Beginning Cross Stitching

1. L1: INTRODUCTION: Hello and welcome to beginning cross stitching. In this course, I'll teach you what you'll need to know to complete your first project and to set you well on your way to developing your very own addiction to this ancient art. Yes, you heard right? It is addicting and your grandma did not invented. The cross stitch is one of many embroidery stitches found on ancient artifacts and in paintings on ancient tomb walls. As long as humans have existed, we've given into the urge to decorate things across all times and cultures. These adornments served a range of purposes, including beautification, status, distinction, historical documentation, and religious ritual. The craft continued to evolve through the development of the now familiar samplers, two pieces of Modern Art. Today you can find almost anything represented in cross stitch, from florals to fantasy seasons to snarky. Let's get started. Below, you'll find three projects to choose from. Print one out and watch the next video about what supplies and materials you'll need. See you there. 2. L2: Materials: Welcome to lesson two, which is all about materials in general and specific to the course projects. You don't need much for a cross stitching project. Lead fabric, needles, floss, your chart and scissors. If you buy a kit, then everything you need will be included except for scissors. But if you buy a chart, you'll need to Kit up your project yourself, which brings us to our class. Projects. Below are three project files you can download. You can do one or all three, but choose which one you'd like to do first and work through with this class. Each project includes the cover photo which aids in stitching and easy to follow chart, and a key which shows symbols, floss, colors, and types of stitches. In these projects, you'll learn how to do full cross stitches and back stitching. The third page of each class project is the key. This page is for the flower project. The first column are the symbols and colors you'll see in the chart. And the column next to that indicates the DMC Floss to buy. There are other brands of floss, but I prefer DMC for its color, fastness and smooth feel. You can buy these colors or choose different colors according to your preference. Notice the whitespace in the bottom left column. If you follow it over to the right, you'll see it says B slash S only, which means backstitch only. Beneath that, you'll see the backstitch colors the project calls for. And in that left column, you'll see it gives the color number that says in parentheses, one STR, meaning one strand is used for the back stitching. Beneath all of that is listed three different counts of fabric and the size of the design will be based on your fabric choice. I've kept it simple here and listed three fabric counts, which shows how the design finishes smaller as the count goes up. The count indicates how many stitches per inch the weave provides. 14 counters popular even with experienced district stickers, as it provides detail without getting too small. Unfortunate count eta, the flower motif will be 1.6 inches by 2.4 inches. Here's the key for the heart motif, which finishes at 1.6 inches square on 14 count fabric. Notice there are two colors required that are used only for back stitching. And also notice that one strand is used for one of the back stitches and two strands for the other back stitching color. These are design choices and preferences. And I encourage you to decide what you like best. It's only thread and you can remove anything you don't like and redo it. This little dog motif is the smallest, but maybe a bit more difficult because there are more color changes with six colors called out. Whereas the heart uses two colors for the cross stitches and two for the back stitching. Notice that the backstitch in colors are the same is what is used for some of the cross stitches. This is where the photo will become a supplemental aid to the chart, which shows the antique blue used to outline the mouth, for instance, after you've chosen your project and printed it off, it's time to buy and gather supplies. Fabric first. There are many different kinds of fabric to stitch on with the differences reflected in their fiber content, thread counts and colors. All fabrics upon which we cross stitch, or even we've, meaning the same number of threads run equally in both directions. This helps with the counting and counted cross stitch. You can see that even perforated papers used as a stitching medium, papers often used for small projects such as ornaments, even weaves made from linen and other unblinded natural fibers will often have sloughs, which is linked like blobs along the threads. Whereas blended fibers are much more even experienced. Stitches will often use linen for the different look at Gibbs, they're finished projects. But the best cloth to learn on his ETA, in fact, AD provides a nice finish as well, and many stitches continue to use it no matter how experienced they become. It's all about preference. There's no right or wrong. Eta is what stitches learn on. And perhaps you can see why in this close-up photo of eight O'clock, this evenly fabric is woven so the holes into which we place the needle, or more obvious and easy to find with the point of the needle as we run the point across the surface counting. Remember that the higher the thread count, the smaller the weave and the more difficult the holes are defined. Also keep in mind that the darker the fabric, the more difficult it is to see the holes. Find some 14 count data, probably white to stitch on. You will most likely have to purchase something larger than what you'll need for each of these projects, but you'll cut just what you need from the larger piece. I often shop online at DMC.com or