What is parking in cross stitch?
Parking is a way to stitch big, many-coloured charts. You work in small areas, and instead of cutting threads you'll need again, you "park" them on the front of the fabric — right where they'll be used next.
When it helps
- The chart has lots of colours that change often: confetti.
- The chart is full coverage: every square is stitched.
- You're tired of counting squares to the next stitch of the same colour.
If the chart has large areas of one colour, the usual way — one colour at a time — is often faster.
How to do it
- Pick an area — usually a 10 × 10 square on the chart grid.
- Stitch every stitch of one colour inside it.
- Don't cut the thread. Bring the needle up in the nearest square of that colour outside the area — in the next block or the one below — and leave the thread there, out of the way.
- Stitch and park the other colours of the area the same way.
- Move on to the next block: the parked threads are already waiting where you need them.
Most people work in rows of blocks, left to right and top to bottom, so the threads lie one way and don't get in the way.
Downsides
- Lots of threads on the front. They tangle easily, so keep them tidy and away from the area you're working on.
- A slow start. The first blocks take a while; it speeds up after that.
- You need to mark more precisely. Mark finished blocks on the chart so you never lose your place.
Common mistakes
- Parking too far away, which leaves long floats on the back.
- Mixing up the top and bottom of the piece, so threads run the wrong way.
- Leaving too short a tail on the front, so the thread slips out.