Tools to Make Your Cross Stitch Life Easier

I don’t do a lot of big cross stitch projects so I don’t have a lot of cross stitch supplies or special tools that I use, but I know there are things out there that can make the work of cross stitch a little easier, faster and more fun.

Hannah Handmakes did a podcast about essential cross stitch tools, and it’s also a blog post if you don’t want to listen along.

One that she doesn’t mention, possibly because it’s too basic, is a needle threader. I do use a needle threader sometimes (when I can find one!) as it makes threading the needle a lot easier when you have those threads that just won’t cooperate. I also have a project I need to use a seam ripper on, because it’s not worth it to try to unstitch this project where I used more threads than I should have (that one is on the list).

One thing that is on the list that I have been curious about is needle minders. These are decorative metal pieces that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with a magnet. You put the magnet on the back of your work and the needle minder on the front, and then when you put your needle down it stays on the plate. No more losing your needle or poking holes through your fabric to keep track of it.

If you use a needle minder I’d love to hear your experience!

Check out the blog post and/or the podcast to see what the other tools to help your cross stitch are over at Hannah Handmakes. And if you have something that you would add to the list I’d love to hear about that, too! I’m sure there are lots of things that could be helpful that I’m not aware of and that other people would like to know about, too.

[Image by Alina Kuptsova from Pixabay]

I don’t usually cross stitch text or add words to my cross stitch projects. Sometimes I will sign things using basic block lettering worked in backstitch (luckily my initials are pretty easy to stitch), but if you give your cross stitch as a gift or otherwise want to personalize it, adding text is a great way to go.

But if a project didn’t already come with text, and you don’t want to draw your own, you’ll need a good cross stitch font that you can use for your project.

I like collecting fonts that are easy to read and to stitch and that would be good for lots of different uses.

For example I really like this bold alphabet font from Cross Stitch with Art, which has both capital and lowercase letters as well as numbers if you need them for dates or other information on your design. The capital letters are an inch/2.5 cm/14 stitches tall, which makes it easy to figure out how much space you need to leave for them. It’s a nice, basic, readable serif font you can use for lots of project.

If you want a script font that’s still really readable, check out Magic Calligraphy from Soft Pattern Designs. This hand drawn font has upper case letters around 28 stitches tall, with lower case letters mostly being around 20 stitches (though the ones that go up or down a lot like f, p and y are bigger). The numbers also vary a bit in size but range from 25 to 29 stitches.

Sometimes you just want a classic font that looks like sports lettering, and in that case you’re going to need Varsity, an all caps font from Stitch Mod. This one has letters that are 21 stitches tall, and it includes capital letters and numbers. But there are definitely times this one would come in handy!

Another sometimes useful and really cute font is this alphabet block letters alphabet from Stitch Junction. These letters are all upper case and look like classic building blocks, and there are also numbers available. This one would be perfect for a birth announcement project or some other cross stitch for the baby’s room.

And if that’s not enough for you, check out this post with 85 free cross stitch fonts for you to try!

Have you read?