Stitch Up Some Star-Spangled Fun

Americans are celebrating their independence with a long weekend this weekend, and it’s a perfect time to start a new cross-stitch project in red, white and blue.

This Star-Spangled Happiness Chart from Stitching the Night Away is a great choice because it’s easy and pretty and will keep you in a patriotic spirit all weekend long.

Even better, the chart uses only three colors and is available as a free PDF download, so grab it if you need a project for the weekend.

I’d love to know what you’re stitching, wherever you are!

[Photo via Stitching the Night Away.]

Looking for 4th of July decorations? Check these supplies out.

We also have 100’s of 4th of July Patriotic crafts and 4th of July recipes too.

Looking for more Patriotic Cross Stitch patterns for Memorial day or the 4th of July? Check these charts out on Etsy.

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American Flag Cross Stitch Patterns

I’ll admit to not taking as much care as I should when finishing cross stitch projects. Just like blocking in knitting or crochet, taking the time to finish a cross stitch project right means it will look its best, whether you’re making it as a gift or to keep.

And when it comes to cross stitch, the best method for finishing is washing and pressing.

Kat and Catkin and Lillie makes the argument that you should always press your finished pieces, and wash them the vast majority of the time as well.

Washing of course will help if there is any visible dirt that got on the project while stitching, but it also helps remove oils and skin cells you can’t see but that can speed up damage to your project in the long run.

Washing and pressing also help remove creases from the hoop or from storing the project, and if you use heat-erasable marking pens to grid your fabric, this will remove any visible marks.

So we’ve got the why down, but what about the how?

Kat has a great step by step tutorial on how to wash your cross stitch projects and how to iron them safely. You probably have everything you need to do this, it just takes a bit of time to go through the process. It’s certainly worth it, though, if you’ve spent a lot of time on a project and are gifting it or framing it and want to show it off to its best.

Click over to the post at Catkin and Lillie for all the details, plus some really good thoughts on times when you might not want to wash a project and how to test the colorfastness of your threads so you’ll know if a project is safe to wash.

Do you wash and press your finished cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear all about your process!

[Photo: Catkin and Lillie]

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