John Wigham asked:


A wedding or anniversary is a time to celebrate and be joyful, but it can also be time to get creative and personal with your cross-stitch craft. A wedding is something the bride and groom will want to remember for the rest of their lives, so why not give something that comes from your heart so they can always have that special reminder. You can give them the gift on the wedding day or even years later on a special anniversary.
Make It Personal

When deciding to celebrate weddings and anniversaries in cross-stitch you can enjoy the ease with which you can personalize the craft. It is easy to add dates and names to just about any cross-stitch project. Find a design that represents their wedding day and add simple wording with their names and the date of the wedding. You can also add other information like where they were married or the children they have had over time.

Common Themes

Using the same theme and colors of the wedding is most popular when creating cross-stitch wedding gifts, however you are not limited to those colors or themes. Sometimes you can just use colors found in the home or office. If you are a skilled cross-stitch designer, you might be able to create a copy of the invitation into a cross-stitch design. One great theme for an anniversary gift is a family tree. After a couple has children and grandchildren, a cross-stitched family tree can bring a lot of joy and togetherness to a couple and their family… which of course becomes of an heirloom if so wished.

Project Ideas for Cross-stitched Wedding and Anniversary Gifts:

Framed Art

The family tree gift for an anniversary is a great idea for a framed art cross-stitch project. Offering the couple a piece of art that looks beautiful hung up on a wall is an excellent reminder of their special day.

Photo Album

Oftentimes the bride and groom end up with a lot of photos. You can create a handmade photo album by using your cross-stitched design on the front. This is also a good project for a couple’s anniversary, because they can put pictures they have taken together through the years in the pages of the scrapbook.

Sign-In Book

At the wedding or anniversary party, guests usually sign in on a guestbook. Instead of the couple having to buy a generic book at the store, why not create your own cover for the sign-in book using a personalized cross-stitch design.

Garter

“Something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new” is an old traditions at weddings. You can create a garter from a cross stitch project making it much more personal to the couple.

Handkerchiefs

Another tradition at weddings is to offer the bride a handkerchief. You can find handkerchiefs to stitch on initials and the date of the wedding. They are also a nice gift to give to the groom.

Headband

Many brides wear a headband at either the ceremony or reception. You can use your cross-stitch skill to create an attractive cover for a headband.

Ring Pillow

The ring-bearer’s pillow is also a fun way to incorporate your cross-stitch ability into a wedding. You can stitch a beautiful wedding design onto the pillow that the ring bearer will use to carry the wedding rings to the altar.

Quilt

If you possess both the ability to cross-stitch and sew, this is an excellent keepsake for a wedding or anniversary gift. You can cross-stitch some squares to use on the quilt to make it personal and cozy.

Wall Hanging

Like the framed art, creating a wall-hanging is a nice way to remember the couple’s special day while having something nice to fill that empty space.

Keepsake Box

Every couple has items from their marriage that they want to keep in a safe place. There are keepsake boxes available that allow you to put your cross-stitch fabric across the top or in a frame on the top. These boxes are particularly useful for storing the smaller items retained from a wedding.

Cross stitching a gift for any anniversary, whether one year or seventy-five, is a great idea. Anniversaries come in many different forms, and there are numerous occasions, other than wedding anniversaries, which you can celebrate that are so special…

Buying your first home, recovering from a life threatening illness or finding remission from illness, becoming a mother, grand parent or a great grand parent, adopting a child, or winning an award through work or lifetime achievement are all days that too often go unnoticed and can warrant a special gift that really comes from the heart; a cross stitched personal piece of art.



PHIL

taylor asked:


i know their is a type of cross stitch fabric that is more sturdy that regular cross stitch fabric and i was wondering if this type was aida cloth…
please and answer the title question and if you could clarify my description of the question
thanks so much

MONTE

expertvillage asked:

Learn how to design your own pattern for cross stitching in this free embroidery video lesson. Expert: Vickie Pavone Bio: Vickie Pavone is a wife and mother of 8. She also teaches Cross Stitching at her church. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

BRET

Hamidah Gul asked:


 

It’s been a couple of months since you’ve started the exciting journey of starting your first, second or maybe even tenth cross stitch project. It has been a wonderful therapeutic journey from start to finish, from seeing the stitch start from a simple x to a glorious masterpiece of art.

Then the question strikes you. Now what do I do with it? Most cross stitchers would just send their work of art to the frame dealer and with a little mental prayer that they don’t ***** it up, the cross stitch would be framed and ready to be hang. I have to admit I’ve been hanging all my completed works. I even have a wall dedicated only for my cross stitches.

Still there are other things you might want to consider doing. Here are 7 of my fun and unique ideas about what you can do after you have completed your project. Do take note that all ideas are dependent on the size of your patterns.

