
and really kind of making sure I like where I’m securing it
the nice thing is I can cut it all off and start over again
unlike with glue although I guess you can do that too with glue
but
I might just start to remove a few clips to make things kind of easy on myself
so I don’t get my thread caught up on it
now we’re gonna run out of lacing thread here in a little bit
and that’s okay we can start a fresh one
and I’ll show you how to do that too
so as I pull through this
kind of you can feel the angles that make sense
like if it’s giving too much
then pull in a different direction
and see if you can get it nice and taught without ripping your canvas
sometimes I’ll even come up here and get kind of close to the needlework itself
thinking that I know it’s stronger up there than it is
say down here
see that little piece that’s already coming out
we obviously wouldn’t wanna pull the lacing
anywhere close to where the mesh is already coming
apart from having been cut
so I do that on a couple of key places
that feel strong enough to me to be good anchoring points
like that and then I could come across to here
and that’s totally fine I could also come down to this and
I think get even stronger
so I’m gonna do that so there’s no wrong or right
there’s no judgement in lacing
I mean there probably is
but I’m not gonna be judging you
and I hope you’re not judging me
so
see how they start to get caught on your little cotton clips
that’s why you wanna kinda pop them out
yeah that’s kinda nice
that feels nice and tight
but I don’t wanna put too tight around there and get rid of all my brown
like that’s fine that the brown came around fairly significantly there
but let’s look on the other side and make sure that I’m not showing
you know complete white chaos on this side
I’m still alright but it’s definitely getting pretty tight on this side
so something to watch and again
keep turning it over and kind of looking at it and saying hmm
I’m really gonna have to work on these areas
in fact a lot of times you have to stop
open this up and take your Scissors or your detail knife
and take your board down a little bit
if things just aren’t behaving like you’d like them to
now is the time to fix it
although I don’t see that being a problem today
I’ve done that several times over the past few days with my other pieces
where I couldn’t get something wrapped just so
and realized that this was the impediment
so I took it apart just enough to like
get my Scissors in there and cut a little angle or slam it down a little bit
without of course
tearing your canvas and your needlework
because now is the time so if you’re bored
is just craply cut and you did a bad job on it
and it’s giving you a lot of trouble
you know it’s okay
stop and reshape it and either start over or pick back up where you left off
because that’s the critical time
even though it feels a little tedious now
no I just kind of keep going you’ll be sorry
you will be sorry
anyway so
that one I’m not pulling very tight
cause I saw the brown really come around swiftly
and I don’t wanna have it end up looking Caddy Wampus on the front
it’s funny
you go through all these blocking processes and get everything nice and
and looking good and then all of a sudden
you know it ended up looking like that if you pull too tightly
so you really have to just keep turning it over
sometimes I’ll even quilt clip from the front
and get it like I like it on the front
and honor what I’ve done from that direction
I’m showing you now
instead of only clipping from the back and trusting that you had it right
without ever flipping it over to see if you’re liking how it’s coming up
is it coming up roses is it coming up branch
these another pressing questions
okay now I’ve gotten to a funny place where if I pull from here to here
that’s not gonna create a lot of tension
so I’m gonna come back down to like
a really long run and get a little attention from down here
and sorry
you can hear my children screaming in the background
that is just the joy of teenagerhood
at least they’re not screaming at each other
they’re having fun with friends
such a life I think that one still yeah
it’s kind of just sheer logic of if I want this to have good tension
what’s my next play where’s my next stitch gonna go
people make it look really glossy and easy
another tutorials and it’s not hard
but it does take a little for me
at least takes me a second to think about it like okay
if I pull down from that angle
is that really gonna secure things well
especially on this end I want that to wrap really neatly
and you see how this is already taking longer than glue in my opinion
and I still feel like it’s not quite as secure as glue
so you know
it’s up to you whether you’re a gluer or a doer a gluer or a laser
kind of like the idea of lacing it gets very pretty
but no one’s ever gonna see it
but if you’re doing professional finishing
and want to not use glue to please your customers
then I think that’s probably
lacing is probably important step for some finishers
I don’t know every finisher
I’m sure does it differently
now I’ve run out of thread
and I need to secure this and keep digging
what I do that may or may not be kosher
