Beginner Tutorials
Large Projects: Tackling Huge Cross Stitch Patterns
Okay, so you’ve gotten through a few patterns and are ready to tackle some large projects. I mean big. Think Chatelaine, Paine Free Crafts. Or one of the epic Pokemon patterns. Feeling overwhelmed yet? Well, don’t! These aren’t technically any more difficult that stitching anything you’ve already stitched. Just more time consuming. I do have a few […]
Cross Stitch Handmade Gift Ideas
A few years ago I put together a list of gift ideas for your favorite cross stitcher (even if that’s yourself!). But I’ve always wanted to make the opposite list — ideas stitchers can make as a handmade gift for others. As it turns out, that’s more difficult than it sounds. It really depends on […]
Fraying Fabric – Various Ways to Deal With It
How annoying is fraying fabric for you? Some fabrics definitely fray more than others, and some people don’t mind fraying while others can’t stand it! What do I mean by fraying? When the edge of your fabric starts to unravel or come apart while you’re trying to work with it! The good news is there’s […]
Perforated Paper for Cross Stitch – How To Get Started
Perforated paper isn’t talked about enough! A while ago I did a deep dive on plastic canvas and all the different things you can do with it for cross stitch. And it’s about time I did something similar for perforated paper. I don’t have nearly as much experience with it as I did with plastic […]
Frogging – How to Fix Mistakes in Cross Stitch
The dreaded craft frog. Whether you’re a cross stitcher, you crochet, knit, or do any number of other thread art, you never look forward to frogging. But it is an inevitable thing. If there’s any universal truth in all of these kinds of crafts, it’s that counting to 5 consistently is hard. Making mistakes doesn’t […]
Color Swapping Cross Stitch Patterns : Conversion Tips
Today I wanted to talk about color swapping, a way to customize your cross stitch patterns to better suit your preferences. A good way to both express yourself creatively and work through your stash. What does it mean? How do you do it? SHOULD you do it? Well a lot of this is very subjective […]
Discontinued DMC: Hard to Find Threads and Their Replacements
Before you click off of this article because you have already seen a dozen other articles listing discontinued DMC numbers — I have stitched samples! There are plenty of lists of discontinued DMC threads and suggestions for alternatives. But how close are the replacements really? What if you’re out of the replacement color too? Is […]
Gridding for Cross Stitch: Techniques to Help With Counting Stitches
In case you’re not familiar with the concept of gridding, it’s a technique mostly used on large cross stitch patterns to help the stitcher with counting and sizing. If you’ve ever seen an in progress photo of someone stitching where their fabric is covered in small squares, that’s gridding! There’s lots of different ways to […]