The Basketweave and Continental stitches are the basic needlepoint stitches. You can create any design in yarn using one or the other, as well as the outlining stitches. Generally, the Basketweave stitch is preferred because it distorts the canvas less than does the Continental, and you do not have to turn the canvas upside down as you do when working alternate rows in Continental. The Basketweave stitch does, however, use up more yarn than the Continental, but this only makes the object wear better and last longer.
There are many other stitches with which you can achieve special textural effects in your projects, and I will be adding them in regular updates to this site, along with new designs (in color) that utilize them.
This is available in various gauges - threads per inch - and in two basic constructions – mono or interlocked. Generally, I recommend using mono, unless you are working a design with extremely fine detail, such as faces, which require working these areas in petit point on interlocked canvas.
Preparing the Canvas:
The directions for each design specify how large a piece of canvas you will need, providing for an inch of unworked margin from the edge of the design to the raw edge of the canvas all around; therefore the dimensions given for canvas include at least an extra two inches horizontally and vertically.
Secure the raw edges of the canvas by applying 1” masking tape. Or trim the corners of the canvas and machine sew double-fold bias tape around the edges. Mark “top” along the upper taped edge in order to maintain your orientation when you put down the canvas and pick it up again.
Persian Yarn:
This high-quality wool yarn, made especially for embroidery, is available in a very broad range of colors. Three threads of yarn plied together comprise a full strand of Persian yarn. To avoid knotting and fraying, work with lengths of about 18 to 22 inches, or longer when using a full strand on 10-mesh-to-the-inch canvas.
Anchor the end of the yarn by holding an inch or so of it at the back of the canvas while working your stitches over it. Secure the last couple of inches of yarn in your needle at the back of your canvas by running it under several stitches – horizontally or vertically, not diagonally. Further notes on different types of yarns will be added along with new designs that utilize them.
Here are the general rules of thumb regarding which size needle to use with which gauge of canvas when working which stitch:
Basketweave and Continental stitches:
On 10-mesh-to-the-inch canvas use a #18 needle holding the full 3-thread strand together, or, on 12-, 13- or 14-mesh-to-the-inch canvas use a #20 or #22 needle, holding two threads together,or, on 17-mesh-to-the-inch canvas use a #22 needle, holding one thread.
