Here's the finished sample. The square is 4" and I used different threads on each edge to see how they worked up. There's DMC size 20, DMC size 40, Perle Cotton size 8, and 3 strands of white embroidery floss. I guess they are all DMC brand.

My base row of stitching got better with every edge so I don't think that part had anything to do with the thread. Surprisingly, the size 40 was the hardest to work with. It kept knotting up. I ended after 2 points and cut my thread, turned it around and threaded from the other direction. That helped but it was still less manageable than the other threads. I thought maybe the sheen from the perle cotton and the embroidery floss might look nicer but it wasn't all that noticeable.

Of course, to make the edging look its best, you have to do a little math, deciding on how many points, how many spaces between points and stitch your base line accordingly. I was just practicing the stitch so I didn't bother with that. The directions didn't give mention to that either until the end.

So, I could make my points wider by going over 4 or 5 stitches instead of 3 and I could have them closer together. I'm not sure I'd have to have even one space between points. I'm going to hem a few more squares to play with but this time I'll hem them by machine. Much faster! And they are only samples.

Aha! I just found another printout in one of my folders that shows a slightly different way of doing the points but much denser. Hmmmm...will have to try that one!