Extra! Extra! Read All About It…

The deal is, I’m always looking for ways to lower my making costs. I thrift most of my embroidery hoops, fabric, and yarn. So when my friend offered up yards and yards of…wait for it…PAINTER’S DROP CLOTH; I jumped on the freebie. I took the cloth not with the intention of using it for punch needling but rather to make bags. In true Tamara fashion, I put it in an embroidery hoop and took a punch needle to it just minutes after I got home. I was PUMPED! It worked! Not only did it work, I liked the look of the “empty” space better than any other cloth I had used before. The texture is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

The catch? It is NOT ideal for typical punch needling projects like rugs, bags or pillows. However, I’ll have you know, I haven’t given any these a fair shot. It’s a little bit of an assumption based on the following:

As you can see in the picture below, when you punch the threads seem to spread further than the hole produced by the needle. This can be fixed by taking your punch needle and scraping it along your stitches just like you do when you’ve pulled stitches out from any other cloth. With that, I don’t believe the cloth will hold up as well long term with projects that have heavy use.

Drop cloth is a 100% cotton. Yay! Not all, but the majority. If that’s important to you make sure you check. It has approximately 20 threads per inch as monks cloth and linen have roughly 12 threads per inch. This is why I prefer to use the fine (smaller) punch needle with the tighter weave. It’s an easier punch and the cloth is more forgiving.

The benefits? It’s great for wall hangings/art, patches, ornaments, plant holders, coasters and bins! Oh and it’s VERY affordable at around $3/yard!! Here’s a quick breakdown of the the cost: