Tips For Choosing Your Cross Stitch Supplies

I find cross stitching to be a great hobby. It helps me relax while I am creating a work of art. This hobby can be relatively inexpensive, if you have a small budget or it can be pricey if you choose special fabrics and flosses. Even patterns can be costly if they are intricate and detailed. If you are a beginner, you may want to try a few kits before you branch out and buy a pattern and the necessary supplies to create a custom work of art.

1. Fabric - For beginners, light colors of either an 11-count or a 14-count Aida fabric will work best. Dark colors are a little more difficult to work with. Fabric that is not creased (rolled) is preferred over folded fabric. Once you become experienced you want to try to work with linen. A pattern will usually tell you exactly what type of fabric to purchase for the pictured design.

2. Floss - This can be purchased in skeins in most craft stores and cross stitch stores. Stick with one manufacturer for color consistency. A pattern will give you a list of color numbers and the number of skeins required to complete the project.

3. Needles - These can be bought by the variety pack with several sizes or a pack that contains only one size. Once you have become experienced, there are many needles you can experiment with. The beginner should use a number 24 tapestry needle for 11-count fabric and a number 26 tapestry needle for 14-count fabric.

4. Scissors - You will need 2 pair...a pair specifically for cutting fabric only. Purchase these in a fabric store. Fiskars are great for this purpose. A small pair that is sharp will be needed to cut the floss. These can be picked up at the dollar store for cheap and can easily be replaced when they become dull.

5. Hoop - These come in a number of sizes and styles. Beginners should stick with a small to medium size hoop constructed of plastic or wood. Once you become experienced, you may wish to switch to a larger frame. Or you may choose not to use a frame at all. It is important to keep your frame clean.

These are the supplies that will be necessary to complete cross stitch projects that are not in a kit. Most of these items give you are large number of options. Start out with the basics and begin to experiment with different items as you become more experienced. Have fun as you expand your horizons with needle art.

Arlene is an author that enjoys writing about health and finance. You can visit her latest site at http://beddingsetsking.com/ where you can find information on bedding sets king.

Make an Easy No-Pattern Apron

Here's a simple and useful project -- a simple, easy apron. You'll use just one yard of fabric cut into four pieces -- actually, you don't even have to "cut" the fabric, you can just tear the fabric into the proper sized strips! Fabric choices would be any broadcloth or patterned cotton -- something easy, cheap, and WASHABLE (it is an apron, after all!)

Begin with a piece of fabric 1 yard long by whatever length it comes in -- most probably 44 inches. We'll use the selvedge sides as the sides of the apron -- that way we don't have to finish the seams!

Next, cut a strip 2 inches by 44 inches -- the width of the fabric. That was easy enough -- so do it again. Now, cut a last strip 11 inches by 44 inches.

The results are 4 pieces of fabric -- two pieces 2 inches by 44 inches, one piece 11 inches by 44 inches, and one piece 21 inches by 44 inches. We'll make a drawstring from the two 2 inch pieces, a large pocket with the 11 inch piece, and the body of the apron with the 21 inch piece. (Note: You can follow step-by-step photo directions at the link in the resource box.)

First, we'll make a casing for the drawstring. On the 21 inch piece, fold over and press down about 1/4 inch from the top of the apron towards the wrong-side. Next, fold another 2 inches at this folded edge, again towards the wrong side. Sew a straight stitch along the bottom of this fold. Do not sew the edges -- this is where we'll insert the drawstring!

Now we'll do the pocket portion. Match the 11 inch piece to the bottom of the 21 inch piece -- match right sides together. Sew a straight stitch along the bottom of the piece. Turn rightside out, match the sides of the pieces and sew a straight stitch along the sides. You now have a 44 inch wide pocket along the bottom of the apron -- you may want to sew some straight stitches up this wide pocket to divide it into sections.

Almost done -- join the edges of the two 2 by 44 pieces and sew together -- making a single piece 2 inches by about 88 inches. Fold in half along this 88 inch width (right side together) and sew a seam along the edge to make a long tube. Turn the tube rightside out. Now, tuck in the raw edges on each end of the tube; sew the edges closed. Insert the tube into the casing at the top of the aprong -- and you're done!

A 21 inch deep apron easily reaches from the waist to below the knees -- but you can make it deeper if you wish. Just begin with a fabric piece longer than one yard.

Joey Robichaux operates Sewing Machines and Sewing Projects at http://www.using-sewing-machines.com -- offering free sewing projects and reviews of older mechanical sewing machines. Follow this particular project at http://www.using-sewing-machines.com/221/apron.html

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Easy Fabric-Covered Gift Box Craft Project

Patchwork fabric-covered gift boxes are an easy, affordable way to dress up any gift package. They're also great for storage. Total preparation and assembly time for this project is approximately 2-3 hours, depending on the size of the shoe box.

Materials:

Shoe box, or any other small box with removable lid
Fabric scraps
Wonder Under or other fusible web*
Pinking shears
Iron, ironing board
Optional - buttons, raffia, etc.

