Have You Ever Used a Colonial Knot?

I’ll admit there are a lot of things I don’t know when it comes to cross stitch techniques, but it’s not often that I come across a term I’ve never heard of before.

It happened recently when I found a post at Fab Reilly all about decorative knots, specifically comparing French knots to colonial knots.

Of course I know what a French knot is; I’ve made tons of them and even wrote a post about how to make French knots and comparing the look using different numbers of strands of thread and different numbers of turns around the needle.

The colonial knot has a similar look but it’s done in a different way, by twisting the thread around the needle in a figure 8 rather than just wrapping it around the needle. I don’t know why they are called colonial knots.

In their side by side comparison, French knots and colonial knots look pretty much the same, but the colonial knot maybe is a little nicer looking because the threads lie a little flatter. Once you get the hang of it you might find colonial knots easier to make, and you can use them interchangeably when a project calls for a decorative knot.

The Fab Reilly post has a step by step photo tutorial on how to do colonial knots, as well as a video if that helps you learn. Of course now that I know it exists there are tons of tutorials out there I just had never seen before.

This is definitely a technique I’m going to have to try and see if I like it better than standard French knots. (I actually think making French knots is kind of fun.)

Have you ever done this method of knot making before? Do you prefer French knots or colonial knots? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Fab Reilly]

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How Much Embroidery Floss Should You Use?

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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