Hoop-di-do Cross Stitch Gift Ideas

This week I have been posting about stocking stuffer ideas for stitchers. Of course, if you aren’t shopping for many stitchers this year, you can always add them to your wish list and leave it about for those who shop for YOU to find!

This item is one of my favorites. The Clover hoop, which comes in size small, which is 4 3/4 inches and size large, which is 7 inches. I personally started out with the smaller size and added the larger size to my collection recently. These hoops were designed for embroidery, so they hold the fabric snugly with a lip. There’s also this lovely feature – the hoop tightener is designed so that it doesn’t catch the floss.

These hoops are very sturdy, they are plastic so they are easily cleaned and don’t leave hoop marks like wooden hoops. I highly recommend the hoops and they are what I personally use. In case you wonder – I have no personal connection with Clover and I purchased both hoops and did not receive them for review.

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Clover Cross Stitch Patterns

I recently came across a post from Lord Libidan talking about embroidery floss packs and whether it’s worth the money to buy a set of threads all at once instead of one skein at a time.

With the closure of Joann some people were buying these bundles as a way to build their stash/stockpile if they didn’t have another place to buy locally. I did the same thing when I first started cross stitching again after a break of many years, because I wanted to get a bunch of colors all at once without the overwhelming job of picking colors from the wall of thread when I didn’t have a particular project in mind.

And I think for this purpose buying a package with colors you like or some basic/popular colors is probably a good idea and relatively cost effective.

My Joann didn’t have any floss packs when it was closing (in fact it didn’t have cross stitch floss at all for a month or more, then suddenly go a bunch about a week before closing) but I might have bought one just to have the variety if they had been available.

If Amazon is going to be your source for cross stitch supplies going forward, I think buying packs of cross stitch floss when the colors make sense is definitely going to be a better deal. As I write this a pack of 36 popular colors was running $39.50, or about $1.09 a skein. I used to pay 66 cents per skein at Joann, but buying a single skein of black floss on Amazon would run you $4.29.

Herrschners sells DMC floss for $1.05 per skein or less, but shipping isn’t free and you’ll have to buy a lot (or a lot of other things, too) to meet their minimums for free shipping when they offer it.

Check out the post on Lord Libidan for his thoughts and let me know where you are buying cross stitch floss now if you used to buy it at Joann.

[Photo via Herrschners]

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