over one

Barrick Samplers, “I Honor My Parents”

Just a WIP, but I have high hopes that I will be able to finish this by Christmas… It’s funny to think that less than a year ago I was afraid of over one stitching, and now I have become fairly obsessed with it! And when I hear other stitchers say they will never do over one, I can only shake my head. It’s really *not* scary, and in fact sometimes even easier than “regular” stitching. It only takes one strand, so it’s not hard to get a good thread lay, and if you use linen for your ground it’s even easy to see! The trickiest part, I think, is that sometimes the floss will slide under a linen thread, but with practice in learning how tight to pull (and which direction to pull from) that will soon become less of a problem. And it’s just fascinating to see how different some designs look when done over one rather than the way they were originally intended. I once visited a little XS shop in IL (now closed) that had almost all of the shop models done over one in an effort to save space and it was so neat to see! In fact, that was the first time I really realized what a difference in the design over one could make… there were many designs that I thought I hadn’t cared for much but when I saw them done over one found them appealing.

Note: “over-one” refers to the process of stitching a design using one strand of floss over one linen thread, as opposed to the more common practice of stitching over 2 linen threads. To prevent that thread slippage that I sometimes suffer from, the continental or tent stitch is recommended. A quick tutorial of the continental stitch can be found here. Many people prefer this method, but despite my good intentions, I tend to slip back into my normal mode of stitching too quickly after trying the continental stitching. Can you really teach an old dog new tricks? BTW, a nifty group to join on Yahoo! is: OneOverOners. Whether you are curious about over one stitching or already addicted, this is the place for you!