by Katie White
Hey Y’all! I’ve been doing a lot of cross-stitching lately and quite a few people have seemed interesting in trying it out, so I thought I’d make this week’s blog post on it. Embroidery can seem really hard at first glance (all those tiny stitches? No thank you). But cross-stitching is actually surprisingly easy! It’s not messy either and makes for a great craft to do while watching TV or listening to a podcast. Here’s a quick guide to get started with cross-stitching.
Supplies for Cross-Stitching
Here at Ignite you can find cross-stitching supplies in the Embroidery Kit. But if trying it at home, here are the supplies you’ll need:
- Cross-stitching fabric (special fabric with a grid-like pattern of holes)
- Embroidery floss (colors of your choosing)
- Scissors
- An embroidery hoop
- A cross stitching needle (You can using a sewing needle, but cross-stitching needles are duller and larger, which makes the process easier and less painful when you poke yourself)
- A pattern (you can find these online or check out a pattern book here at the library!
Get Started with Cross-Stitching
To Start: Cross stitching uses embroidery floss, but not the whole string at once. Basic stitches use only two of the six threads, so go ahead and divide your floss into groups of two.
Then, thread your needle with the two threads, and make a knot at the end (usually you’ll need it to be a triple-or quadruple knot so it doesn’t slip through the holes. Next: Figure out where you want to start your project, and make the first stitch! Cross-stitches are just little X’s for the most part; here’s a couple pictures to show you how it’s done.
How do you know where to put the stitches? Try following a pattern like this one:
When you’re done, flip the fabric over and weave your thread through the backs of a couple stitches, so that it doesn’t come undone.
Congratulations, you’ve completed your first cross-stitch! Here’s an example I made this month with a pattern book from our library.
Share your cross-stitch projects with us on the Ignite Community Discussion board. Happy making!
