As I was stitching Kloster block squares to test the two methods I’d come up with of tackling double-sided blocks, I thought of a third – or rather, a variation on one of the two. Fortunately the two variations could be tried out in one Kloster block square.

Here are my two test squares side by side. On the left I stitched both the outside Kloster blocks and the two internal Kloster blocks that would be cut on both sides. On the right I stitched only the outside blocks, and I cut and removed the threads as usual (I even tucked in the cut ends).

Then I tried two methods of cutting in the left-hand square. I cut along all the outside Kloster blocks as usual, but of the two internal Kloster blocks I only cut along the two sides of the right-hand one. The two cut areas on either side of that right-hand block were now completely open, but on the left the vertical threads, though cut at the very top and the very bottom, were still held in place by the Kloster block.

I removed those longer threads, pulling them out through the Kloster block. I also removed the short cut threads that were left inside the right-hand Kloster block (and which would normally be tucked in). This proved to be quite tricky by hand (it would be easier with a pair of tweezers) and I did occasionally pull the perle thread, which ended up looking a little fuzzy (not easy to see in the photograph, but quite noticeable in real life).

Back to the second square of Kloster blocks, where all the threads had been cut and removed. Using perle #5 I wrapped the two horizontal bars, keeping the tension quite slack so that they wouldn’t be pulled and become very narrow, like traditional wrapped bars done in perle #8.

I then tucked in the cut ends in the left-hand test square, and used perle #8 to weave the remaining bars in both test squares.

The result? All three methods work to some extent, and each one is easier than the traditional method of cutting both sides of the Kloster block and tucking in the ends. The one where the double-sided Kloster blocks are worked after cutting in the manner of wrapped bars (shown on the right) is least successful, in my opinion, as they do come out a little narrower that ordinary Kloster blocks.

The two methods on the left (cutting only along the regular Kloster blocks and removing the longer threads, or cutting along the double-sided Kloster blocks as well and removing the short threads) both produce quite nice and plump Kloster blocks, which don’t look very different from regular ones. Of the two methods the first gets my vote because it is easier to remove the longer threads – with the second method, it is quite easy to damage the perle of the Kloster block when removing the short cut threads.

I hope this will help you when you encounter double-sided Kloster blocks – if you try any of these methods in your own stitching, let me know what you think!