Celebrate the Year of the Dog in Cross Stitch

2018 is the year of the dog in Chinese astrology, so why not stitch up a dog symbol or another fun project involving a dog?

Both Holly’s Hobbies and Stitching Stitches have cross-stitch patterns showing the Chinese zodiac symbol for the dog. The first is 50 x 50 stitches or 3.6″/9cm square and the second 47 wide x 49 high, which comes out to
3.36″ x 3.50″ or 8.54 x 8.8 cm. Holly’s costs $2.79, which the Stitching Stitches chart is $2.48. Both are PDF downloads from Etsy.

Also on Etsy, I found this cute Year of the Dog cross stitch pattern from The Art of Cross Stitch. Featuring a dog that sort of reminds me of Day of the Dead designs, this one runs $4.50 and measures 95 x 109 stitches, which comes out to 7 by 8 inches on 14 count.

There’s also the magnificent Chinese New Year Dog cross stitch design from Scarlet Pyjamas, which is $4.51. Inspired by papercuts, the finished project is about 8.5 by 12 inches.

Are you stitching anything special for the Year of the Dog? I’d love to hear about it!

Next Pattern:

Stitch a Rabbit for the Year of the Rabbit

One of the most common problems that cross stitchers at all skill levels have is that the cross stitch fabric can start fraying while you stitch.

Beginner cross stitchers might wonder why this happens and if there is something they are doing wrong to cause it.

The reason cross stitch fabric frays is because it is a woven fabric, and the nature of any kind of woven fabric (whether that’s cross stitch fabric, a torn up towel or a piece of fabric you’re going to sew) is that it wants to fray.

It’s not necessarily a huge deal if you cross stitch fabric starts fraying mid-project if you have left a lot of extra fabric around your stitching. But if there’s not much fabric to spare in order to be able to finish the project the way you want, you’ll want to do something to stop the fraying.

When I was growing up I remember my mom using masking tape for this purpose, but it turns out there are lots of different things that you can do to stop your cross stitch fabric from fraying.

Craft with Cartwright came up with 15 different things that you can try, which seems like a lot, but that just means you have lots of different things you can try.

If you don’t want to buy something, you can stitch along the edges. If you already have supplies like tape or glue, or access to pinking shears or a serger, there are lots of options you can try.

Some of these are more permanent than others, so it will depend a little bit on how you want to finish your cross stitch project as to which is the best choice for you. It’s a great idea to read through the whole list just so you can have them in the back of yoru mind the next time you start a project and think about how you would like to protect it.

You can find the whole list at Craft with Cartwright.

How do you like to stop fraying on your cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Craft with Cartwright]

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