Well, well…lookie what happened! Many of you got interested in cross-stitch!! I got a lot of questions about cross-stitch after I’ve been blogging about it lately. I honestly think cross-stitch is super hot and popular right now because of covid. It’s an easy hobby to do with minimal entry cost which is awesome.
Judy wrote:
“Jo, after looking at all the various blogs of quilters who also do cross-stitch, I’ve decided to pick cross-stitch up again. I’m struggling with working on linen, even though I have 2 large pieces that I did in my younger years that are on linen.
Your pieces are beautiful, I’m starting small with ornaments, so hopefully, I can get back in the swing of things. Thanks so much for the inspiration.”
This is a common problem. I had the problem myself. I started cross-stitching in the 80s using Aida. I loved it. I did a big Paula Vaughan piece. All of her cross stitch had quilts in it. They were beautiful. I stitched this one….
When the kids were little I stitched a lot. As they aged, I quit cross-stitching and moved to quilting. When I started cross-stitching again, I was terrible at it.
I didn’t want to stitch on Aida so I bought linen. I could not do it. I bought a pattern and everything I needed. I sat down to try, no luck. I felt like a clumsy ox. I just couldn’t wrap my head around seeing two threads and stitching over them. I quit.
Kelli bought a project at the same time and with her, it clicked. She was showing me what she was doing and I was so sad I couldn’t make mine work. Fast forward to me seeing this piece.
I loved the words on the bigger piece. I was bound and determined that I was going to figure cross-stitch out. I really wanted that stitched and in my house.
I looked up a shop that had it and found one an hour from my house. YAHOO!! Kelli and I went. I got the stuff. I told the shop owner my problem and she said get a good light with magnification.
I bought one immediately. I have this…Here is an Amazon link for it.
This didn’t make it a breeze, but it did make it easier.
I still struggled and was so slow, but I found I could do it with magnification. My first piece was far from perfect…but it was okay and I was proud of myself. I wanted to quit a couple times but spending the money on the lamp kept me in the game. I didn’t want to spend that money for nothing.
Here are some things I learned.
-The more you cross-stitch, the easier it is to see the threads. As with anything practice helps you improve.
-Once you get a few stitches into the piece, other stitches are based off the first stitches so, the more you stitch on a piece the easier it gets.
-You do get muscle memory when stitching. Your hand learns about how far the next stitch is going to be away.
So..stick with it.
Next question…
Judy wrote:
“Do you have a specific magnifier you could recommend? Maybe that’s my problem.”
I think this is the same Judy who wrote the first question. I do have the magnifier I showed in the photo above. When I first bought the lamp, I used magnification ALL OF THE TIME. If I did one stitch, I used it.
Time has passed. I’ve practiced more. I not longer use the magnification portion of the lamp unless I’m stitching one floss thread over one linen thread on 40 count. Most everyone needs a magnifier for that.
My eyes are so trained now that I can stitch in the doctor waiting room without the best light. Of course, I try to sit by natural light, but, I can easily do it and I’m stitching on 40 count which is a “more advanced” linen.
You eyes truly do learn.
I stitched for awhile on 28 count…I moved to 32 and this year I finally took the dive and moved to 40 count. The reason why?? I wanted to stitch this… Continue reading
