Sprite Stitch Board!

Quite often, I notice that I'm having a hard time pulling the thread through the canvas, so I look on the back and notice a knot's formed. More often than not, the knot has become so tight that I can't fit the needle through the knot so I can undo it. How do these knots form, and how can I prevent it from happening again?

Thanks in advance.

i find that the thread twists as i work and therefore knots form because of this, so every now and then i let the needle hang and un-twizzle it self.
Seams to help, can get annoying after a while but its either do that or have to replace the thread every few stitches due to knots.

When I put the thread through the needle, should I knot the threat where it meets the needle? I find that I keep losing the end of my thread because it falls through the hole in the needle when I pull it through the canvas.

I wouldn't, it might stretch the fabric to much. When pulling the thread through, hold the needle at the eye so your pinching the thread as well. It helps me keep the thread on the needle.

Try railroading your stitches - not only does it help prevent knots, but by paying more attention to the thread, you tend to see knots forming before they tighten so you can undo them before they become a problem.

What I do to avoid it is to let my thread and needle hang down from the fabric and untwist itself. It helps a bit for me, when I remember to do it. I remember again once I get a knot.

Use smaller pieces of thread. When I started I was only using enough to make about 10 stitches at a time. It's annoying and slow, but it forms good habits. I use very long pieces now and rarely knot (I'm about 4000 stitches into a 7k commission and had one, for example).

the untwisting works.
I also use shorter pieces of thread. they are more managable and easier to keep track of with the knots.
by shorter I don't mean tiny though. then you're just wasting thread by cutting and throwing away a bunch.

I probably use around 14-16" pieces? if you have problems with your thread falling out of your needle, you should let the thread be further through your needle, and get used to pinching the eye of the needle as you sew.

good luck! you'll figure out what works best for you and have less knots in no time!

Thanks for the pointers, everyone. I have one more question. As I was looking through the forums, I noticed that my stitches have very noticeable X's with very visible canvas underneath (as you can see from my Lashiec WIP that I've posted here earlier), while most other people's stitches... you can't really see the canvas under their stitches. What am I doing wrong?

Jack Lias wrote:Thanks for the pointers, everyone. I have one more question. As I was looking through the forums, I noticed that my stitches have very noticeable X's with very visible canvas underneath (as you can see from my Lashiec WIP that I've posted here earlier), while most other people's stitches... you can't really see the canvas under their stitches. What am I doing wrong?

Not doing anything wrong as far as I can see. My stuff's like that all the time, until it gets washed. They will probably sort themselves out after washing
How many thread strands and what count aida are you using for that piece?