Bargello: No Knots Please

Whether you decide to frame your worked piece or make it into a pillow, you want a smooth worked surface. To achieve that use an even and snug but not overly tight tension on your stitching thread as your work. Also work your piece to be square. I choose to work my pieces tacked onto a wood frame, others choose to work in hand. How you secure the ends of your stitching threads also need to be taken into account. I like to place the tails of my stitching threads into the back of my worked piece.

This discussion of how to secure the ends of your stitching thread is from my booklet: Waves of Early Fall. Supplies used: Size 5 thread on 18 count mono canvas.

Starting a new thread:

Photo shows the front side of the worked sample with the start of a new thread.

thread tails

thread tails

Since this (phase 2 of Waves of Early Fall) row began with two 2:2 stitches, I brought my thread out at the first 4:2. Then I went over to the first 2:2 and worked those two 2:2 stitches. This helped me ‘secure’ the start of the new thread.
thread tails

thread tails

As I worked the rest of the first inch or two of this row, I made sure the starting tail of the thread was inside, between the back of the fabric and my stitching thread.
thread tails

thread tails

Flipping the worked piece over you can see how nice and snug the start end of the thread is being held by the beginning stitches of the row. I am about to snip off the start tail of the stitching thread. Note my stitching thread is on the other (front) side of the worked piece to ensure I did not snip it off by mistake.
thread tails

thread tails

Back of the work with starting tail of the stitching thread snipped off.
thread tails

thread tails

Ending a stitching thread:

At the finish of each row, the ending of the thread is also secured between the back of the fabric and the just worked stitches.

My fingertips get sore after hours of stitching and pulling the needle and threads through the back of my worked piece. I have found it helpful to use a flat-headed plier to gently grab my needle and pull the ends through the back of my worked sampler.I did not carry threads over each other but used a new length for each row.

thread tails

thread tails