How I manage needles and thread with detailed embroidery
I often see posts across social media from stitchers wondering how the heck you’re supposed to manage all those colors and needles while threadpainting without everything turning into a tangled mess, and I absolutely understand this feeling! Once upon a time I had a vision for a certain project, and through lots of youtube, trial and error, and hours and hours of stitching, I’ve finally dialed in a workflow I’m happy with. It’s been making detailed embroidery more enjoyable and accessible to me, and I hope it might do the same for someone else!
There’s a lot to it and I’m happy to answer specific questions, but here are the highlights:
No knots: Starting threads with a waste knot and even just two tiny backstitches is plenty secure and makes the back much smoother. Threads can be ended the same way, tuck two tiny backstitches somewhere inconspicuous and snip the thread from the top. Aside from aesthetic reasons, this ensures you can really pack in and layer stitches without worrying about having to poke through thick knots.
Keep threads on top: I like to work with a gradient of 5 or 6 colors at a time, keeping my needles in order off to the side. The threads are parked in an area that will later be covered up. To move a thread to my working area I make a tiny stab stitch and bring it back to the front where needed. This makes it easy to do all my work on the front of the fabric, and not having to flip over to look at the back speeds things up.
Have floss ready to thread: I like to use floss drops because I can reference my color palette right away, threads are already cut, and I can easily pick single strands out without any tangling. When I finish a thread and need a new strand of that color, I make sure to match the color on the needle to the new strand before discarding as some of them can get hard to tell apart. Having thread pre-cut and ready to use also really helps me stay in the groove and spend time stitching vs fighting with a new skein of floss.
I hope this is helpful and encourages someone to give threadpainting a shot!!