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The first thing any Lazy Wench must do when working is start a strand of thread and the last thing she does on each piece is end the final thread off. This may sound simple, but it is very important. Poor ending of threads can make a piece fray and ravel, make it lumpy when framed or cause faint lines of unwanted color to show through on the front. In some cases Wenches will be able to spot small holes or breaks in your stitching. I will describe many of the more common methods and explain why I choose to use them. I'm not a fanatic about this, but it does make a difference. If you want to wow your cousins, you can stitch any old way. If you want to wow a Lazy Wench, you need to pay attention to hinky little things like how you end your threads.
When selecting a method to use for starting and stopping threads, keep in mind the end use of the finished object and the qualities of the fibers you are using. There’s nothing more annoying than to wear or wash a hand made item and discover thread ends poking out, or worse, missing stitches. In general, man-made fibers require a more secure method, as they are ‘slicker’ and will work their way out during handling. Silk is also a ‘slick’ fiber and the shinier the silk, the slicker it is. Rayon is far more difficult to secure than silk. Wool is the easiest to secure.
The Basic Start
The easiest method is to simply run a thread tail under the back of stitches already completed. To make this method the best it can be, I try to make sure that I am running threads under so I have a slight change of direction when I come up to stitch and I want that direction change to mimic the one used in the stitch as if it were in the middle of a thread. On the quest for perfection, no detail can be overlooked by a determined Lazy Wench. Darleen O'Steen covers this in her book, "The Proper Stitch." I've named Darleen an Honorary Lazy Wench. Marion Scoular also covers this in her 'Advice' book and includes a picture worth a thousand words as to why it is not a hinky detail. Marion long ago achieved Wench-hood.
The Away Start
This method is good when there is no finished area already completed. Sometimes it is the first stitch in a project, sometimes you are moving to stitch in a new area. I also use this method when I am starting to work in a different color, and I do not want to run a very dark color tail under light colored stitches or vice versa. Many call it an away knot or a waste knot. To use this method, you make a knot at the end of your thread and starting from the front of your work, put your needle down through your ground fabric leaving the knot on the front of the work. You want the knot to be out of the way of the stitching that will be put in. You want it far enough away that when you very carefully cut the knot off, you have a thread tail long enough to thread back into your needle and end the thread. The rule of thumb is twice the length of the needle. Plan where you are going to place the knot, so you don't accidentally stitch over the threads when you don't want to. This method can waste a lot of thread.
Variations on the Away Start
Most of the time, I don't bother with the knot at all and just begin stitching with the thread tail held neatly out of the way with a pair of magnets. That way, I do not get a hole in my fabric that may be seen later. Congress cloth is easily distorted by the passing of the needle and does not recover. I might also use my magnet trick if I don't want to risk having to cut near the surface of my fabric. If your fiber is dark and the ground light, you might want to avoid having a dark lint spot from passing the fiber through.
I will also sometimes deliberately place the knot so my first few stitches cover the thread as if I had run it under the stitching. After a few stitches, I clip off the knot on the front. I don't have to go through threading it through the needle and running it under. That's useful when I am using an expensive specialty thread and I want to stitch with every possible inch of it. I also do this when using variegated threads and want to minimize disruption in the color flow.
It is also permissible to simply start stitching in the middle of your thread and use it up to the first end. Then go back and stitch with the other end. This works really well on double running stitch.
Officially, if you are going to rethread the needle and don't hold the thread so it will be stitched over, you should call it an away knot. If you are going to stitch over it ASAP, it is an in-path or in-line waste knot. I'm not going to go into the detailed names when you don't use an actual knot or use different types of knots. That's beyond hinky.
Pin Stitch
Surface embroidery or crewel can use the pin stitch start or stop. Shay Pendray describes the pin stitch start or stop in detail. Some stitchers use tiny running stitches, some pierce the tiny running stitches backstitch style, and some stitchers just do two incredibly tiny stitches. It all depends on the fiber and ground combination, the skill, nerve and vision of the stitcher in question and the end use of the finished object.
The Loop Start
This method will start a thread in a single stitch. To use the loop method, you must be working with an even number of strands. In my example I will talk about stitching with two strands. I start by cutting my floss twice as long as I plan to stitch with. Then I separate one strand from that length and fold it in half with a loop at one end and the cut ends even. I thread the cut ends into my needle. To start my thread I come up from the back and leave the loop on the back just hanging there. I go back down through my ground to the back and I pass my needle through the loop and pull carefully to adjust my tension. I now have a neatly anchored thread and can continue stitching from there. At the end of my thread, I simply end off however I choose. You can only use the loop method to start a strand. I don't recommend it for use with overdyed fibers.
