Helpful Tips for Cross-Stitch Newbies

This is a few months old, but I just came across this roundup of helpful tips cross-stitchers should know from BuzzFeed, and it’s worth a read.

The author suggests starting by buying a book (!) so you’ll have some basic alphabets and simple designs at your fingertips, as well as starting with a kit (which is a great idea because you’ll have all the supplies you need in one purchase).

It covers picking fabric and thread, how to keep everything organized, choosing hoops, needles and other tools and tips on things like keeping the edges of your fabric from fraying, making sure your thread isn’t too long and learning basic stitches.

There are also tips for finishing and displaying your work, as well as moving beyond the basics to things like doing cross-stitch on crochet or on fabric.

I would add that a great way to start is browsing Etsy or Pinterest for cross-stitch patterns related to something you’re interested in. Don’t stitch a sampler or a project from a book just because it’s there if it’s not something you’ll want to hang on your wall. There’s tons of subversive and geeky cross-stitch patterns out there, as well as charts for just about anything else you might like, from flowers to bicycles, holiday patterns and more.

What would you want to tell a beginning cross-stitcher? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: BuzzFeed.]

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Book Review: Lit Stitch

Lately I have been feeling like all of my clothes are looking a little worn or feeling a little tired. I don’t want to buy new clothes, though, so there’s been a lot of mending, altering and adding special touches to things that otherwise might get overlooked or not worn at all.

As an example, not too long ago I added a little bit of embroidery to a T-shirt, which was a lot of fun to do and made me start eyeing all my solid-colored garments and wondering how they might look with some stitching added.

Of course you can cross stitch on garments, too, whether T-shirts or woven tops, skirts, pants and more. But it can be tricky to transfer cross stitch designs to your garment to make stitching easier.

Much like with embroidery, it’s great to use a water soluble stabilizer to keep your fabric in place while you stitch and to transfer your design (or your cross stitch grid at least) while you’re stitching. Then you just wash away the stabilizer when you’re done and it will look like the stitching has always been there.

Ashley General Handmade uses Sulky Stick ‘n Stitch, which is a product I use, too. It’s easy to use and washes away cleanly.

To make it even easier, she designed some printable cross stitch grids at different counts that you can print out to draw your own cross stitch designs, but you can also print the grid right on the Sulky, so you can stitch on top of squares and then remove them when you’re done.

Brilliant, right?

She has pages as big as 8 count and all the way down to 20 (remember: the bigger the number the smaller the stitches will be) that you can download and print to make your own designs and also use to make stitching on clothing easier. I’m definitely going to try this the next time I want to cross stitch on fabric!

You can grab her printables over at Ashley General Handmade.

[Photo: Ashley General Handmade]

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