But still really awesome ...
I try to keep up to date on what the Internet (all of it) is saying about cross stiching and crafting in general, but this awesome blog post surprised me by showing up on a sociology blog I read, not a craft blog. It's about using traditionally feminine crafts to upend our ideas of masculinity. Definitely worth checking out.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sewing circle: Where my stitches at?
One of my favorite things about cross stitching is the way it gives me an excuse to hang out with some friends. Having a small group you sew with regularly is a good way to stay on track with projects and can help you keep in touch with friends when life gets busy.
Last night, my friends and I had an extra special sewing circle devoted to watching True Blood. We cooked up a bunch of Southern food (much of it fried) and ignored the fact that my friend from Louisiana told us we were doing it wrong. We invited more people than we usually have at our weekly meetings, so we had a knitter and a couple of people crocheting. It was a lot of fun.
I thought I was almost finished with a truck pattern I'm making for my 2-year-old nephew, but I decided to do a cute checker pattern for a border and it is taking forever. I am already annoyed with it and I've only done one side. I'll post a picture when I'm done.
Last night, my friends and I had an extra special sewing circle devoted to watching True Blood. We cooked up a bunch of Southern food (much of it fried) and ignored the fact that my friend from Louisiana told us we were doing it wrong. We invited more people than we usually have at our weekly meetings, so we had a knitter and a couple of people crocheting. It was a lot of fun.
I thought I was almost finished with a truck pattern I'm making for my 2-year-old nephew, but I decided to do a cute checker pattern for a border and it is taking forever. I am already annoyed with it and I've only done one side. I'll post a picture when I'm done.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Assignment
This is part of an assignment and not cross stitch related. Back to our regularly scheduled programing soon :)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Getting started
Cross stitching is simple. I mean really simple. I started it because I needed a repetitive hobby to help with insomnia. But it’s easy to get bored with tulips and cute sayings about how children bring joy to your life, so after my first pattern I started to seek out projects that were targeted toward a younger crafter.
That led me to this amazing site. I love snarky needlecraft, and Subversive Cross Stitch certainly fits the bill. Eventually I started making my own patterns. Sometimes (read: when I am too lazy to make a pattern) I’ll even just jump in and estimate where things should go. I’ve had mixed success with that strategy. One that did turn out well, and one of my personal favorites, is this lovely piece I made for a friend. Those are semi-colons in the border.
If you’re interested in getting started, I would recommend starting with a stamped pattern kit. Most major craft stores carry them, and they usually include Aida fabric (which has helpful little holes in a grid pattern so your stitches will be even) printed with the design, needles and all the thread you need for that project. A hoop is useful, but by no means necessary. Most kits have a little instruction guide, but all you really have to do is make diagonal stitches for a row, then go back over them in the other direction. In a printed pattern, you just use the thread over the area of the cloth of the same color. It really is that easy, but if you want a more complete overview, this site is fairly thorough.
I really recommend starting with the printed pattern. Don’t worry about perfection. Try to make the top thread in the cross go the same direction throughout the entire project, but don’t worry about what the back looks like yet; no one will have to see it. The first cross stitch I made was so sloppy I have it hidden away in a drawer somewhere. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can move on to counted patterns. With those, the pattern will tell you how many stitches of which color thread (also called embroidery floss) to use per row. They look like grids. The most important thing is to have fun and remember that perfectionism is the enemy of creativity.
That led me to this amazing site. I love snarky needlecraft, and Subversive Cross Stitch certainly fits the bill. Eventually I started making my own patterns. Sometimes (read: when I am too lazy to make a pattern) I’ll even just jump in and estimate where things should go. I’ve had mixed success with that strategy. One that did turn out well, and one of my personal favorites, is this lovely piece I made for a friend. Those are semi-colons in the border.
If you’re interested in getting started, I would recommend starting with a stamped pattern kit. Most major craft stores carry them, and they usually include Aida fabric (which has helpful little holes in a grid pattern so your stitches will be even) printed with the design, needles and all the thread you need for that project. A hoop is useful, but by no means necessary. Most kits have a little instruction guide, but all you really have to do is make diagonal stitches for a row, then go back over them in the other direction. In a printed pattern, you just use the thread over the area of the cloth of the same color. It really is that easy, but if you want a more complete overview, this site is fairly thorough.
I really recommend starting with the printed pattern. Don’t worry about perfection. Try to make the top thread in the cross go the same direction throughout the entire project, but don’t worry about what the back looks like yet; no one will have to see it. The first cross stitch I made was so sloppy I have it hidden away in a drawer somewhere. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can move on to counted patterns. With those, the pattern will tell you how many stitches of which color thread (also called embroidery floss) to use per row. They look like grids. The most important thing is to have fun and remember that perfectionism is the enemy of creativity.
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