Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Embellished Cross Stitch Finish

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DSCN1210This detail is from a finish recently posted by a Canadian stitcher who blogs at Leftover Chocolate Stitches. That is a great blog name, by the way. She remains anonymous, but her stitching speaks for itself. She has taken a simple Lizzie Kate design the “ABC’s of Aging Artfully” and made it so much more by adding charms and other embellishments to make it very special. Head over to her blog to see the entire project and even more details from it that show the other charms and specialty flosses and stitches she used to add oomph. See how she went beyond the cross-stitch. Go check it out. And, special thanks to the Kreinik Facebook page for pointing this post out in the first place. Visit them too.

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Comments

  1. That was so kind of you to include my work in your blog 🙂 I had a lot of fun altering the pattern and getting my creative juices flowing. I’ve done this to two others of LK… to me, they are just screaming to be embelished, lol… I like to think outside of the box and don’t always follow ‘rules’… just let your imagination free 🙂 Here’s a link to my stitching photos (where you’ll see To Do List, Good Marriage and ABC one… along with tons of Mill Hills… of which a few I changed, even one I made into a stuffie 🙂

    :https://www.facebook.com/helen.omalley/media_set?set=a.10151479215540926.553446.573920925&type=1
    https://www.facebook.com/helen.omalley/media_set?set=a.10150559130685926.446605.573920925&type=3

Have you read?

Quick Tip: How to Keep Cross Stitch Fabric from Fraying

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]