Plastic Canvas Tips & Hints

Yarn Yards to Ounces Conversion Table

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Needloft Discontinued Yarn Colors and Substitutions

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Marking and Cutting Canvas

Experiment to find which marking and cutting tools you prefer. Crayon, grease pencil or washable marker work well for marking. Scissors, kitchen shears or craft cutters are good for cutting long, straight lines and most diagonal shaping. Small scissors or nail clippers are good for inside cutouts or small items.

Cut your project piece out to look just like the graph, or count holes as specified in cutting instructions. Some patterns feature square or rectangle-shaped pieces which may not have graphs. When you finish cutting, trim nubs smoothly close to the bar and trim all corners diagonally.

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Starting to stitch

Thread your needle with about 18" [45.7 cm] of yarn. Do not tie a knot in the end. Bring your needle up through canvas from the back, leaving a short length of yarn on back side of canvas. As you begin to stitch, work over this piece of yarn. If you are beginning with continental stitches, leave a 1" [2.5 cm] length on back of canvas, but if you are working longer stitches, leave a longer length.

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Stitching your project

As you stitch, try to maintain an even tension on the yarn. Loose stitches will look uneven, and tight stitches will let canvas show through. If your yarn twists as you work, you may want to let your needle and yarn hang and untwist occasionally. Do not carry yarn across the back from one section of a color to the next. Carrying yarn across the back can cause the piece to bow or colors to show through to the front. When you end a section of stitching or finish a thread, weave the yarn through the back side of your last few stitches, then trim it off. Work embroidery stitches over needlepoint stitches after canvas piece if filled in.

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Selecting Supplies

There are several types of plastic canvas. Some are soft and supple, while some are stiffer and more rigid. For projects that require a great deal of shaping, select soft, pliable canvas. Most projects can be stitched on regular plastic canvas. For some boxes and other projects that stand alone, you may want to try stiffer plastic canvas. Or, you may stitch through two thicknesses of canvas.

For 7-mesh canvas, use a No. 16 blunt tapestry needle and worsted-weight or plastic canvas yarn. Use a doubled strand for stitching on 5-mesh canvas. For 10-mesh canvas, use a No. 18 blunt tapestry needle and sport-weight yarn, embroidery floss, #3 pearl cotton or similar yarn. For 14-mesh canvas, use a No, 24 blunt tapestry needle and #5 pearl cotton.

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Background Stitches

The following stitches are used for filling in large areas of canvas. The Continental Stitch is the most commonly used stitch. Other stitches, such as the Condensed Mosaic and Scotch Stitch, fill in large areas of canvas more quickly than the Continental Stitch because their stitches cover a larger area of canvas.

• Condensed Mosaic
• Continental Stitch
• Cross-Stitch
• Long Stitch
• Reverse Continental
• Running Stitch
• Scotch Stitch
• Slanted Gobelin

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Specialty Stitches

The following stitches can be worked either on top of a previously stitched area or directly onto the canvas. Like the embroidery stitches, these too add wonderful detail and give your stitching additional interest and texture.

• Smyrna Cross
• Smyrna Diamond

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Finishing Stitches

• Lark's Head Knot
• Overcast
• Whipstitch

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Embroidery Stitches

These stitches are worked on top of a stitched area to add detail to the project. Embroidery stitches are usually worked with one strand of yarn, several strands of pearl cotton or several strands of embroidery floss.

• Backstitch
• Fly Stitch
• French Knot
• Lazy Daisy
• Modified Turkey Work
• Straight Stitch

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