Finishing Rows
How do I know when to add finishing rows?
Unfortunately, there is no black and white answer. It depends on the shape of your piece and how it will be finished.
Below are questions and examples to help you decide how many rows to add, and as always, feel free to reach out and ask me!
This stitcher simplified the shapes to make sure we didn't lose any design when finishing.
Is your canvas a round or rectangular shape?
If so, I do not typically need extra rows.
The only exception is if the outermost row has a 1-color border.
If a canvas has 1 color as the border, I would add 1 or 2 more rows, depending on how thick you want the border to appear.
This canvas has 1 row of purple as the border. I would add 2 more rows to make sure that I saw the purple border after the ornament was finished.
Does your irregularly shaped canvas have details smaller than a pinky?
If yes, you'll need to fill in those spaces with extra stitches and add extra rows.
I generally advise to "simplify the shape" and fill in any gaps.
For example, a Christmas tree has a lot of small details, and I would fill in between the branches and leaves.
The stitcher "simplified" these shapes by filling in the areas where the jar meets the lid, and making a general wavy pattern around the snake.
Is the design of the canvas very close to the edge?
If so, I would add 3-5 more rows to make sure we don't lose any of the design when I am folding the canvas around matboard.
The stitcher added 3-5 rows around these to ensure we didn't lose any details.
Is your canvas a mini?
When stitching minis, I would always add extra rows to make sure they are not too tiny to finish.
The irregular lemon has about 8 rows added, the stitcher added a circle around the cherries, and added 2 extra rows of white around the lobster.
Pillows
You will lose 1 row of stitches on a pillow canvas.
If your canvas has a border stitch of 1 color, I would add at least 1 more row of the border color.
These had plenty of background, so we didn't lose any of the design.
This stitcher added extra rows of white so that you could see the border when finished.
Examples of finished pieces with enough finishing rows
