Secured Needle Stitching

This NaBoPoMo thingie is driving me mad!  So many of the blogs I follow are taking part this year that my reader is filling up even faster than usual.  The trouble is, it's all so interesting I can't miss one of the posts!  Why don't you all blog about your laundry or something dull so I can bypass the posts?

Anyway, Daffycat has made some great posts this week, one about tea-dyeing and another about the loop method of stitching.  I commented on both posts.  The first to mention using fruit teas to dye fabric, a great alternative to the usual standard teas and lovely natural colours too.

The second comment was about MY method of starting stitching.  I tried explaining it in words once before and people either said "??????" or "Oh, like sewing".  So here are some pictures:

Step 1 - thread your needle onto the middle of a piece of floss twice the length you usually stitch with:

Put the two tail ends together:

Secure the tails under the first stitch you make as you usually would stitching with two strands of floss:

You can see in this picture the needle is secured to the fabric and can't come unthreaded .

This is perfect if you stitch while travelling or have animals/children who like to jump up and grab your stitching.  Even if they throw the stitching across the room the needle stays attached and can't be lost.

You can also stitch right to the very end of the floss without it coming unthreaded every 2 stitches (or is that just me?!)  Obviously this only works with plain floss and when stitching with 2 strands.  I use the normal method with variegated threads and when using an odd number of strands.

Another advantage is when you don't use the whole length up.  With this method you snip the thread off and still have a usable length left.  eg if you snip at 4 inches left then you still have 4 usable inches next time you want that colour.  With the loop start method then you have 2 x 4 inch pieces or 2 lots of 2 inch usable stitching floss.  Make sense?  I hope so!

It's also good when you're stitching on fine linen, as there are only 2 strands going through each hole it doesn't "stretch" the holes so much.  With 2 separate strands there are actually 4 strands going through each hole each time.  And that annoying habit floss has when the 2 strands end up different lengths?  Doesn't happen, because needle just adjusts itself to the centre of the floss every stitch!

My only wish is that I'd invented this method and patented it!

Can anyone guess what is the piece of stitching I'm demonstrating on?  Unfortunately you can't see the front today because my scanner is bleaching the picture out.  So I have to find the camera and do it properly.

Finally, remember this Hallowe'en PIF I got from Erica?  It is now being PIFed onto Rachel, in plenty of time for next Hallowe'en!