Going Back to Embroidery Basics

Much as I love cross stitch, I really like using embroidery as a gateway to getting people interested in stitching because it is more free-form and there’s not really a “right” way to do it.

I’ve been writing a lot about embroidery lately over on my blog, Our Daily Craft, and I thought I would share in particular my post about running stitch and back stitch.

These stitches are the foundation of embroidery, and they’re great to add to cross-stitch projects, too, if you want to outline something, put your initials in the corner, add a word, or lots of other reasons.

You can read my tutorials on these stitches at the link above. If you’re not so much of a word person, I also made videos of running stitch:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzOSUDS_NXI&w=600&h=480]

and back stitch:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ufih5gD2Zg&w=600&h=480]

[Photo: Our Daily Craft.]

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31+ Cross Stitch Ideas For Teacher Appreciation Gifts

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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