1. Make a quilt.

Make small little patterns and sew them all together on a large piece of blanket, making a beautiful patchwork of cross stitch patterns.

2. Make a table cloth.

Floral or border cross stitch designs are great for table runners. Forget about buying a commercial table cloth. Show off to your guests by making one of your own!

3. Coasters

Another favorite for guests are coasters. Cross stitch at least 6 patterns of the same theme and add lace around them to transform them into little girly coasters or simply use no-fray Aida to have ready made coasters after you are done stitching them.

4. Cushion covers

Although there are plenty of ready made stitch-able cushion covers, you don’t have to use that to make great cross stitch cushions. If you have plain cushion covers in hand, you can simply sew your cross stitch designs on them.

5. Wallpaper border

This is an interesting one. You can cross stitch floral designs or alphabets on long strips of Aida and then glue it around a plain wall to liven up your baby’s room. It’s an alternative to putting up wallpaper and definitely would be something your baby would love to touch when he starts experimenting on textures.

6. Pencil case or purse

This is not a hard project to do. All you need is stitch on a bigger piece of Aida and only half of it so that when you later fold it, the design is nicely centered on one half. Of course this is entirely up to you. You can even arrange it that there are two designs at both sides. Then simple sew up the corners and add a zipper to the top. And you’ve got yourself a nice hand made purse or pencil case!

7. Head band

If you have a small rectangle cross stitch pattern done, consider making it into a head band. You only need to attach a short piece of elastic band to connect your cross stitch ends. And then it’s perfect to hold your hair back!

Get more great ideas with our stitch-able crafts at The Art of Stitch.

 



ALEXANDER

expertvillage asked:

Learn what supplies you need to begin cross stitching in this free embroidery video lesson. Expert: Vickie Pavone Bio: Vickie Pavone is a wife and mother of 8. She also teaches Cross Stitching at her church. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

LAURENCE

Ling Tong asked:


You can use either Aida cloth or line for Celtic cross stitch, but Aida is the preferred fabric because the holes are already in the fabric for you. It is also bets for beginners and for those who may have poor eyesight. It is available in 8, 11, 14, 16 and 18 blocks per 2.5 cm. The fabric count will tell you how many blocks there are in a standard square of Aida cloth. This fabric also comes in many different colors and you can also dye it to your preferred color. Linen has very few holes counts, which is why it is a difficult fabric for beginners to use. However, there are irregularities in linen, which gives the finished product a more unique look.

 

The basic stitches you need to learn for this cross stitch design are:

 

* X. The X stitch is the basic stitch in any cross stitch pattern. To make this stitch you first have to make a small knot in the end of the thread. Bring the needle up through one of the holes from the wrong side of the fabric so that you now have the needle on the right side. Insert the needle in the hole in the diagonal corner of the square and then bring it back up through the opposite hole. When you once again pass the needle through the corresponding diagonal hole, you have an X pattern over the square.

 

* /. This is the half-sticth pattern and represents one half of the basic X stitch. You simply bring the needle up through a hole and then pass it down through the hole in the diagonal corner.

 

* The Quarter stitch pattern is one half of the half stitch. When you bring your needle up through the hole, put it down through the fabric halfway between the hole and the one in the diagonal corner.

 

* A three-quarter stitch is a combination of both the half and quarter stitch designs. First you make a half stitch and then you proceed as if you were going to make a full X. Instead of making the second half of the stitch you put the needle through the middle of the half stitch.

 

Once you know how to make these stitches, you can create your own Celtic designs that you can use for cross stitch. You do need to have graph paper for such a project. Using a felt tip open make prominent dots in the corners of the squares on the graph paper. Highlight every second dot with a pen. Once you trace out your design in this way for the length of the sheet of paper, then you can start doing the same thing horizontally.

 

Use one section of the graph paper where you have five regular dots and four highlighted dots. Make sure you measure so that your square is even. Each highlighted dot will be the place where the threads intersect, so you can place a small X over these dots. Continue marking these dots with an X all the way to the border but do not mark those that lie on the line of the border. When you have all the highlighted dots crisscrossed, you can join the knot lines along the sides. You will see how they bow out towards each other. Make a double line to connect them to make your circle.



SCOT

yarntree asked:

Learn counted cross stitch in only 5 minutes. It is fun and easy to learn. Taught by Beth Johnson, owner of Yarn Tree, a distributor of cross stitch supplies to retail stores. A printed version of the lesson is available at yarntree.com. A free kit using the pattern shown in the video is also available.

GREGORY

mb20and151 asked:


I know the sew up the edges method but I’m hoping there is a quicker and better way of doing this.

IAN