Kitting a Chatelaine

This is a subject which has been occupying me faaaar too much over the last few weeks, so I thought I'd get it all down online.

Many Chatelaine designs use a variety of silk threads, both solid colours and varigated. As they're silk, this significantly adds to the cost of the project. Fortunately, Martina Weber also publishes a DMC conversion for these projects so that stitchers can choose how much they wish to spend or swap out those threads they dislike. The question of buying beads also needs to be considered as Martina normally uses Delica beads, but also produces a conversion to Mill Hill.

I've now got 2 Chatelaine projects started and will be adding a third fairly soon. Each of them has been kitted in a different way.

Project number 1 - Watergarden
Watergarden uses quite a lot of DMC threads, as well as silks, so is easier than for many other designs to get hold of all the materials. However, for this design, I chose the oprion of making a simple purchase from European Cross Stitch for all the silk threads and Delica beads. This really was the simple, easy option.

Project number 2 - Medieval Town Mandala
I started this project on my birthday but have made little progress to date as I discovered I have a couple of threads missing. Other than that, I have all the silk threads for this project, no DMCs at all. In this case, the silks were all collected as Christmas and birthday presents from my family. I emailed them a list of the threads needed and suggested a couple of online shops to buy from. From my point of view, this worked our fine, but I have now discovered a couple of threads missing and I haven't been able to find an online source in the UK. I've now emailed European Cross Stitch who have the necessary threads and will be able to send me them.

For the beads, I bought several of the colours required on ebay, but have one colour I don't have yet. I know of one or two online shops that stock this bead colour, but it seems a bit ridiculous to pay more in postage that the actual price of the beads!

I haven't made much progress stitching this one as I discovered early on that I needed to use the threads I'm missing. I could keep going, but would prefer not to as I don't want to risk mistakes.

Project number 3 - St Petersburg White Nights
This will be a 12 month project with the chart issued in monthly installments. The materials list and DMC conversion were issued in early February and the first chart will be issued on 1st March.

For this project, I've decided to go with the DMC conversion rather than use the majority of the silks. That part at least is straightforward! The problem really is to decide which of the varigated silks to keep and which to swap for DMCs. There are some online shops and thread producers who show sufficiently detailed photos of the thread to see just how much varigation there is. Even then, it's still not as good as having the actual threads in your hand. However, I have made my choice on this basis, and I'll see how it goes.

For the beads, I've given in and simply ordered the bead pack from European Cross Stitch.



Although I've mentioned European Cross Stitch several times already, I haven't mentioned the different options they offer for kitting a Chatelaine. For St Petersburg, they offer full kits with all fabric, threads and beads. You can get a kit without the fabric, without the solid colour silks, or just the bead pack. On other designs, you can order only the silk threads. I see that Needlecraft Corner too offers a similar service for some Chatelaine designs, althout I've never bought from them at all.

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that, for me, European Cross Stitch is the answer. In future, I may just opt for a full kit minus solid coloured silks and fabric - the other ways are too much hassle!

Enlarging PDF charts

After downloading your Chatelaine chart, the first task that faces you is to print it out. If you simply print the relevant pdf document, you'll end up with a chart which is unreadable, except with a magnifying glass. The trick with the pdf file is to enlarge the design using Adobe Reader's snapshot tool and either print the snapshot immediately, or copy the enlarged section to another (word processed) document. Instructions and advice on enlarging charts can be found at the Chatelaine bulletin board on ezboard. The discussion is also added to as new versions of Reader become available.

Additionally, if you join one of the Chatelaine groups on Yahoo, such as Chatelaine Design Support, then instructions can also be downloaded from there. If you still have problems, then both at ezboard and on Yahoo, you'll find a bunch of friendly stitchers more than happy to help.

I believe that the way in which Martina supplies her designs as pdf documents that you can enlarge so readily is very good. Many of the paper based charts you can buy are so small that, although still readable, they can make it harder for you to follow the chart. The advantage of these pdf based charts is that it is entirely up to you how large you print the chart. Of course, the disadvantage is the number of pages you end up printing the chart out on.

However, the biggest disadvantage of these pdf based charts is that it can be incredibly fiddly and time consuming working out exactly how you do want to print the chart and how large you want the symbols to be. You're also printing each page of the pdf document on to multiple sheets of paper and need to make sure you keep track of how all these pages fit together - no small task! This makes printing charts very complicated and heavy going for those who aren't so familiar with the workings of a pc.

But - don't be discouraged - it really is worth it! If you do have problems printing out your chart - come on to ezboard or the Yahoo group and just ask!

I've printed out my chart slightly larger than I would normally use a chart and , for the first time, I'm using a marker pen to mark off stitches as I do them - the larger chart gives me more space to do this without making a mess of the rest of the chart. So far it's working well.

To be continued ...........

Edited at 5.20pm

It's just been posted on ezboard that one contributer has just written some new instructions for enlarging charts with Adobe Reader 8 - see here for the instructions - and thanks to the person who wrote them!

Chatelaine for beginners

Last week, I started Watergarden by Martina Weber of Chatelaine Designs.

It really is a lovely design, with beautiful shades of blue. It will be my first large Chatelaine design, although I have completed one of her freebies, Tiny Rose Garden. Watergarden is considerably larger than the freebie, at 237 x 237 stitches, working out at 14.8 x 14.8inches stitched over two on 32 count fabric.

I bought my chart directly from Martina Weber, the designer, via her website, Chatelaine Designs. This is an instant access chart where, after payment, you are sent a hyperlink to the area of the website to download the chart. A password is also provided. At the time when I purchased my chart, Martina was having problems with her ISP and was in the process of moving to a new server. She warned me initially of the problems she was having and when the link she sent me didn’t work, I contacted her. She couldn’t have been more helpful in ensuring I got my chart, even sending a copy by email and following up with a new download location.

The file I received was a zip file containing 5 pdf documents and a jpg image. To view the pdfs, Adobe Reader is normally required. The jpg image can be viewed a number of ways, through image viewers, web browsers or even by pasting into a word processed document. The files are:

• General instructions


• Materials list


• Black and white chart


• Colour chart


• Introductory note


• Image of the design

The general instructions include any detailed instructions for specialist stitches to use and for beading.

Unlike many Chatelaine designs, Watergarden uses many DMC threads as well as silk thread from Needlepoint Inc, Caron Collection, Thread Gatherer and Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid. The design also requires 11 colours of Delica beads, and two shades of Swarovski crystals.

Materials lists for all Chatelaine designs can be viewed at the Chatelaine Supply Lists website. The American distributor for Chatelaine Designs, European Crosstitch Company, also supplies kits for those designs available.

It is possible to use DMC threads for this design rather than the Needlepoint Inc silks as the conversion is given with the materials list. In my case, however, I've chosen to follow Martina's recommendation and use the NPIs as I've never used them before. My fabric is Zweigart 32 count Murano - Lurex fabric in pearl flecked white (bought from Sew and So). I bought the beads and silks threads from European Crosstitch Company.

Week 1 WIP.

To be continued ...........