Sprite Stitch Board!

I'm close to finishing a stitched piece that will have quite a few beads on it. Not that I currently possess said beads, but they're on my shopping list for our upcoming trip to the US. I have never finished a piece that has beads on it before so I'm not sure how to iron it. Do you just kind of try to go around the beads with the iron or just iron over the top of it all? Or maybe you iron the stitching and then carefully attach the beads afterwards?

Any tips would be welcome. Thanks!

I would do it in many steps.

If you can, finish ALL the stitching before you start beading. Wash it first. If you're going to block, block it now. Then iron it before you start putting the beads on. I think I would try to keep my work on a frame for the beading rather than a hoop as the hoop can skew things. Or at least a hoop that is large enough that your area for beading won't ever be warped. But even without that, if you block and iron it first it should have a good basis.

When you finish the piece, iron it again. In my experience, you should always be using a slightly damp *something* between your iron and your stitching. As such, there shouldn't really be any issue in putting that over your beaded work and ironing again. I usually use a light tea towel, but if you're worried about it, you can use something slightly thicker.

When you're ironing do it in a pressing motion, rather than an ironing motion. You don't want it to run into a bead and the tug pull it out of whack, so move the iron in a up/down/move to next section kind of way. Don't push the iron back and forth along it, if you get my drift. You're more using the steam it creates to relax the fibers back how they should be when they were properly ironed the first time rather than re-aligning things. You should be able to properly iron outer parts up to the beaded area normally.

You could do the blocking/ironing after you finish the beading instead, but I think that you'll get better results this way. You'll certainly get your stitches ironed better if you do it first without the beads.

That makes a lot of sense, thank you! I can finish the stitching first. I'm almost done with it, in fact! Just a few more evenings of sitting in front of the TV once the kids have finally given up and gone to sleep and I'll be ready with that part.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Do! I'm a big fan of the stitching + beading projects out there and always wanted to buy one. Just usually a little out of my price range! Maybe one day I'll just create my own, lol.

The techniques I've mentioned is how I've dealt with beaded fabric when I was doing stuff in the theatre, so it should work. At least, its how we got them built, then only dry-cleaned!

I'm using a pattern from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Cross-Sti ... 0715324578 The dragon of the mountains one. I'm also working on the sleeping beauty one. Both have a bunch of beads. Also a bunch of that horrid kreinik floss, but it looks so sparkly that I don't mind so much.

The book wasn't too expensive and Mill Hill beads seem to be really cheap online. There are so many patterns I want to do from this book.

That looks really cool! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Every year here at the Knitting and Stitching Show, this crowd shows up with the most amazing beaded kits. I think its Just Art Stitch, although I can't find the items that I really love, so it might not be. Anyway, every year I am there looking longing at absolutely everything they have to sell, reminding myself that I need a new kit as much as a hole in the head and shouldn't I be finishing one of the bazillion I've already bought. But I still look. They're too gorgeous not to.

Ooh ooh I have this book! Would love to see how your projects turn out

blackmageheart wrote:Ooh ooh I have this book! Would love to see how your projects turn out

Ooh! I have that book too! I'd also love to see how it comes out

ooo interesting looking book!

Awesome ironing tips too Eliste! Thanks for sharing!

I am getting soooooo close! Just a bit more backstitching to do. I wanted to take a picture the other day but then the hubby decided that he and the almost 4yr old NEEDED ice cream with strawberries. In the living room. Then the girl child started jumping on the couch while holding her bowl. I ran for the hills, stitching in hand! So no picture yet.