An Easy Way to Finish a Cross Stitch or Embroidery Project

Cross stitch projects look really cute if you frame them in their hoops, but how do you do that in a way that looks neat?

I love this tutorial from Little Dorrit & Co. via Sew Mama Sew on how to finish and frame an embroidery project in a hoop.

Though this project shows embroidery stitches worked on fabric, but the same idea can be used for a cross stitch project worked on canvas.

This method uses a couple of pieces of felt to cover up first the back of the stitching and then the edges of the fabric. It’s a really clever way to get a clean finish on the back of your hoop that’s perfect for projects you want to give as gifts or sell.

Have you ever framed your cross stitch projects in a hoop? Did you finish the back in any way? I’d love to know how you did it.

[Photo via Sew Mama Sew.]

I was recently doing a scroll through some crafting websites that I follow and I came across this amazing collection of cross stitch job patterns from Koekoek. It includes more than 100 different jobs, sports and hobbies, and these would be so much fun to personalize and stitch up for friends, family and co-workers.

You’ll find everything from occupations like doctor, fireman, maternity nurse, tax lawyer and librarian to sports like swimming, fishing and beach volleyball.

There’s pattern for watching marathon amounts of Netflix, doing triathlons (basically the same thing, right?), teaching geography, graphic design and catching Pokemon. Among many others.

The designs are categorized by medical professions, office jobs, stitch a sport (which includes other hobbies) and education professions, or you can just scroll through all the patterns to see the variety. Check out all the designs on their website, or scroll down on this page to see them in categories and with more details.

They suggest working these with a five inch hoop using 14 count cross stitch fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two threads for a fancier look. The number of colors needed for each design varies, but they are pretty small projects so there’s generally not a ton of detail.

The patterns also include text for what the image is showing like “the knitter” or “the veterinarian,” but they also have a post about how to personalize the designs with different text such as the person’s name, a date or a quote. There’s also a full bask stitch alphabet included in the post so you can chart out your own text.

And while the designs show specific people, you can change up details like hair color, clothing color and eye color if you want to make it look more like the person you intend to give it to. You can also purchase custom cross stitch kits from them to make the project exactly the way you want it without having to do the work yourself.

I think this is such a fun idea for a graduation gift or a holiday gift. If you check it out I’d love to know which characters you are stitching!

[Photo: Koekoek]

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