Suzie Perry

After completing the steps in Part I, you are well on your way to creating a completely professional looking cross stitch work of art.  This next article will walk you through the process of carefully preparing your fabric and your floss for that professional look we all desire when creating something for show.  Ultimately, if you are careful to follow these easy steps you will have no problem creating a professional look in your hobby even if this is the first project you have ever completed or attempted.

Most patterns will come with specific instruction on how big or small your fabric needs to be, but you should always think ahead to what you are planning on doing with the completed product in order to ensure that your fabric and pattern suggestions will accommodate your future plans for your cross stitched piece.

Once you have selected the correct size for your fabric and cut it with sharp scissors (that are used only for cutting fabric, to ensure straight clean cuts), you will need to attend to the edges of fabric that have been cut.  The edges will fray as you work with the fabric, causing it to get smaller and smaller as well as leave unsightly threads hanging from your fabric that can get caught and sewn into your cross stitching if you are not careful.

The best and quickest way to take care of the fraying edges of fabric is to use a fray stopping glue. This substance comes in an easy to squeeze and apply bottle and will distribute an even amount of fray stopping glue to the edges of your fabric that will not discolor or stain the fabric.  This step is usually a quick and easy one as most of these products only takes at most 30 minutes to dry.

Now that your fabric is prepared and you have chosen your floss you can really get down to the creation of your cross stitch masterpiece. If you want your piece to show the best results again, there are some simple habits you can form in order to always show your best work.  We will take these steps in order so as to make the best sense of a lot of information.

The first thing you will do when you start your new cross stitch is to thread and knot your floss.  When you are knotting your floss you want to be sure to make a knot that is big enough not to slip through the needle hole but you also want that knot to be small enough that it is not seen through the fabric you are using.  The true importance of this rule will become more apparent as you begin to see how many knots will end up placed at the back of your cross stitch piece.

Some smaller designs will only have a few knots, but larger items such as quilts or blankets will have hundreds.  Once you have made a knot if there is a tail left at the end of it you will want to make sure to trim these tails so as to ensure all you see at the back of your cross stitch is a small tightly placed knot with no extra threads hanging from it.  This can also make a difference if you are entering your piece in a cross stitch competition, the judges will want to see a clean and neat reverse side to your cross stitching.

I expect many who read this will be surprised at the amount of work that goes into the preparation of a cross stitch project. You're possibly wondering, "When are we going to start?". Well fear not, the third article in this series will take you through the actual steps of stitching and completing your project.