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I have real trouble with French knots too, and when a pattern calls for a lot of them, I usually substitute beads.
But in the past I have made an occasional decent French knot. I've found that to do it right, you must do the following:
* Use a shorter thread (don't use a super long piece of floss -- nothing more than 4-5 inches)
* Two strands work better than one
* Pull the thread tight to make sure it's up all the way through the fabric, then hold it up with one hand and loop the needle around with the other
* Wrap the thread around your needle 3-6 times to make your knot -- less and it won't show up
* Hold the wrapped area (the knot) down against the fabric with one finger while poking the needle through
* Slowly ease the needle through the fabric, careful NOT to let the knot slip through as well
When the needle is all the way under the fabric, continue to pull gently to tighten the knot until it is perfectly shaped and sits on top of the fabric. Sometimes I get a perfect knot that doesn't sit flush on the fabric, and I have to stitch the extra floss on the backside to hold it down. It takes a lot of practice, and you have to go really slow. It helps if you always use a fresh thread and don't try to tie off a French knot from an existing piece of floss. That way if you mess up, you can pull it out without screwing up anything else.
Mine still don't always come out right, and I still don't like making French knots, but when I can't find a bead in a particular color, I give it a go. Hope this helps! |
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chekccard
Post time: 2015-3-23 20:32
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