Metal Cross-Stitch Projects Prove You Can Stitch on Anything

I love this collection of cross-stitched metallic objects from This is Colossal.

Gathered from the creations of Lithuanian artist Severija In?irauskait?-Kriaunevi?ien?, they prove that artists can make their craft out of just about anything. The idea is to have people confront handcrafts in unexpected places and ways and to combine hard, metallic, functional objects with somewhat kitchy designs.

If you wanted to try this yourself, you’d have to drill regular holes in the metal and smooth them so they wouldn’t snag the thread or yarn.

The same artist also did a project of adding cross stitch to antique helmets, which are stunning and beautiful.

[Photo via This is Colossal.]

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Cross Stitch Tip: How to Blend Colors of Floss

When you put all the time and energy you do into making a great cross stitch project, it’s worth taking the time to frame it in a way that will make it look its best.

Often for smaller designs we’ll choose to frame projects in a hoop, which is cute and a fine option, especially for seasonal projects you might want to change out through the year. Others will send their finished projects for professional framing, which is a great option for gifts and heirloom items that need to be preserved, but it can also be quite expensive.

Crewel Ghoul has a great tutorial for a way that you can easily frame your cross stitch projects at home with just a few supplies.

She uses adhesive mounting board (but you can use non-adhesive board if you have some one hand or you need a size that’s not available in an adhesive version) and a few other basic supplies to secure the sides and corners of the cross stitch fabric around the board before putting the design in the frame.

This requires a bit of hand sewing, but we’re cross stitchers so I’m sure we can handle that.

Framing your cross stitch like this gives it a little padding in the frame, which makes it look better than if it were just flat in a frame with no special finishing. It’s also a great idea to use a frame without glass or to leave the glass out of the frame so it doesn’t crush your stitches.

And though this is super secure it’s not 100 percent permanent if you decide you don’t want the project framed in that way any more. Or you can take it out of the frame and the edges are still all nicely finished so you can display it a different way without having to do anything else to it.

Check out the tutorial at Crewel Ghoul.

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul.]

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