Thursday, March 20, 2008

UFO Sighting

Until it is finished, my "official" UFO is Adia. I'm supposed to work on this every Tuesday. Sometimes I stick to this, other times... not so much. This is one of those projects that I will like when it's finished, but stitching on it is not a lot of fun. It has a ton of metallic braid and blending filament, which is particularly fiddly to work with. But the real problem is the fabric. I hate it. It's by Wichelt, and I personally think they make the absolute worst linen for stitching. In fact, I have refused to use it for years.

Unfortunately, when I first started working on linen, I was unaware of the vast differences between manufacturers. I had to learn the hard way how nasty this stuff is to use. Back then, it didn't occur to me to change the fabric (or anything else) for a project. I simply purchased whatever was recommended. When I started Titania (the companion piece to Adia), I bought the recommended "32 ct. Chestnut linen"... made by Permin, supplied by Wichelt. Later, when Adia was released, I purchased the same miserable fabric, so that the two would match. (Side note-- I also got the "recommended" fabric for Santa's Magic, which lived in the UFO pile for YEARS before I finally finished it.)

So here it sits, miserable fabric and all. I started it back in 1999. I worked on it off & on (mostly OFF) over the years and made quite a bit of progress. Then, about a year ago, I discovered that a large chunk of the left wing was off by ONE ROW. I probably could have "fudged" and gotten it to line up... sort of... but I knew it would bug me, so I decided it would have to be frogged.

I did the frogging 4 or 5 weeks ago. (Did I mention that it was all blending filament and metallic braid that had to come out???) I've worked on it every Tuesday, except one, since then and it is FINALLY at the point where it was before the frogging session. Maybe next week, we'll see some real progress.

4 comments:

Chiloe said...

Poor you ....... I hate frogging blending threads ... What kind of manufacturer do you like now? I love lugana (not linen but I hate linen !!! lol )

Gina E. said...

Oh Juanita, I don't know how you have the patience to work on something like this! It will be spectacular when it is finished, but in the meantime, to have to pull out metallic threads from LINEN...OMG!!! I would have thrown it in the garbage can..

Anonymous said...

I am curious if there is a fabric that you would recommend above the Permin/Wichelt Linen. I have just opened a stitching shop and am trying to make sure my customers have high quality materials that they will like to use. Currently I am stocking a variety, but would love to hear from experienced stitchers to find out their preferences.

Chelle said...

Wow, What a PITA! Frogging out metallics would have been the last straw for me. Hang in there - it doesn't look like you have too much left to do.

I smiled regarding your fabric comments. I am a big fan of Permin/Wichelt fabrics. I can't stand anything thick and chunky to stitch on. That's why there are so many linen varieties out there - it's all a matter of personal taste. :o)