Use a Kit to Cross Stitch a Piece of Jewelry

I get a subscription box (the Introvert’s Retreat Box, which is run by a friend of mine but that isn’t an affiliate link) that sometimes has little craft projects in it and the one for this month had a lovely little bamboo pendant kit from Red Gate Stitchery that you could cross stitch a heart on.

I made mine in the 20 minutes or so I was on a conference call that should have been an email, and my daughter promptly took it to wear.

The kit includes the bamboo base with pre-cut holes, three colors of thread to choose from, a couple of sewing needles, the necklace chain, a chart and basic instructions. (The kits she sells on etsy seem to only have one color of thread.)

This is easy enough for a new stitcher to do and would be a great gift for a young person — or any person — you’re trying to encourage to get into cross stitch. Then of course they can keep the necklace or gift it to someone else. How’s that for some good crafty karma?

Have you ever used a cross-stitch jewelry kit? I’d love to hear about it!

Most of the cross stitch projects I make are pretty small and not something I would consider heirloom quality (though I am working on a big project for my daughter that I hope to have done for her high school graduation in two years that I hope is something she’ll want to keep forever, but that’s another story).

But it is definitely possible to cross stitch projects that will stay around for generations, and one prime example of that is a cross-stitched linen tablecloth.

Linen tablecloths are classic, while stitching one can be a big project, depending on the size of your table, it doesn’t have to be really complicated.

Koekoek has a good, detailed post about figuring out how much linen you would need to make a tablecloth that you can cross stitch and/or embroider on (they also sell tablecloth linen in their shop if you don’t already have some or a linen tablecloth you already use). Of course for a project like this you’d want the best fabric you can find and afford, because you’ll be stitching it for a long time and hopefully using it for years.

The post walks through how to measure your table and determine how much fabric you’ll need including the drop you’ll want and hems. It includes the math for rectangular and square tables as well as circular tables, which helps take the guesswork out of buying fabric. It also talks about preparing the fabric and making mitered corners if you have a square or rectangular table, which will help the tablecloth sit nicely on your table.

The tutorial doesn’t include specific patterns to use for your tablecloth, but it does advise keeping it simple because this is a really big project. You can start with a motif in the center or doing borders, and this is a project you can add to through the years by, say, stitching a symbol for each family member or adding names, wedding dates, etc. and making it a real record of your family.

Would you ever cross stitch a tablecloth or have you done so? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Koekoek]

Have you read?