Blocking the Parallelogram

This is my second effort for this lady. Both have been badly out of square. She told me the local needlework shop refused to touch the first one. I don't blame them.

Blocking ~
Before blocking the first time, the needlework was skewed 3" top to bottom on the left side and 3-1/2" on the right side.

Prior to Blocking
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When working with a project as out of whack as this one is, I mist it liberally with my plant mister, let it set for a while and repeat three to four times letting it absorb some moisture and relax before trying to persuade the canvas into a better shape. The goal is 90 degree angles at the corners and sides parallel to each other.

In preparation for blocking, I normally mist the front and back well with my plant mister and let the fibers relax for thirty minutes.Since this project will take more persuasion, I mist it three times, hoping it will absorb more moisture and relax further.

I then anchor the straightest edge along a straight line on my dressmakers board.  Place the T-pins so they are angled away from the needlework.

This one lines up with a straight line along both the top and bottom edges. It is greatly distorted towards the right in the top left and bottom right corners. Therefore it needs to move to the left. I smoothed the top edge with my clean hands and pinned it along a straight line.

Next I coax the needlework into something more closely resembling a square by working with it. Firmly brushing my hands over the face of the design. By tugging, not yanking, evenly and smoothly on the opposite side and particularly on the bottom left corner.

As the fabric shifts and straightens somewhat, I repin, working with it until I am satisfied that it has given me all it is capable of without forcing it into square.

After the first blocking, it was skewed 1-1/2" on the left about 1-3/4" on the right.

First Blocking

However the second blocking was disappointing. It resulted in almost no improvement 1-1/2" on the left and 1-1/4" on the right.

The canvas was worked with a wool tapestry yarn which recommends dry cleaning. With negligible improvement from the second blocking I made the difficult decision to dunk it, not soak, dunk it in water, let it relax for several minutes and then block it. Freed from the restrictive board, I expected it to distort, but how much? As it relaxed from the warm bath, it snapped back into it's original skew on the left of 3" and stayed at 1-1/2" on the right!

Prior to Third Blocking

I put a sheet of food wrap down on my board to prevent the cardboard from soaking up the water. Looking at it, I have very little hope of achieving my goal. I simply analyzed it for several minutes.

I found the half way point along the bottom edge and worked to line it up as much as possible with the mid-way along the top edge. This time I'm taking off the gloves and fighting dirty. I can't afford to let the wool shrink as it dries out of shape. Soooo....it's time to teach it who is boss.  As I deliberately drag my hand over the surface to move it in the direction it needs to shift, I remember the customer who was concerned over my finger oils on a needlework project I touched when she asked for my advice. I manipulated it, I pinned it, I looked at it critically. The right side was the next one willing to cooperated to some extent. I pinned it in a straight line using a ruler to see how far off the bottom corner was now. Only 1/4" ! Okay, the first little success.

I continued dragging my hands over it, sometimes both at the same time, molding it as I would a clay sculpture. Pinned, the bottom had always been fairly straight, only 1" off. I ignored it and concentrated on the left side, which was showing some improvement. Unpinned it and worked it again. Pinned, critiqued it, unpinned the right side and tweaked. Pinned one final time. It takes the entire container of T-pins.

Part Way through Placing T-Pins on Third and Final Blocking.
Compare this photo to the first one to see the change in shape. Huge!

It is no more than 3/8" off and that is only the highly warped top left and bottom right corners. I am satisfied. I worked with it an hour and a half this session.


I anchored it to the board every inch all of the way around the canvas and let it sit for three days to make absolutely certain it was thoroughly dry before I unpinned it and started working with it for construction. Peeling up the food wrap, I found that a small amount of water did leak through around three of the T-pins.

Checking it with my large square, it is 5/8" off along the top left and bottom right sides, 3/8" off on the bottom and 3/16" off on the top. Considering it started this journey at 3-1/2" off on the sides, I am satisfied. It is now possible to create a pillow cover with it.