Tips When Starting Cross Stitch Embroidery
Just a little cross or an ‘X’ made with needle and thread and that’s your very first foray into cross stitch embroidery. Many of these crosses in a well-formed pattern make the most beautiful cross stitch embroidery masterpieces you can find.
To do cross stitch, you need a special fabric. This is a kind of a special weave and it has many small holes and your needle is supposed to go in and out through them to form the crosses. This fabric is called Aida cloth. Of course, there are times when cross stitch is not done on this cloth but on silks and satins too. It all depends how comfortable the seamstress doing it is with the fabric.
You will even find cross stitch being done on other materials today like plastic or even paper and each one has a unique look and feel. The thing with stiffer material like paper and plastic is that they can be molded into various shapes and designs. You have to use special threads for the different materials too. And what a range of colors you get embroidery threads in! If you walk into a store you will be amazed at how many different shades of one particular color there are!
Cross stitch needs a bit of brushing up on before you plunge into it. The Internet helps with a whole lot of information and you also get a whole host of books with instructions as well as patterns. There are special techniques which you need to know before you start and this makes it so much easier when you begin to do cross stitch patterns. Start simple and try and get the simplest possible design to begin with. The Aida cloth is the best to start on and try a design that does not use many colors – a couple will be more than enough. Normally, a start-up cross stitch kit comes with all the instructions and you will need this to know how to mark a pattern and how the crosses need to be done.
Cross stitch usually uses a six strand embroidery thread which is then divided into single threads and you need to decide whether to use one of more of these together. The rule of thumb is that the large-weave Aida fabric will need more strands together, while the smaller one can do with even a single strand. Keep the threads flat on a surface so they don’t get entangled.
In cross stitch, unlike a lot of other sewing, the thread is not knotted when you begin. You start by leaving a bit behind and then go on to make your crosses. Make sure you leave a longer tail initially so it doesn’t get pulled through while you are stitching.
To change a color, just thread the needle with the new color, pull the new thread with the needle through to the front from the back and continue stitching.
The one thing you’ll find with cross stitch is that once you start and it gets to you, you just can’t stop. You just will not want to leave something in the middle – there’s that urge to complete it and watch it grow and take shape under your fingers. Do remember that cross stitch can be very time consuming so allocate a certain amount of time, no more, to it every day. It’s a fun pastime to have!