How to Join Two Pieces of Plastic Canvas

Plastic canvas can be used for cross stitch as well as other crafty purposes, but it is a little different to work with compared to regular cross-stitch fabric.

One of the cool things about it is that you can shape objects with it, which can be decorated with stitching. But this can be a little tricky when you need to join pieces of plastic canvas but you want the stitching to be continuous on the finished object.

Sewing with Bobbin and Fred has a great tutorial for joining pieces of plastic canvas, which explores how to join pieces at a right angle, to make a flat bag or two-sided object and to continue a piece of canvas. It’s really handy to have these skills in your repertoire in case you need them for different projects.

[Photo: Sewing with Bobbin and Fred.]

I feel like summer is the time we all wish we could be somewhere tropical, but if we can’t, at least we can stitch some tropical flower cross stitch designs. There are tons of great options available, but here are a few that caught my eye.

If you’re looking for a relatively basic one, this orange hibiscus from StitchChickUS is a good one. It only uses three colors and measures 46 by 45 stitches. That’s about 3.25 inches or 8.2 cm square and will fit in a three inch hoop.

This plumeria from Cross Stitch Lukova is more detailed and uses 20 colors plus one blend, but you could leave off the watercolor background if you want to make it easier on yourself. This design is 80 by 74 stitches, which comes out to 5.5 by 5.1 inches, or 14.5 by 13.4 cm, when worked on 14 count fabric.

Speaking of watercolors, this stunning design from Light Unicorn Designs looks like it would be a lot of fun to stitch. This is a bigger project, at 200 by 200 stitches, and it uses 27 colors. If you work it on 14 count fabric it will come out to 14.29 inches or 36.29 cm on each side.

These pretty pink flowers from Emerald Oasis Designs are sure to brighten up any space. This one uses 29 colors and has a stitching area of 93 by 100 stitches. A variety of size options are listed in the pattern notes, but on 14 count it will come out around 6.75 by 7.25 inches, or around 17 by 18.4 cm.

The color palette is more toned down on this greenery-forward design from XStitched Art, but I love the fun shapes of tropical fronds and leaves, too. At 180 by 180 stitches, this project uses 30 colors. Again lots of sizes are mentioned and if you use 18 count fabric you’ll get a 10 inch/25.4 cm square.

It’s always fun to see bold colors on a black background, but you can also use a light colored background for this flamboyant design from SamXstitch. This one calls for 23 colors and is 129 by 129 stitches. That’s 9.21 inches or 23.4 cm on 14 count fabric.

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