The Bargello Tuck
If I am working with a satin stitch or with slippery threads, running a thread under a few stitches may not provide a secure enough anchor. I use a bargello tuck in that instance. I run my thread under a few stitches, take a small back stitch over one or two threads and then under a few more threads on the back. If my thread is very slippery or I am working with large satin stitches, I may make more than one backstitch. Two is usually enough. If I don't have a large area to use on the back, I do a variation on this that I call change directions. Going the wrong way, I run under a few threads. Then I reverse my direction, skip a thread and run back under the same group of threads. It isn't as secure as a bargello tuck, but I can weave in and out of the threads on the back should I need to and create something secure and flat. This method is falling out of use, in favor of piercing threads as described by Marion Scoular and the pin stitch method, described by Shay Pendray.
The Single Stitch
The bane of the Lazy Wench is the single stitch. Out there by itself, there are no other stitches around to use the backs of. Tie a knot. It is the easiest thing to do in a case like this. I start using a method like an away knot, make my single stitch, then tie a knot using the thread tails. If I am working with two strands, to make the knot smaller, I will work with a single strand and stitch twice. Then I have a smaller knot tied with one strand, rather than a larger one tied with two strands. The best knot is usually a square knot. Don't get so determined to tie a firm knot that you pull too hard on your thread and disrupt the tension. If I have a single dark stitch surrounded by pale stitches, I will treat it as a single stitch and make a knot. That way I avoid having threads show through on the front. The loop method can be used to start, but you will find tying the knot will then take a bit of ingenuity as a square knot doesn't work.
Usually to end a thread you simply run the thread under a few stitches already completed. If you need to do something special, it is usually a bargello tuck. Remember to pay attention to direction, as you did on starting and on the continental stitch use a horizontal or vertical pass, not a diagonal. Try not to run a thread under an area of a significantly different color. It will show through on the front.
Piercing
Nope, not having holes put into your body, it's using a sharp pointed needle to pierce the working fiber in the process of securing an end. This means splitting the thread by piercing it with your needle as you stitch backwards along the line you have just finished. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It is also possible to pierce the fibers of your ground. If you are doing reversible double running stitch, you will want to end as invisibly as possible. You can end on the front or on the back if you are doing reversible work and I recommend that you do use both sides. Consistently using the same side to start and stop threads will decrease the balance of the reversibility.
Lacing
Sometimes you have been working a tall, skinny area and cannot run your thread along the back of a row. There isn't a row, there is just a stack of single stitches. Most folks just do a whip stitch on the back working down a line instead of across. Ever a perfectionist, I prefer to work back and forth in a zig-zag rather than use the whipstitch. The whipstitch is bulkier. I am trying to avoid lumps on the front of my work by ending smoothly on the back. Try it for yourself.
Parking
Parking a thread means storing it out of the way, but not ending it off yet. You are either going to pick it up and use it again or you are going to end off a whole bunch of threads at once. (Not in the same area, just at the same time.) To park a thread, do not finish the last stitch. Leave the fiber and needle on the front of the ground instead of passing it through to finish the last bit of the last stitch. Then simply hold the fiber out of the way, usually away from you and to the left if you are a right handed stitcher and tuck the needle into the ground so it stays there. This is usually done on the front of the ground. You will need multiple needles. You do not want to forget and leave needles parked for long periods of time because of the rust/snagging issues. When you want to use that fiber again, unpark the needle, finish the last stitch, carry the thread on the back over to the new area and begin stitching again. Or finish the stitches and start dealing with the ends.
The Last Inch
Wenches the world over are guilty of this. When there is only one more stitch to go and there is only short bit of fiber left, we eke it out somehow and then have to end off a thread that isn't even as long as the needle is. This Lazy Wench has several gadgets that will help. A Do-lolly is one, a Star DeTailer is another. Sometimes I place the needle, then thread it and pull it through. Sometimes I use a loop of thread to lasso the itsy-bitsy thread tail to fasten it off. It depends on whether I have to walk across the room to get the gadget or not. The most difficult part seems to be making sure I don't flub the tension and pull too much on the itsy-bitsy stump of thread.
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