When I first began stitching, many years ago, I didn’t have all the “tools of the trade” such as stretcher bars, lap frames, and stands. I would sail through a new project but as the canvas began to fill up with stitches I struggled with the crumpled bulk and by the time my project was completed, I had a wadded up and dirty mess. The oils from my hands transferred to my fibers and canvas leaving it dull and dinghy. My hands, arms and necked ached from holding the project in my hands. At the time I didn’t know that I could have better control of my canvas in such a way that would enhance my stitching, give me a cleaner finished project, and leave me more comfortable at the end of the day.
Then along came stretcher bars and I discovered that, unlike stitching in hand, there were five advantages to using stretcher bars: (1) reducing canvas bias, (2) keeping stitches uniform, (3) providing a third hand, (4) reducing stitcher fatigue, and (5) keeping canvas and fibers cleaner.
Reducing Canvas Bias: When a new canvas is begun, it is normally square or rectangular iin shape. When stitching in hand, the piece becomes twisted and distorted and looks more like a parallelogram created by the pull of many diagonal stitches all in the same direction. Blocking helps but some projects will relax back into distortion even after a piece has been blocked. Stretcher bars minimize bias and, in some cases prevents is altogether.