To Ways to Back a Hoop to Frame Cross Stitch

A popular way to finish embroidery and cross stitch patterns is to frame them in the hoop you stitched them in. This is an easy way to finish projects and you can make it a little fancier by painting the hoop on the outside to add more color.

The only potential issue with framing your cross stitch in this way is that you might not want to see — or let other people see — what the back of your cross stitch project looks like. I know my projects are generally a mess from the back, so it’s nice to take an extra step and cover the back of the hoop so you can’t see the back of the stitching.

There are a couple of different ways to do this, and thankfully Crewel Ghoul has us covered.

Probably the easiest way to add back fabric to your cross stitch hoop is by using felt. This method as shown in the blog post has you stitch down the felt to the edge of the cross stitch fabric that is secured to the inside of the hoop. It takes a little time to sew it down, but the benefit is that it can be removed if you ever decide you want to frame the project in a different way or you don’t want to display that piece any more but you want to reuse the hoop.

The other option is to use fabric on the back. In this version they use glue instead of stitching to hold the fabric down, but that makes this method more permanent. You can also do the same method as with the felt and just sew the backing down by hand if you want it to be more easily removable.

Gluing it down is a great option when giving a cross stitch project as a gift because then the person you’re giving it to will never see the back side of your work and it might be more secure to back it this way.

Have you ever used either of these methods? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

I’m primarily a knitter, and in the knitting world the “emotional support chicken” has been a big trend probably for a couple of years now (I don’t know how long something has to be popular before you can stop calling it a trend, but whatever).

There are chicken crochet patterns that are popular as well, and now I’ve found a cross stitch chicken pattern that might just become the newest iteration of the emotional support chicken theme.

The Funky Chickens pattern from Satsuma Street are three-dimensional, triangular chickens embellished with felt to make their facial features and tail feathers. The bodies include stripes, curves, speckles and other little designs to mark different parts of their bodies. They’re super cute and not any more difficult to stitch than any other pattern, though of course there’s more finishing than you would normally expect.

The pattern includes designs for three chickens, which are actually a rooster and two hens. The rooster is slightly larger, at 120 by 60 stitches, or 4 by 4 inches/10 cm when finished. The hens are 100 by 50 stitches and come out to 3.25 inches/8 cm when finished. These measurements are for stitching on 14 count fabric or 28 count over two.

The patterns use 13 colors, and if you want to make all three, one skein of each color will make all of them. In addition to your regular cross stitch supplies you’ll need three or four little pieces of felt of different colors to add all the details.

These chickens would be great to use as pincushions, or you could put something heavy in the bottom and use them as pattern weights if you do sewing. They’d also be fun gifts for anyone who likes chickens or needs a little emotional support if you explain it to them.

The pattern is available from Satsuma Street on Etsy.

[Photo: Satsuma Street]

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