How to Start and End your Stitching

My Aunty Kim taught me this trick when I was a young cross-stitcher. It saves so much knot-tying grief :) You'll love it too :) 1. Cut an arm-length of embroidery thread. Embroidery thread always has 6 strands twisted together. Hold a thread end between your index finger and thumb, and flatten it with your thumb nail so the 6 strands are flat. 2. Separate the 6 strands into 3 and 3. 3. Because you're learning, tape the 3 & 3 down with a space between them. (SIDEBAR: once you get used to this technique, you can hold the 3 & 3 in your left hand, the other in your mouth, then separate with your right hand.) Hold the other end of the thread with your right hand. With your left hand (see picture), drag your finder between the 3 and 3 (holding it as you drag, see picture) all the way to the end of the strand in your right hand. Important: The 6 strand in your right hand will twist and kink. Remedy this once and a while throughout the separating process= Left Hand: hold the thread tight, Right Hand: drag the 6 strands between your fingers (from left hand to end) to straighten and unkink. Then continue with the separating technique until you've got 2 separate sections of 3 and 3. 3. Take one of the strands of 3 and fold it in half. (Set aside the other strand-set of 3 strings.) You'll have one end with tails and one thats folded & creates a loop :) 4. Combine the 3 and 3 into 6. Get a needle. This is the end you will be threading. 5. Lol, there's the money shot. To make it easy to thread the needle, I suck on the thread for a bit, then drag/flatten it between my top lip & bottom teeth. Very attractive. Do this a few times and it should thread well :) 6. Have the back/inside of the fabric facing you. 7. Thread your first stitch but don't pull the loop thru. Then, put the needle thru the loop. 8. Now pull the thread/needle end till it's tight (*be careful not to pull the needle off the thread). In the above 2nd picture, the needle is pointing to where the loop was. This is so easy... once you get used to it...it will make your stitching cleaner/neater, stronger, faster! When you run out of thread, use the other 3-strand and do the same thing again.

9. Once your thread runs out or you're done stitching, take half (3) of the thread out of the needle-eye. Leave half (3) in.

10. Near the place where your stitching ended, weave the needle under a stitch, once. Then take the needle off. Tie the two threads in a few knots. 11. Trim the tails near the knot. You're done :) Go here for more of my How Tos :] PS. this is my 700th blog post! woah!