Challenge Yourself with a Cross-Stitch Kit

I have to be honest; I tend to stick with really easy cross-stitch patterns when I am stitching myself. I know that I can do bigger and more complex projects but I just don’t push myself to do them often.

When Rachel from Leila Patterns asked me if I wanted to review one of her kits I was super excited.

And that was months ago (sorry Rachel!) and I’ve barely started the gorgeous butterfly cross stitch kit that she sent me.

Mostly because I messed it up and haven’t had the strength to rip it out and start over.

I will definitely work on it and for-real review it soon, but in the meantime I wanted to suggest that if you need a push to do a bigger cross-stitch project, there are a lot of great kits out there where you can get all the supplies you need in one shot. That takes out some of the intimidation factor because you don’t have to go buy 20 skeins of thread just to get started.

I love her designs (see all her kits on her etsy page) and I’ll bet some more of these will end up in my house once I finish this one. As you can see from the picture her kits come with everything you need and a full-color pattern chart.

Do you have a favorite designer or kit maker? I’d love to know about them!

Looking for more Butterfly themed cross stitch patterns and charts? Check out these butterflies we found on Etsy.

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Cross-Stich For Stress Relief - Unwinding And…

I’ll admit to not taking as much care as I should when finishing cross stitch projects. Just like blocking in knitting or crochet, taking the time to finish a cross stitch project right means it will look its best, whether you’re making it as a gift or to keep.

And when it comes to cross stitch, the best method for finishing is washing and pressing.

Kat and Catkin and Lillie makes the argument that you should always press your finished pieces, and wash them the vast majority of the time as well.

Washing of course will help if there is any visible dirt that got on the project while stitching, but it also helps remove oils and skin cells you can’t see but that can speed up damage to your project in the long run.

Washing and pressing also help remove creases from the hoop or from storing the project, and if you use heat-erasable marking pens to grid your fabric, this will remove any visible marks.

So we’ve got the why down, but what about the how?

Kat has a great step by step tutorial on how to wash your cross stitch projects and how to iron them safely. You probably have everything you need to do this, it just takes a bit of time to go through the process. It’s certainly worth it, though, if you’ve spent a lot of time on a project and are gifting it or framing it and want to show it off to its best.

Click over to the post at Catkin and Lillie for all the details, plus some really good thoughts on times when you might not want to wash a project and how to test the colorfastness of your threads so you’ll know if a project is safe to wash.

Do you wash and press your finished cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear all about your process!

[Photo: Catkin and Lillie]

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