*Fusible web is a fusible interfacing that allows you to bind two fabrics together or fabric to another surface by applying heat. It can be purchased in packages or by the yard wherever interfacing is sold.

Directions:

To assemble the fabric-covered gift box, essentially you are going to be ironing fabric scraps onto a shoe box.

While assembling my box, I found it was easier to iron the fusible web onto the fabric first, and then cut the fabric into the desired shapes. The web reinforced the fabric and the pinking shears cut through the fabric more cleanly.

Choose a piece of fabric and cut a piece of the fusible web to fit. With a warm iron, iron the web to the wrong side of the fabric, following the directions that came with the fusible web. Don't remove paper backing yet. Next cut the fabric into desired shapes with the pinking shears. Regular sewing shears would work also, but the pinking shears give the fabric an edge that will not unravel as easily.

When cutting your shapes, cut some rectangular, some square, and some triangular. The number and size of each are up to you, but you will find some fit better than others along the edges and in the corners. Long rectangular pieces lay along the top edges better and reduce the number of pieces required to line the top.

Cut pieces out of several coordinating fabrics. After you cut your pieces out, start ironing them to the box. Peel the paper off of the fusible web, lay the fabric with fusible web side down on the box and press with the iron. You may have to go over it a couple of times to get it to stick really well.

I started with the top of the box and worked my way down. Fold a piece of fabric over the top edge of the box. Mine is folded over about an inch. Iron the edge on the inside of the box first. Fold the piece to the outside of the box and press again. Continue overlapping pieces until the box is covered. Cover the lid of the box in the same way, starting with the bottom edge.

When you're done look for small spots you missed, adding fabric pieces until the entire surface is covered. You can't make any mistakes...it's supposed to look like a patchwork quilt.

Look over the box for spots where the edges of the fabric are coming up and gently run the iron over them. Sometimes it will take a couple of times to get all the edges to lay down. If you later find a stubborn spot that just doesn't want to stick, just dab a little glue on it and press down until it takes hold.

You can embellish your box with buttons, raffia bows, etc. I used a hot glue gun to glue a corrugated cardboard heart to the top, and then I glued a raffia bow to the heart.

Add some tissue paper to the inside of the box, and it's ready to add a gift. I placed in mine a small stack of handmade cards tied together with a piece of raffia tied into a bow. The box was a gift to a friend who likes to write pen pal letters.

You can also use these boxes for storage...for photos, letters, or whatever else you'd like to store in a pretty box. These are great for using up fabric scraps you have laying around.

This fabric-covered box is very easy to make and makes a great complement to any gift.

Photos of finished project:
http://www.crafty-moms.com/articles/091603a.shtml

Article Source: http://www.websitebuildingmomarticledirectory.com

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.

The Legacy of Samplers - the Art of Embroidery

All throughout history, both ancient and that which is being made today, man has had the desire to express himself and record history by using decorative stitching. This desire is only too evident when you study the art of embroidery and more particularly the history of the sampler.
The word sampler is derived from a Latin word, saumpler, which means to model, pattern, copy or imitate. While samplers of today are often associated with recording a historical event such as a wedding or birth by applying beautiful, intricate stitching to canvas, their original use was much more practical than sentimental.

The sampler finds its beginnings in an ancient time before printed books and embroidery magazines were readily available. During this time people learned different embroidery techniques by studying different embroidery designs which had been sewn onto cloth. These samplers were passed from hand to hand, and, after learning the stitches on the sampler, each person added a design or motif that they had learned for the next person to examine.

During the 15th and 16th centuries it became very popular to collect these samplers. And since embroidery was restricted to the wealthy (persons of poor economic standing did not have time to pursue leisurely activities such as embroidery), a great majority of samplers found their way into the hands of the well to do. Far from being the haphazard samplers that had been traded throughout the countryside, these samplers were highly prized pieces of art.

As such, old samplers and new ones were being created and hoarded, sometimes even being bequeathed to certain persons upon death like a priceless gem. The demand for printed needlework patterns led to the first commercially printed patterns in Germany during the year 1523. While these paper patterns were not readily available in the beginning, their popularity grew, and they eventually overrode the necessity, but not the fascination with and collection of samplers.

Samplers continued to be fashioned and evolved during different time periods to reflect the culture and personality of society at the time. During the early part of the 17th century, the alphabet began to be depicted on samplers, and it was believed that the sampler took on an educational aspect at this time. This can also be seen from the moral and religious inscriptions which are popular among samplers which were crafted at the end of the 17th century.

This trend continued, and by the turn of the 19th century, samplers were synonymous with education. In fact, school girls were required to complete a sampler depicting religious instruction, geography, English and mathematics before they were considered truly educated.
While samplers are not used in education today, they are still very popular among those looking for a unique, decorative and durable way to record family history. Today you can find samplers that depict family trees, births, weddings and other major lifetime events. These pieces of art are just as important to our culture today and the generations to come as were the samplers from which they received inspiration. And they are still as valuable to families as those hoarded by the rich in the15th and 16th centuries.

By Debra FernandezGet more great embroidery tips and articles at Debra's website Basic Embroidery
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