Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint
I know peonies aren’t in bloom this time of year, but they are lovely shapes to stitch any time.
This free pattern for a cross stitched peony from Sew and So is excerpted from the book Oriental Cross Stitch. Fun fact: the Chinese name for the peony is Sho Yo, meaning most beautiful.
I think the most beautiful part of this project is the backstitching worked in gold thread. If you change the colors when you make this one, keep that metallic element; it’s so lovely!
[Photo: Sew and So.]
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.]