This post is for Chris who is having fits with his French Knots. I've never had to do this myself. I am one of those that learned easily how to make a French knot and quickly perfected them but I know many, many stitchers have trouble with them. No one wants to wait to finish a project until the stitch has been learned reliably, and beads sometimes look out of place. I am not advocating using this technique forever. Practise! Learn those French Knots! But until you do ~ here is how to "fake" a French Knot:
I stitched a block of cross stitches for my foundation. Take two strands of floss and tie a simple pretzel knot and pull it snug. I left it loose in the photo so you could see the shape I used to form the knot. When you pull it snug (not tight) make sure you have all the threads pulled in, with no little loose loops.
Thread one end of your floss on the needle and go through the front where your French Knot is supposed to be. Remove the needle from the floss and just leave the tail hanging loose on the back.
Now, thread the other end of the floss on the other side of the knot and go through very near where your first thread went through. Try to split a fabric thread and go through that for stability. Pull that end to the back and flip the piece over. Be careful not to pop the knot through to the back side!
Tie both ends in another pretzel knot. Again, don't pull so tight you pop your knot though to the back! Tying the back ends will give the knot on the front the round shape you are looking for.
Then thread the ends on your needle again and secure them underneath stitches like you would to finish off any other stitch.
Can you tell which of these is a "real" French Knot and which is "fake"? No? The one in the middle is the real French Knot. Yes, this is troublesome and fiddly but it could get you through until you learn that stitch!
Thank you for visiting my blog today!
xox
25 comments:
That is a handy tip
Greetings Johanna
Now that is a clever technique. I hate those french knots. I can make one good one and then the next one will look like crap. :)
Jen
ohh i love french knots so nuchhhh..my all time fav..thank you for sharing..
hugs cucki xx
Awesome! Will so be using this!
I confess, yep ~ I'm a faker, but only with French Knots ~ LOL! Congrats on 1000 Followers:)
My grandmother taught me how to do french knots when I was young so I don't have any trouble with them. This is a very handy tip though.
I've done that! LOL!
Interesting method for an isolated stitch or two. I think I'd go crazy doing a lot of them that way though. Knowing my problems with French knots, I'd probably have just as much trouble getting them the same size with this method as the regular one! ;-)
1000 followers? Incredible!
Clever tip!
Ok, this is very cool. Thanks for the tip!
Very cool Sharon have never seen that before. I have masted the colonial knot so I do those instead
I love French Knots. Brilliant tip.
Ooh, sneaky! ;D
I'm hopeless at French knots, sometimes they work and at other times I can't get it right at all. My cheat method is to use a Danish knot but I'll give your tip a try.
What a great 'trick' - I have never seen that before! I have to admit that I like doing french knots!
How clever!
Have I told you lately that I LOVE you??? I hate those darn french knots. I'm off to try to "fake" a few. Thank you, sweetie for helping those of us less fortunate french knotters. (or as I call myself, a french NOT-er.)
Thanks Daffy for this great idea and my very own post on your blog :-) I have been frustrated but I haven't given up. I WILL master French Knots :-) For now, my amazing wife is doing all my french knots and she does a wonderful job!
I have been using a regular sewing needle instead of a tapestry needle. That seems to help. The tapestry needle has a bulge at the eye which expands the knot as it passes through.
Thanks again!
Happy Stitching!
Chris
Very neat trick!
I like a colonial knot vs. a french one, to be honest. They seem more.........solid to me or something.
Great tip (I hate french knots!), thanks!
Heya! I've been trying to learn how to do this for years with no success and cheating as you suggested. Then this summer I sat down with one of my stitching mags and was determined to learn properly. Now they seem really simple and I don't know why it took me so long to get it! Even though it's only a little thing, it feels like a huge achievement for some reason :)
Interesting. I've never seen it done that way! I usually either use a Colonial knot or a bead but I can make a French knot. (I can keep the size of the CK more even which is why I sub)
Some nice finishes you have had recently! I did not add one stitched ornament to my tree this year (though I did finish two for gifts)
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Interesting! Thanks for posting it! My problem is my first French knot turns out fine but the second one is always wonky, which is a problem if I'm making them for something like eyes. Maybe iI will give this method a try the next time I have to make French knots.
I've never seen this technique before! Very interesting! Luckily I finally perfected my French Knots and don't mind doing them now :o)
Great technique and tip!!!
Jennifer
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