Stitches

Tips for stitching a large cross stitch design?

Public Comments

1. 1. Pick a design on 14 count aida for your first project. 2. Make sure your chosen design uses just whole cross stitches as these are the easiest ones to start with. 3. Pick a small design. It's much more satisfying to finish a design in just a few days, rather than stitch one that takes weeks or months. 4. Give yourself a bit of space and some peace and quiet. 5. Wash your hands before you handle the fabric. 6. Make sure you've got all you need to hand: threads, needle, hoop and scissors. 7. Use an embroidery hoop: it holds the fabric taut and helps you to stitch neatly. 8. Stitch in the best possible daylight or invest in a daylight simulation bulb for evening stitching. 9. Keep your stitching in a safe place, away from children, food and pets! 10. Relax! Cross stitch is a brilliant hobby and will give you hours of pleasure.
2. First you will need a scroll frame (available at most craft or hobby stores). This is what you will use to hold your fabric. Having a floor stand might help too, especially if your project is really large. With a floor stand you can have both hands for stitching while the floor stand holds the scroll frame in place (can be used at the kitchen table, at a sofa, recliner, or just about anywhere you like to stitch). Next: Make sure you have enough fabric plus 3 inches extra on all four sides ( example if you are stitching a 200 count x 200 count design on 14 count fabric, you would need a 21 inch x 21 inch piece of fabric ( 200 divided by 14 + 6 ( 3 for each side) rounded out to nearest inch)). If you have a sewing machine, stitch a seam all the way around the fabric. Iron out your piece of fabric. Find the center of the fabric by using a measuring tape and mark it with a needle or pin. attach your fabric as evenly as possible to your scroll rods with masking tape so that the center pin ends up approx in the center of the stitch area of the scroll frame, tighten it as much as possible. Find the center of your design, locate the color of the symbol and thread that onto your needle, start your stitching in the center. This is how I always do mine and they turn out real good and plenty of room for framing without misjudging the margins. I hope this helps, happy stitching!
3. bind the edges of your fabric first so it doesnt unravel, wash your hands before you start each time and dont use hand lotion, it will rub off onto your work and soil it before you get done. if its large a frame might be best to keep your work straight and level.
4. *what ever you chose to do start from the top of your work and try to use a sewing frame, it will help hold the cloth taunt and make sewing easier.
5. First you want to make sure you have all your supplies on hand. If you're working from a kit that shouldn't be hard as most things will be included. If you're working from a pattern and buying everything it gets a bit more complicated. Your pattern should give you guidelines on what floss and fabric to buy. Floss they may give color/numbers for more than one brand. Pick one and buy all your floss from that company to have color consistency. For fabric pay attention to the count they want. The count is how many squares are in each inch. You can switch fabric types but as long as you keep the same count you'll have the same size piece. If you use a larger count fabric your design will be smaller than they say because there are more squares in each inch. If you use a smaller count fabric your design will be larger than they say because there are fewer squares in each inch. That will make a difference in how big a piece of fabric you'll need to complete the project. Once you have the supplies you need to organize them for ease in stitching. Sometimes the kits come with cardboard cards with holes to string the floss through. I don't like using those for large projects because they turn into tangled messes on me. I usually wind the floss either around a cardboard bobbin or just around my fingers and put each color in it's own envelope. Then label the envelopes with color, number and symbol for that pattern. I keep the envelopes for each pattern together in a box. Then you need to prepare the fabric. If it's been folded for a while you want to iron the creases out. Finish the ends so they don't ravel. Either fold tape over them or finish them with a zig zag on the sewing machine or serge them with a serger. Any method helps keep the fabric from fraying and stretching out of shape. Some people prefer to cross stitch without using anything to hold the fabric while they stitch. They usually roll one end until they get to the space they're working on. Others use hoops but on a big piece sometimes they leave marks in the middle. Roller frames work for some people. I prefer Q-snaps. http://www.qsnap.com/ Find whatever you're comfortable with and use that method. I always start from the center of the fabric because I like having the same amount of extra fabric all around the edges to work with for framing. And let me say it's a pain if you start an inch in from the top left corner and discover that you need an extra quarter inch of fabric when you get to the bottom right corner. All that work wasted. For larger projects I'll pick the largest patch of color near the center and work on that color through as much of the piece as I can before I'll switch colors. I hate changing colors often. But I have friends who will work in solid patches and switch back and forth between colors. What ever works, I guess. To keep your place on the chart I usually copy the chart and enlarge it if I can. Most patterns allow you to make one working copy so you're fine as far as copyright goes. Use that copy to fill in what stitches you've done so you can keep your place easier. Keep the original in good shape so you can refer to it anyplace the copy isn't great and to do your backstitching from. When you've finished the cross stitch part, go through and do the backstitching. Then clean the piece and frame it.