All About Cross Stitch Hoops

One of the tools that I consider essential for most cross stitchers is an embroidery hoop, but I know it’s not really essential.

A lot of the stitching I have been doing lately has been on really small projects where I feel like having a hoop involved would just get in the way and make the project take longer. (Of course having a small hoop to work in would eliminate that problem, but I just saved myself a trip to the store.)

Hoops are great for holding the fabric flat and at a good tension that makes stitching easier, especially when you’re working on a big project. They can be good for beginners especially because they give you a little more stability that can be comforting.

But I feel like it’s also becoming more popular for people to do what’s called stitching in hand, which is just what it sounds like. Instead of using a hoop you hold the project in your hand to stitch. This gives the stitcher more flexibility and control and is good if you like to move around the fabric rather than stitching one section of the project at a time.

If you want to know more about stitching in hand or what kinds of hoops you should consider if you don’t want to work that way, check out this post from the Fat Quarter Shop blog. It’s got links to videos that talk about these issues maybe in more depth than you’ve ever considered them before.

At the beginning of the year it’s great to think about the way you do things and whether there might be a different and possibly better way to try. If you’ve never stitched without a hoop before (or if you’ve never stitched with a hoop!) maybe it’s time to try the other way and see if you like it.

If you have a strong preference for hoops or for stitching in hand, I’d love to hear why you work the way you do!

[Photo: Fat Quarter Shop]

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special.

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting.

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully.

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable.

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!).

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try.

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching.

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

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