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Seven Ways to Anchor Your Cross Stitches

August 23, 2023 by Sarah White

I will fully and openly admit to being the sort of cross stitcher who starts her threads with a knot. I don’t usually care what the back of my work looks like, and I don’t need to it be perfectly smooth, so I’ve never had a problem doing it that way.

I always tie my knots like I show in this post on tying knots for hand sewing, which makes a large knot but it’s sturdy and it won’t pull through the hole in the cross stitch fabric.

I know there are other ways, and potentially better ways, to go about starting a cross stitch project or working in a new piece of floss. If you’re wondering what they might be, check out this very comprehensive post from Sirious Stitches, which includes seven different options for securing your thread.

From techniques that bury the thread end behind the stitches as you work to various ways to use knots on the back to a couple of versions of loop stitches and one process that definitely looks like way too much effort, this is a great overview of your options if you’ve never really thought about how you start stitching or if there’s a “better” way.

Note here that better is totally subjective, and if you don’t mind knots on the back of your work and that’s the way you’re comfortable working, that’s probably the best method for you.

If on the other hand you need the back of your work to be pretty, because, for instance, you’re entering it in a competition of some sort, or the back will be visible for some reason, by all means check out another way to start your stitching that’s a little less intrusive.

Have you ever given any thought to how you anchor your stitches when you start a new thread of cross stitch? Are you on team never knot, or do you always start with a knot? Let’s talk about it!

[Photo: Sirius Stitches]

How to Frame Cross Stitch with Lacing

How to Wash Cross Stitch Projects 

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Check Out This Great Method for Framing Cross Stitch

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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