Stitches

how do you manage to complete a large cross stitch?

i recently bought a tiger head cross stitch, its the biggest cross stitch ive had. when its finished it will be 14" by 11". whats the easiest way to complete it quickly. ive tried doing it a row at a time but that takes ages

Public Comments

1. Doing one line at a time is how you do tapestry and won't work for cross stitch. The easiest thing to do is find the centre of the pattern and the centre of the fabric. Find the largest bit of single colour near that centre line and start with that. Then fill in the other bits around it. These big sizes do take a long time and can get boring or frustrating at times. When I have a large project going, I have a few small, card sized patterns going as well, so that when I need a distraction I can do another pattern for a while. Good Luck!, unfortunately there isn't a quick way of finishing it unless you have someone helping you, but that could produce an uneven stitch.
2. It depends on how large each of the color areas are and how close the areas that are sewn in the same color are from each other. If you are sewing a kit where all the threads are pre-sorted and pre-cut, you have to be very careful and NOT to waste any of the threads so that there are enough threads for you to complete the whole thing. This means obviously being meticulous, and that takes time. I never ever hurry myself with ANY of my cross-stitch works, so this kind of hobby teaches patience very well!! It takes the time it takes to sew an item, and that's all about it!! Please do not let a challenging item to let you down, it will definitely be a rewarding thing to finish it after all!! Good luck, I'm sure you will make it!!
3. As with any large project, they are all completed one step at a time. In this case, one stitch at a time. Slowly, surely, and methodically. It can be daunting when you look at all that is to be done, but that is never a good thing to do. Look at how far you have come! And know that it will get finished one day. If you need instant gratification (and we all do), have some smaller projects you can do quickly, while working on the large one at the same time. I do that a lot, and so do many others. The large one is going to take time.. we all know that, there is no deadline, you work on it when you can, little by little, and it will get done. In the meantime, you have other things completed as well. The joy is not in the finishing -- it is in the doing. Some people actually remove some stitching, to re-do them -- and to make the project last a bit longer. If you want quick finishing, get large size plastic canvas, and thick acrylic yarn... you will be done in an hour or so.