Designer Spotlight: StudioHMP

Classic old world cross stitch designs and finished pieces are what you will find at Ukraine-based Etsy shop StudioHMP.

This designer has about 60 cross stitch designs as I write this, with an emphasis on classic samplers, florals, birds and geometric designs.

The colors are often muted pastels, which gives the projects even more of a peaceful, classic look.

They’re not all totally traditional, however. Take this Quaker style sampler that might look rather traditional at first, but the more you look the more you see: from the text “first I drink the coffee” to the coffee grinders and post to the border made out of coffee-bean shaped motifs.

The pattern calls for five colors and you can stick with the muted palette of the original or go bolder as you like for your kitchen. It uses 194 by 196 stitches, which comes out to 13.9 by 14 inches or 35.2 by 35.6 cm on 14 count fabric. (It’s just a little bigger than 12 by 12 on 16 count if you want it to be a little smaller.)

There are a few Easter and St. Patrick’s Day designs, as well as Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and fall. You’ll also find a collection of designs of small animals stitches into little geometric frames. These designs include animals such as a panda, turtle, racoon and hippo.

If you don’t want to stitch the projects yourself or you’re looking for a special gift for a fellow stitcher, there’s also a collection of finished cross stitch projects available for purchase. These are boxes, needle cushions, ornaments or framed designs.

The shop isn’t arranged into categories other than cross stitch patterns and finished cross stitch, so you’ll have to browse around a bit to find what you’re looking for, or do a keyword search if you’re looking for an animal, a holiday design, a sampler, etc.

Check out all this shop has to offer at the StudioHMP storefront on Etsy.

[Photo: StudioHMP]

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

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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