Waste knot want not.

    There is a technique in embroidery known as a waste knot. You make a knot at the end of your thread. Then stitch through the front of your fabric so that the knot is on top, and then you proceed to stitch. The trick to this technique is to ensure that the length of thread from the knot lies in the path of your stitching. Once you have stitched over that length of thread several times, you can cut the knot off of the front of the piece. Your stitching now secures the tail of the thread. Finishing off your thread can also employ this technique. Bring your thread up a short distance from your stitching, ensuring stitches cover the tail. Once it is secure, you snip the excess thread. The benefit of this stitching style is that it allows you to stitch without flipping the embroidery over to work on the back to secure your threads.

Please see the front has visible knots in the area meant to be stitched

The back of the same area. You can see the tales that the waste knots hold still until they are stitched down.

    Needles are another material that seems wasteful to discard but helps your embroidery. Once the finish has worn off, needles need safe discarding. The finish allows the needle to glide through the fabric without much resistance, damaging the material and the thread. A needle that, through use, no longer functions as smoothly. It slows down the stitching process and can leave frayed thread, which muddles any stitching. Discarding worn needles improves the embroiderer's ability to create a sturdy piece. While frugality benefits some areas, it does not always work. I change my needle at least once a cross stitch pattern unless the size of the embroidery piece is significant. It seems like such a small item that should not wear out. Unless it is bent, it still works, but the quality of this small tool compromises when it wears out. I have needed to remind myself that changing your tools when they wear out is acceptable and necessary.   

    The concept of waste knots always reminds me of everyday life. On the surface, it looks like you are sacrificing material unnecessarily. It saves you time and creates a very sturdy piece in the long run, much like the sacrifice of the first pancake to moderate the temperature of the griddle. We teach each other not to waste resources, but if it creates a better product as a whole, is it a waste?

    Waste is something that I often think of working in textiles professionally, and I usually save the ends of my thread to incorporate into other pieces. If I make a product out of my waste material, I get another piece that costs me nothing to make but my time. It gives a way to stretch my supplies further and is the greener option. The less I throw away; the less goes to the landfill. The textile/fashion industry is working towards greener practices, but it appears in spurts. The fashion industry does not have just one solution, nor has it embraced green fashion entirely. Some designers and brands have started the conversation by employing greener practices or giving the consumer the provenance of their clothing.       

    The focus on natural fabrics helps. Synthetic materials create plastic waste that harms the environment. Dyeing cloth also can harm nature as well. The downside of natural fibers stems from the amount of land and water used to create them. The question of fast fashion, cheaply made/priced clothing that wears out quickly, vs. something much more expensive that can last for years, parallels the concept of waste knots. You pay for a piece of clothing that lasts through many wears and years becomes the greenest option available to most of us. It costs more money initially, but if you consider how much use it gets, the price is comparable to the cheaper and poorer made fashion. While sustainable fashion may not always have the greenest creation process, the overall carbon footprint impacts the environment positively. It does require investment, much like a waste knot involves the sacrifice of a portion of thread. It is up to the consumer to decide if the investment is worth the benefit to the environment.    

Small but mighty embroidery workspace

 

Your craft space doesn't have to be huge to be mighty. I have minimal space to work on my embroidery, and the area I have at my disposal is about 5ft x 7ft. This space must have several functions. It is my desk, classroom, office, and studio, and it must easily switch to these functions.   Working as a professional embroiderer, I need to make sure my setup does not leave me to strain my arms or my back. Here are a few things I use to make sure my space works well for me creatively.

My desk is an L-shaped desk, and my computer is my main focus. Beside it is a set of drawers that function as my office supplies and lesser-used embroidery tools such as my mellor, twizzler, and fresh needles. On the other wing of my desk is all of the books I need for classes, current sketchbooks, and other frequently used office material. At the end of my desk is a filing cabinet where I keep all of my final patterns and office files, and sitting on top of it are my skeins of embroidery floss. 

Under my desk, I have a cloth box where all of my extra fabric and materials I am currently using for my current project. I don't need to access it often, but it saves me trying to find it in my larger fabric storage area and keeps me from misplacing it. It helps me keep track of my materials.

I have a great deal of embroidery floss, and it is all organized by color. I keep a spreadsheet of each drawer so I know the location of specific numbers. I mark the skeins that I have out for a current project, and when I run out of a color, I highlight it to see what I need to order.

Since I work every day on embroidery, I have a pair of trestles attached to my desk. I can put my scroll frames onto the trestles so that my workspace is flat and even. Working flat instead of angled allows me to have more range of motion to stitch. The trestles are removable, so I can quickly take them down and put my embroidery away if I have a zoom call or class. The other benefit of these trestles is that I can work in a small area but maximize the space to work. I have an entire yard wide by half a yard of workable area. I can watch something on my computer or listen to an audiobook without issues. I repurposed an adjustable bookstand to serve as my pattern holder, and I added a clipboard, so it stays still.  

On my scroll frame, I use embroidery tensioners. These don't have space, but it speeds up my prep work greatly. Usually, fabric wraps around the frame in a specific woven pattern and is attached to the material to create tension. Tensioners take a process that can take up to two hours with adjusting to a 10-minute process. The clamps work on most fabrics except the most delicate, and even using the old method, those would need handling a different way. Adjusting the tension is so much faster. 

The last thing I frequently use is my magnet, and I bought a set of two magnets online. I use them to keep track of my needle. I sandwich my working fabric between the two magnets, and it can move around the piece with me as I stitch. Keeping track of my needle is not space-saving, but it keeps my supplies from turning up in the wrong place. It is easy not to spot a needle and track it around your workspace, and stepping on a needle is not fun for anyone. 

The last item I use is a small reusable plastic paint can. It has a lid that screws on, and I use it for a small trashcan. It helps me keep down on the amount of thread that gets on everything. It is the curse people who work with textiles endure. Threads turn up everywhere, and this small trashcan has cut that down from happening at least 90%.

The best tool I have is when I finish a project, clean my workspace, and reset everything. My current project box gets redone, and I put away all the tools/materials I no longer need. I get a fresh needle and dispose of the old one. Working in a small space means that I cannot just let things build up. If I reset at the end of each project, it helps me maintain an easy-to-use workspace.