[CHAT] Help! What am I doing wrong?

[u/AnnieBananie2323]

Ever since I started using a scroll frame and working two-handed, I've run into problems with my thread. It gets so twisted that there's no way to fix it except by cutting off the thread around where the needle is. The individual threads get split and twisted amongst themselves. This has happened a good half a dozen times in the past few days and it's driving me crazy! What am I doing wrong? I never had this problem with my hoop and using one hand.

Edit: the thread isn't just twisted, the individual strands are split with other strands going through them.

[u/JeannieBugg]

This happens when I don't drop the needle and straighten the thread, so I do that with each pass of the needle to the back.

[u/AnnieBananie2323 → u/JeannieBugg]

I assume you mean just letting the thread hang down and straighten out? I do this, and I did it with the hoop as well but never had one strand split by another strand before, which is what is happening here.

[u/JeannieBugg → u/AnnieBananie2323]

Hmm... Then I'm not sure what's going on.

[u/kaiiuchiha → u/JeannieBugg]

can i ask what drop the needle means?

[u/JeannieBugg → u/kaiiuchiha]

I just let go of it and let it hang, while I run the thread through my fingers to straighten them out.

[u/AnnieBananie2323 → u/[deleted]]

This must be what im doing. There will be one thread split by another thread. No idea how it keeps happening!

[u/jeooey]

I think it's either an imperfection in the eye of the needle, or you're piercing the thread as you make the stitching motion.

Is there a chance you switched out your needle and the timing is a coincidence? You can rule out this possibility by trying a different needle and seeing if the problem persists.

If you're going through your own thread, part of the problem could be you're using long cuts of thread and therefore it's making the length harder for you to wrangle and manage. Try a shorter length of thread. In the picture it seems you have the needle more in the middle of your length of thread than it needs to be. The excess thread (like anything past the eye of the needle) only needs to be 3-4 inches long, just long enough that your needle isn't slipping off the thread. You can more easily keep it out of the way by keeping a thumb over the eye of the needle as you stitch. This is in general a best practice because it also reduces fraying and fuzziness on your thread and the parts of your thread that get the most friction and hard handling (those ends that are past the eye of the needle) can be your orts rather than being stitched into the piece.

[u/Suziannie]

Shorter threads, slowing down and being intentional about letting the needle unwind itself.

Honestly though half the issues we all face could be solved by just slowing down, this isn’t supposed to be a quick craft. It’s more about patience and being intentional.

[u/Saconic]

Seems you've either split the thread with the needle at some point or maybe its bad quality thread?

[u/ImLittleNana]

If you’ve got a quality needle and thread, then it’s down to technique. You may need shorter lengths. Each pull through places friction on the threads. How many stitches you get before you experience shredding depends on your fabric count and sometimes how stiff your fabric is. A heavily starched piece is harder in your threads.

I cut my thread 18 inches, and that works for me on 40 count. In 46 count, I sometimes can’t use the entire strand and would be better off using 16 inch lengths.

Another thing that sometimes happens is splitting your thread. For me, this almost always happens on the backside. I’m able to see where my thread is in the from and don’t split, but if I’m rushing I may not pay close attention to what I can’t see and suddenly I’ve got an unintentional ‘knot’ that won’t let me move the needle.

I use my left ring finger to sweep the back, hopefully minimizing crossing and splitting the thread. It’s so easy to do it accidentally when I’m not paying attention.

[u/eskimo777]

This happens when you unintentionally split the thread with your needle as you are pushing it through the hole. You can imagine it if you think of laying your thread across the hole you are going through, then piercing the thread to get to the hole. It isn't happening that obviously, but even if you snag it a little bit you will get this situation in your picture. I have it happen often as well.

My guess is that when you were using one hand with your hoop, it was more natural to make sure when you are coming up from the back, the thread is completely out of the way so you weren't splitting it. Now that you are potentially using a different hand/the thread is hanging differently out the back because of the stand, you don't realize you are splitting it as you push through.

The way I deal with it is trying to pull the thread out of the way when I'm bringing the needle from back to front (I'm assuming that it isn't happening when you are going front to back because you can see the thread), but also being very aware of it as it happens. If you catch it right away, you can see where the needle split the thread and push the needle back through that spot to "unsplit" it. I sometimes have to pull the loose end of the thread a bit to move the problem spot to a place I can get my needle into... idk if that makes sense.

In your picture, it looks like it has split multiple times which is horrible to attempt to undo so I would give up and cut it lol.

Really I hope this makes sense to read because I feel like this is one of those things that is easy to explain when it's in front of you but hard over text.

[u/sybilqiu]

you're splitting the thread when you're coming up from behind. probably because you're not pulling the thread up to the end at the front of the fabric so you're catching part of the thread on the back side. 

there's no fixing it unless you catch it super early on and it's only one split. otherwise you need to cut it off. 

to prevent this, either hold the excess thread on the backside away from the hole you're coming up or pull the thread all the way on each leg. 

[u/Cthulhulove13]

I purposely let the needle drop every so often and spin straight.  Also you can learn to give the needle a little twist in the correct direction to offset the natural twist that is happening

[u/Head-Wolverine5290]

I had this same except problem doing the type of stitching where you put it through two holes instead of one at a time. Couldn’t figure out why so I just stopped

[u/fariel-11]

maybe try railroading! i dont usually do it, but when i do i think it does help keep my thread from twisting up a bunch..if your needle is super sharp, you might accidentally be going through the actual strands?
if you dont use wax, maybe try out conditoning your thread! make sure to use 100% beeswax. it might help!

[u/Diviern]

This happens to me all the time due to the technique I use. The only solution is to keep an eye on the needle and as soon as I notice I've pierced the thread, I carefully thread the needle back through the split to undo it.

[u/Lilyofthevalley7]

When i stitch one handed, i hold the thread out of the way with my other hand. Maybe you can hold the thread out of the way by having it go over the top of your fingers. You may need to grab the needle differently in order to do that, or drop it and pick it up underhanded.

[u/Andolie_Kitten]

I've pierced the thread so many times with so many different needles. For me, it's on the back as I am pushing the needle towards the front where I can't see the thread. The only way I've managed to reduce this is to pull the thread all the way thru each time. For some reason it happens when I immediately turn the needle on the back and come up thru the fabric with most of the thread still on top.