How to… use waste canvas

Step 1

WASH your baby grow before starting. Most garments are pre-shrunk, but if it shrinks after stitching it will pucker and be ruined. Cut a piece of waste canvas slightly larger than your design, and a piece of Vilene the same size. Iron the Vilene onto the inside of the garment.

Step 4

COMPLETE the stitching, then remove the thread holding the canvas, and trim away any excess canvas around the design. Peel away all the threads outside of the design – as they are not held down by stitches, they can probably be easily removed without wetting the canvas.

Step 2

PLACE the waste canvas on the baby grow, to make a sandwich with the Vilene on the back. Pin, then tack, around its edges, using a cotton colour that will show up and can be easily removed. Hand hold, or place the baby grow in a hoop a bit larger than the waste canvas.

Step 5

PLACE the garment in a bowl of cold water and wait for the starch to release from the canvas threads. With this method the garment gets very wet, but as long as it’s pre-washed, it’ll be fine. If you are worried, just dampen with a water spray, but you may have to keep spraying.

Step 3

NOTE the waste canvas grid has a line every five holes to help when counting and levelling the canvas. Stitch from the centre out using the larger holes. Avoid leaving holes where points of the crosses meet. Use an away knot and then weave the thread end through the stitches.

Step 6

USE tweezers to remove one thread at a time. Pull slowly, and if you’ve snagged a canvas thread, use sharp scissors to release it. This can be fiddly, but using a needle, you can move stitches to expose the trapped canvas thread to cut. Trim away the excess Vilene on the reverse.