To make your stitches smooth and shiny (especially for satin stitch and if you need less then 6 strands) you will need to know that there are few things that will help to achieve it. Most of my designs use 2-4 strands and I always separate and re-combine the threads before stitching. It makes all the difference in how they will look and behave when you are stitching.

To achieve that smooth and shiny effect for satin stitch you want all the strands to lay parallel to each other, rather then be twisted. That's why you need to separate and untwist the strands first each time the way I show on the pictures:

1. After you cut a needed length of thread, separate one strand from the others. Do it slowly, other threads will spiral together. Don't try to pull more than one strand at a time - it can cause a tangled mess and you will not be able to untangle it at all.

2. Pull each strand you need completely 1 by 1 out of the other threads, untwist and lay it on your table. Smooth out the remaining threads and remove any knots.

3. Match the ends of threads you stripped and line them up together.

Now you can thread your needle and start stitching!