{"id":7149,"date":"2014-11-14T06:34:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T19:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/?p=7149"},"modified":"2014-11-13T16:05:31","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T05:05:31","slug":"what-are-you-afraid-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/2014\/11\/14\/what-are-you-afraid-of\/","title":{"rendered":"What are you afraid of?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was having a conversation with a friend on Facebook yesterday about fabrics. She said that some people are scared of stitching on linen. This is something I have never heard of before. I am not sure why someone might be afraid of stitching on linen. Perhaps it is regarded as too expensive to make mistakes on. Her suggestions for reasons were that it is “too fine” and “only for experts”. She didn’t know where these ideas originated, and neither do I!<\/p>\n

But then I got to thinking, “Am I afraid of anything to do with needlework?”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year there was a stitch that I was hesitating to do because it scared me. I thought that it would be too easy to make mistakes, and then by the time you’d made them you’d be past the point where they could be fixed easily. But then I just launched in and did it because it had to be done, and learned that there was no reason I should have been scared of it!<\/p>\n

I am scared of the way in Lefkara lace they cut the threads first before overcasting the edges. I think I’m scared of it simply because in Hardanger, with which I am more familiar, you overcast and then cut. The one with which I am more familiar feels more comfortable to me. I’ve never actually tried doing it the Lefkara way (unless you count the times I’ve undone people’s kloster blocks in class that have been accidentally cut, and therefore need replacing), but maybe I’d find that it wasn’t quite so dreadful either.<\/p>\n

I don’t *like* using rayon threads, but that’s not because I’m scared of them. I just find them annoying because they’re so springy!<\/p>\n

\"red<\/a>When I was making my red and gold jacket<\/a> some time back, I was rather scared of cutting that fabric. I loved the fabric so much and I was afraid that if I made a mistake with cutting, that there wouldn’t be enough left over to finish it. However, eventually I did cut. It did work out. It was all fine. And if I hadn’t done it, I never would have had the jacket to enjoy wearing.<\/p>\n

So, going back to stitching on linen fabric. I love working on linen fabric. It looks beautiful. It irons up beautifully. It is lovely to wear. But the main thing I love about working with linen fabric is that when I pull it to do pulled or drawn thread work, it stays where I’ve put it. Fabric with some synthetic in it goes back to where it wants to go. Cotton fibres don’t usually crease in the same way that linen does, so cotton fabric doesn’t behave *quite* as I want it to. But linen, when I’ve pulled the threads to where I want them, and pinched and pulled my stitch, it stays just so.<\/p>\n

I’ve only learned this over time, from using it and other types of fabrics. I’ve realised that I like working with linen best (for counted thread work).<\/p>\n

Sometimes, we just have to take the plunge and overcome our fears. Perhaps we’ll find that there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of.<\/p>\n

What are you afraid of with your needlework? Is there a particular stitch, technique, fabric or thread that you’re not willing to try? Can we help to cheer you on?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was having a conversation with a friend on Facebook yesterday about fabrics. She said that some people are scared of stitching on linen. This is something I have never heard of before. I am not sure why someone might be afraid of stitching on linen. Perhaps it is regarded as too expensive to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embroidery-musings","category-hints-and-tips","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7149"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7155,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions\/7155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vettycreations.com.au\/white-threads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}