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How to Stitch with Variegated Floss

May 21, 2025 by Sarah White

I love the look of variegated cross stitch floss and how it makes it possible to stitch with a variety of colors without changing thread, giving your project more depth and a more complex look without you having to do anything different.

Or at least not much different. I recently came across this blog post from The Copper Fox all about how to use variegated floss and it noted that many people would say it’s a good idea to complete a whole stitch (when you’re stitching whole cross stitches) with the floss before going on to the next stitch. Most of us stitch row by row, but of course if you do that with variegated yarn, it could change color along the way and you’ll end up with stitches that are half one color and half another color or a different shade.

Of course that makes total sense but I’d never thought about it.

The post includes swatches with different kinds of variegated threads to show the different between working stitch by stitch or row by row, and it doesn’t make a huge different over the small area shown but I can see how it might make a difference if you had really long rows or if you just want to make sure your stitches are a single color whenever possible.

In addition to this experiment, the post talks about other ways to work with multicolored floss, including deliberately mixing the colors among the strands of floss you are stitching with and stitching in a different order instead of right to left and top to bottom (or whatever direction you typically work) to get different effects from the thread.

It’s fun to geek out on this stuff because it can make a difference if you want to play with it, or you can just stitch on without giving it much thought, and both will give you good results.

Check out all the experiments at The Copper Fox.

Do you do anything different when you stitch with variegated floss? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: The Copper Fox]

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Have you read?

Book Review: Merry Stitchmas

It might seem a little early (if you’re reading this when I’m writing this) to be thinking abut the holiday season, but cross stitching takes time, and if you want to stitch a bunch of gifts or decor for the season, that’s going to take some time. 

Merry Stitchmas by Emma Congdon is here to inspire you to get your holiday stitching started, with 24 fun and colorful designs. You’ll find wall hangings, ornaments, stockings, bunting, greeting cards and gift tags, cute letters made out of decorated gift boxes, another set of drop shadow letters, stylized snowflake hoop art and more.

There are folk art figures, a festive patchwork and plenty of word art, with lots of bold and not always traditional colors to go around. 

Some of my favorites include the bold graphic lettering on the ho, ho, ho bunting banner and the collection of little stamps, which she shows all stitched together but would also be cute stitched as individual gift tags or you could even make a stitched card with a fabric envelope and use one of these as a stamp. 

The charts are large and colorful and provide options for personalization and spelling preferences. One design says “My favorite color is Christmas lights” and it includes charts for both British and American spellings. Rows are numbered and the color key is in the center of the page spread, which could make it a little hard to read (I reviewed this in PDF so I’m not sure if the margin is big enough to keep the key out of the gutter). 

The back of the book includes instructions for how to stitch and read charts as well as making up instructions for finishing projects in the various ways shown in the book such as a wall hanging, framed picture, stockings, a pillow, hoop art and gift tags. There are also templates in the back for the shapes used.

This is a sweet book for people who like their holiday decor a little traditional but a little modern at the same time. 

About the book: 136 pages, paperback, 24 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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