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What can I do with...

(6 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Katerina
  • Latest reply from Barbara Stone
  1. Katerina
    Member

    ... all the little cross stitch designs I've recently done?

    I've been sort of practising my cross stitch by doing some simple little patterns, and I have a lovely hedgehog, a little dragonfly, a bluebell, a cupcake etc, but now I don't know what to do with them!

    They are all quite small but of varying sizes.

    I've just come back to cross stitch after giving up for several months, here's why.

    I started cross stitch about a year ago and threw myself in at the deep end with a John Clayton design - called High and Dry - on evenweave fabric.

    After several frustrating weeks - where I made lots of mistakes and had to unpick it all - I gave it up because it has fractional stitches and the holes on the fabric are very small. It also has lots of areas of solid colour, which I found boring to do.

    But, a few weeks ago I decided to have another go - not with the John Clayton, I've given up completely on that - and have done a few of these small simple designs. I don't want to give them away, they are too small really to frame, so what else can I do with them?

    I'm ready to tackle a bigger project again now and have bought the heart pot sampler that was on offer in this month's World of Cross Stitching magazine, which should be easy to do because there's no fractional stitches and no backstitch!

    Kat x

    Posted 12 years ago #
  2. Andrea Thompson
    Moderator

    ummm one thing I can think of is to make the designs into pin cushions.
    You'll need some other fabric to make up the back of the cushion and some wadding then sew them together and see what it looks like! Can always unpick it if it looks wrong.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  3. Doris
    Member

    My first thought was to hem each one, then sew them onto a larger piece of fabric of maybe a color other than white. The 8 count childrens fabric would be quite nice. Or, get a wide band, sew them on to look like a band sampler. Make sure you sign it.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  4. Jean Strange
    Member

    How about if you have several on one theme putting them together and making a bigger cushion? Either make a cushion cover or buy one in a plain colour that would look good and then patch them on. Or as some of the American designers do with small designs make "knob knockers" which are little cushion type ornaments to hang on door knobs etc.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  5. Katerina
    Member

    Hello,

    Thanks for that :)

    I like the idea of a band sampler - where do I get bands from? I'm in Devon in the UK.

    How do I sign something? Do I stitch it? As cross stitch or backstitch? Can I get a template to follow for writing?

    Sorry, as you can see I don't know a lot!

    Kat x

    Posted 12 years ago #
  6. Barbara Stone
    Member

    Hi Katerina, Bands are available from Jane, and we know she's got lots of them, cos we were with her when she bought them at Vaupel and Heilenbeck just a couple of weeks ago. She's got a variety of sizes - narrow to wide, so ring the guild and have a discussion about what you'd like from her. I always sign myself as my initials - so at the bottom of my stuff it appears as BJS followed by a date e.g 08 2011, and I do that in back stitch. When I've finished a project and I'm having it framed, I always ask the framer to put a hand written note in it, stating when I stitched it, put my full name and whether it was a kit or an entirely made up project, basically all the details of what you did, how you did it, and where it came from. Also, perhaps you might consider acquiring a copy of the Cross Stitch Bible, because that will give you lots of hints and tips on how to do things. If you can consider going to a guild weekend, you'll meet lots of other stitchers and get ideas from them as well. Good luck for your future stitching.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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