Tips for New Cross Stitchers

If you are new to the craft of cross stitching or just want to improve your skills and have better results and more enjoyment in your projects, check out this list of 7 things I wish I knew before I started cross stitching from Hannah Hand Makes.

Some of these are really solid, such as understanding that there are different sizes of Aida cloth and how to best work with colored cloth. I’m not sure about the one about cutting the skein of thread before you get started so you have pieces of uniform length to work with as you stitch. Have you ever tried that?

Do you have something you wish you knew when you were starting out? I’d love to hear your tips!

[Photo: Hannah Hand Makes.]

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How to Railroad Your Cross Stitch

I love seeing different ways that cross stitch can be worked on unusual surfaces, from strainers to chain link fences and more. One slightly more common way to add cross stitch to your home without using cross stitch fabric is to stitch on a chair base.

Chairs that have woven ratan backs and/or bases are a marker of mid-century design through the 1970s and ’80s, but there are a lot of options currently for sale if you don’t want to hunt one down at a vintage store or garage sale. Because the open blocks are built into the furniture, it’s not that difficult to imagine what cross stitch will look like on the surface.

If you have a chair you want to stitch on, or you just want to be inspired by other people’s work, check out this tutorial from Bobo Stitch all about how to stitch on a chair base. The chair they used has a round base and a long oval piece on the back of the chair that had space for stitching. (They found it on eBay.)

The post walks you through all the tools you will need to be able to cover your chair with cross stitch. They actually used ribbon to do the stitching, but you could use wool yarn or even thick cotton yarn if you wanted.

It doesn’t look like a super difficult project but I can see how it might be tedious because it’s not as easy to stitch on a chair as it is to stitch on fabric. And if you are doing a set of chairs this won’t be a quick project, but it’s well worth the effort if you want to add a bit of color and funky boho style to your chairs.

Would you do this to a chair? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Bobo Stitch]

Comments

Linda Wright Granger says
January 27, 2019 at 7:58 am
Not so much a tip, but I find it helpful to always leave my needle threaded and ready so it is easy to pick up my project again.
Cheryl Bulgozdy Martin says
January 27, 2019 at 3:21 pm
For as long as I’ve been stitching, since about 1976 or so, I have always cut my floss to about 12″-16″ inch lengths. That way I don’t need to stop and keep cutting it. With some of the newer flosses, like the metallic, light effects, etc. I cut my floss in shorter lengths to keep it from fraying. This also makes it much easier to keep on my floss card for each WIP.

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