Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Let Me Introduce Myself

by

Hi! I am Connie Barwick and I will be taking over as the Cross Stitch editor here at Craft Gossip. I am really excited to be a “Gossip Girl” now – sorry for the lame joke, but that’s what I keep telling my friends.

You may also know me from my work at About.com Cross Stitch or my own site Connie Gee’s Designs. I am also the Social Media Director for Kooler Design Studio.

I have been cross-stitching since I could hold a needle. I started with stamped projects and moved into counted cross stitch as it gained popularity in the 1980’s. Cross stitch is a constant in my life, no matter the season or what’s trendy at the time. Over the years I have done all sorts of counted thread and canvas work.

I look forward to sharing my love of stitching with you and want you to help me out too! Send in your links today. Let me know about your favorite project, blog, etsy shop – whatever you think should be featured here.

Comments

  8. I know you from About.com but didn’t know you did your own designs so I just went to have a look. Your dog is adorable! When I was 2 yrs old, my grandparents had a dog named Girlie. I don’t really remember her but I know she was a sweetheart and probably why I love dogs so much today.

  12. Craft Gossip already has cross stitch designs included in most of their daily e-mails, so , I guess this means that you, Connie, will be the new “manager” of the cross stitching portion of Craft Gossip. I hope you will take the necessary time to find the great charts available through a variety of websites.

Trackbacks

Have you read?

How to Add Text to a Cross Stitch Project

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special. 

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting. 

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully. 

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable. 

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!). 

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try. 

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching. 

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]