Tips to Prepare Your Cross Stitch Fabric

I am going to be really honest here and tell you that I’ve never really done anything to prepare my cross stitch fabric before I start stitching (unless it’s a big project and I need a grid, but I hardly ever even do that).

Notorious Needle has a great post all about ways you can prepare for cross stitching that will make it easier or give you a better result. If you’re working a small, quick project for yourself you might do less of this kind of preparation, but if you’re working on a large project that will be framed, given as a gift or that you want to become an heirloom, these steps will help ensure that you start your project in the best way.

A lot of this is about making sure that you have enough fabric for the framing option that you want to use or so your project will fit in the hoop you want to use to stitch your project, and taking care of your fabric to make the stitching easier.

The post covers a lot of the basics that you might have learned naturally if you’ve been cross stitching for a while, but if you’re new to cross stitching or haven’t done a big project before, these ideas are super helpful. It’s great to get in the habit of doing these things and thinking ahead about how you might want to finish your project before you start. Then these things will just be things you do all the time and your projects are sure to come out better.

Go check out the post and let me know if you do these things. Or if you have other tips for getting started on a cross stitch pattern to make it easier/more successful, let’s talk about it.

[Photo: Notorious Needle]

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I feel like summer is the time we all wish we could be somewhere tropical, but if we can’t, at least we can stitch some tropical flower cross stitch designs. There are tons of great options available, but here are a few that caught my eye.

If you’re looking for a relatively basic one, this orange hibiscus from StitchChickUS is a good one. It only uses three colors and measures 46 by 45 stitches. That’s about 3.25 inches or 8.2 cm square and will fit in a three inch hoop.

This plumeria from Cross Stitch Lukova is more detailed and uses 20 colors plus one blend, but you could leave off the watercolor background if you want to make it easier on yourself. This design is 80 by 74 stitches, which comes out to 5.5 by 5.1 inches, or 14.5 by 13.4 cm, when worked on 14 count fabric.

Speaking of watercolors, this stunning design from Light Unicorn Designs looks like it would be a lot of fun to stitch. This is a bigger project, at 200 by 200 stitches, and it uses 27 colors. If you work it on 14 count fabric it will come out to 14.29 inches or 36.29 cm on each side.

These pretty pink flowers from Emerald Oasis Designs are sure to brighten up any space. This one uses 29 colors and has a stitching area of 93 by 100 stitches. A variety of size options are listed in the pattern notes, but on 14 count it will come out around 6.75 by 7.25 inches, or around 17 by 18.4 cm.

The color palette is more toned down on this greenery-forward design from XStitched Art, but I love the fun shapes of tropical fronds and leaves, too. At 180 by 180 stitches, this project uses 30 colors. Again lots of sizes are mentioned and if you use 18 count fabric you’ll get a 10 inch/25.4 cm square.

It’s always fun to see bold colors on a black background, but you can also use a light colored background for this flamboyant design from SamXstitch. This one calls for 23 colors and is 129 by 129 stitches. That’s 9.21 inches or 23.4 cm on 14 count fabric.

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