is I just knot it to another piece and get it good and strong and keep digging
so I could somehow take my needle and tuck this in
and we’ll do it that way I mean I’ll just
make a knot
any old knot will do
god is there anything more tedious than watching someone try to thread a needle
on a video
haven’t helped me I’m gonna go the knot it to another piece methodology
because this dark thread is hard to see
so I know I have a ton of lacing left
but also this thread is something I never even bought
so it’s mean it’s not like it cost anything
but found an old stash at my mother
and who knows what she had planned for this burgundy thread
but yeah
I just took whatever length came off that stain
and I am going to just old school knot this
we don’t want it to be like a Slipknot or something that would come free
as we’re trying to waste that would be an irritant
okay that’s not going anywhere
I don’t have to cut off the tails
but you can
and now I’m going to re up
on my lacing but if you’re timing yourself
as you can see
you’re already a gluer if you’re just doing this first to play time
because it’s so time consuming
okay I’m gonna go ahead and take off
hmm
didn’t realize this weren’t laced
okay if that guy
he’s knotted that way well
I’ll leave those there
I don’t think I can get enough tension from that direction I’m going to
I’m gonna draw this through on a piece that I’ve already laced
knowing he’s good and strong anyway
to start to get the angle that I need
to continue lacing the pieces that haven’t been laced yet
and I’m gonna have it head up in this direction
cause there’s quite a bit to tack down up here
so let’s think about how it folds and lace what we wanna lace first
it folds quite messily this is not my finest work on this corner
but at least I haven’t lost any serious ground
you can lace several pieces at once too
let’s see if we like that on the front
very careful not to bend your matboard too much to where it’s like
warping and coming around
mine is starting to do so
if your attention with all this work is just too much
this gonna end up bending and looking really janky
but I’m feeling okay about it
so I’m just gonna come up through all those pieces
and hope to secure them in one fell swoop
probably wishful thinking but
say a little prayer for me
okay I’m gonna go up high
or I think it’s strongest
it’s already breaking through some of the canvas it’s okay
hmm
yeah pretty tricky
not gonna lie but it’s gonna look fine on the front
so I’m gonna leave that bad boy clamped for eternity
and probably even give it a dot of glue
come across to these pieces to see what’s not laced
see how lacing is still kind of imperfect
if this is what this is a little loose
and I don’t know where in things
I got it too loose but that bothers me
cause it makes me feel like I’m not securing this well on the sides
and then it’s just all gonna come undone
so it’s probably cause I clamped it
but I clamped it at an angle and didn’t really
do it right and so there
there’s a loosey goosey underneath there and that’s buggin
I’ll be on top more and
set the water through
yeah I have a drink okay
I come in through this little piece
and get a little strength from existing laced piece
before I continue on to the pieces I’m trying to reach
and I’m gonna do them one at a time
and I’m not gonna get this much attention at all
just gonna pretend I’m sewing and wanting things to stay non bendy
so I’m really I’m also gonna come in from the top which is fine
and then go back up and pick up that last little pesky little piece
I mean like I don’t even know what the point is
I’m just gonna rip it off if I’m not careful
so I am gonna stop here and I’m just gonna get out of glue dot up there
sorry for the not so perfect lacing
but I need more practice and let’s follow the funny shape
so I’m gonna come in through here and just make a traditional knot
and try to get it good and hot
and pull all my pieces together like that
which is sort of enjoyable and soothing
I don’t know why turn it off
take off all these plaggers
I didn’t even do those two yet
you you get the drill
it’s it’s not perfect
I don’t love that I’m seeing some of that canvas
that’s cause those aren’t laced down yet
I think when I get a little blue
it’ll all be ready to rock
and then we can work on putting all these guys together so let’s give it a dot
okay that’s more than done let’s get a glob
I really want that to come around
so I’m pulling fairly hard on that as that dries
I’m just gonna clamp it for a minute
and come back up to these nasty little pesky pieces
I mean again
the only thing I can say is
besides nothing is
you wanna keep looking at the front to make sure that like
what you’re doing is actually helping your outcome
as opposed to lacing just to lace
and then turning around and realizing you don’t like how it turned out so
there is our little ranch bottle
and
we’ve got some pesky threads popping up from the back
like canvas threads as opposed to
you know pepper pot threads
but I think that these guys are gonna be really happy together
when we come along and sew them together
with pretty cording along it so
glued version laced version front back