Cross-Stitch

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FAQs about Cross Stitch, Answered

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One of the great things about cross stitch as a craft is that it doesn’t take a lot of skill or supplies to get started. You can make your first cross stitch patterns with a single color of thread, using a single kind of stitch, with fabric that’s easy to find, with or without a hoop. The learning curve is pretty small, and you’re only out a few dollars and a little bit of time to learn the basics and see if you like it.

But if you’re new to cross stitch or thinking about starting cross stitch as a new craft in your life, you might have some questions that patterns just don’t answer, either because they assume you know these things or the answer isn’t long enough to fill out a blog post.

Hannah Hand Makes has collected 20 of these sorts of questions into an FAQ about cross stitch that would be handy for you to read.

It covers everything from the difference between Aida and evenweave to what size needle you should use for cross stitch. You’ll find information on where to buy kits and supplies, the difference between counted cross stitch, stamped cross stitch and embroidery, how to cross stitch a photo, cross stitching on clothes and more.

(She’s even got an opinion on how much you should care about how messy the back of your work is. Spoiler: not much. I totally agree! It’s not worth it to try to make the back pretty unless its going to be visible in the finished product.)

Even if you’re pretty comfortable with cross stitch it’s worth it to skim through these FAQs, because you might just learn something or have your opinion about a cross stitch topic confirmed.

Check out the list at Hannah Hand Makes.

[Photo: Hannah Hand Makes]

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Check Out This Great Method for Framing Cross Stitch

When you put all the time and energy you do into making a great cross stitch project, it’s worth taking the time to frame it in a way that will make it look its best.

Often for smaller designs we’ll choose to frame projects in a hoop, which is cute and a fine option, especially for seasonal projects you might want to change out through the year. Others will send their finished projects for professional framing, which is a great option for gifts and heirloom items that need to be preserved, but it can also be quite expensive.

Crewel Ghoul has a great tutorial for a way that you can easily frame your cross stitch projects at home with just a few supplies.

She uses adhesive mounting board (but you can use non-adhesive board if you have some one hand or you need a size that’s not available in an adhesive version) and a few other basic supplies to secure the sides and corners of the cross stitch fabric around the board before putting the design in the frame.

This requires a bit of hand sewing, but we’re cross stitchers so I’m sure we can handle that.

Framing your cross stitch like this gives it a little padding in the frame, which makes it look better than if it were just flat in a frame with no special finishing. It’s also a great idea to use a frame without glass or to leave the glass out of the frame so it doesn’t crush your stitches.

And though this is super secure it’s not 100 percent permanent if you decide you don’t want the project framed in that way any more. Or you can take it out of the frame and the edges are still all nicely finished so you can display it a different way without having to do anything else to it.

Check out the tutorial at Crewel Ghoul.

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul.]