everything cross stitch.com. However, I am not an affiliate of these stores. Your local craft stores will most likely to have what you need also. Now onto floss. As I said earlier, I prefer GMC floss. Dmc makes different types of floss, including sparkly variegated as well as different thicknesses. For our projects and for most projects you'll come across the standard cotton six strand floss is what we'll use. Now, if you think you're about to become a serious deter, you'll need to think about how to store the philosophy will collect over time. There are various systems out there, but I've always preferred my floss caddy and the plastic bobbin to wind the floss around. I think I should take a moment to mention that there are two separate Hobbies you'll engage in. The actual stitching and the collecting of kits, charts, threads, and anything else that is related to stitching. I mentioned this here because you should not feel bad about collecting more than you stitch. I like to think of all my kits and books and charts as similar to baseball cards. I love to have them. Look at them. Imagine stitching them. Sometimes imagining passing them down to my daughters to separate Hobbes. Remember that? Now, where were we? Oh, onto needles. These are tapestry needles. You can see they come in various sizes to match thread counts of fabrics, as well as different sizes to sewing threads or yarns. They also have blunted points to help the needle slide between the threads and still, instead of piercing them. For 14 count fabric, you'll need a size 24 tapestry needle. Here's a package of size 24 tapestry needles which you can find online or in stores. Below in the reference documents, you'll find a list of the needle sizes and which works best on which thread counts. Most stutters I know use a new needle for every project, especially if the project is large, but it's fine to reuse the same needle unless you notice it's not sliding through the fabric as well as it used to. Now, what are you going to do with these stitching once your completed? Here's a small selection of what exists out there. To give you some ideas, I have suggested a small wooden hoop, approximately four inches in diameter, frame and display your finished pieces from this class. Wooden hoops are inexpensive and look nice, but there's always an acrylic coaster or a hand towel you could switch onto, which has an ETA insert or vintage frame from your grandmother's stash. You know, she has a stash. Explore what's out there. You'll be amazed at the options available. Once you've gathered everything you'll need, you're ready to go. This is what I've gathered for the flower project. Now, it's your turn. Go gather what you'll need for your project. And I'll see you in the next video where you'll learn two ways to begin an anchor your thread. See you there. 3. L3: Getting started : Welcome back. Now that you have your supplies, you're ready to learn the first steps. In this lesson, I'm going to show you how to find the center of your chart and fabric to ways to anchor your thread when you're just beginning of project. As well as some ideas about how best to use embroidery floss. I'll presume you bought a piece of 14 count eta, which is bigger than you need. Let's talk cutting it down to size. When buying and cutting fabric in general, you'll need a piece that has four inches larger in height and width than the finished size of your project. This allows room for mounting your finished piece onto acid free board and framing it. Go back to the key for the project you've chosen to stitch and find the finished measurements of the project for 14 count eta, add four inches to each dimension and you'll see what size to cut your fabric for stitching. I've listed them here. You can see that anything around 5.5 inches square will work fine. You don't have to be exact. For large projects that will require a lot of handling over time, I recommend you finish the edges of your fabric to prevent frame. This can be done by sewing a zigzag stitch with a sewing machine, folding the edges over and sewing a straight stitch onto them, stitching them by hand or using painters or masking tape. I would say zigzagging are using tape or the two fastest methods. You can see which one I prefer. It's fast, easy and comes off quickly. I also prefer tape because every other method, except perhaps the folding over and sewing leaves, woven ends and rough edges of the fabric exposed, which catching tingle my floss when I'm stitching with a tape, the edges are smooth. Speaking of floss, I wanted to talk about how best to pull threads from the skin and from which direction. I sort of have a pet peeve about this, even though I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. But still here I'm checking my key for which color to use when starting in the middle of the chart. And I find that scheme, when threat is spun, the fibers run and lie in one direction. First pool and cut an approximately 18 inch length from the end of the scheme. And then I run that through our fingers to find which direction fields the smoothest. That shows me which end to pull threads from. Sometimes it only takes a second, sometimes a little longer, when pulling threads and pull them out one at a time when multiples are pooled at once, the threat can tangle and I'm sure it also messes up the smooth line fibers. But you, do you hear I'm spending the thread in the opposite direction of its, the original spin or twist and I'm pulling out the threads one at a time. As you can see, let me straighten out this strand each time. I mentioned earlier, starting at the center of the chart, this is the best way to start most projects because it will ensure your design is centered on the fabric. Instead of accidentally running off the edge. Fold the fabric and half both ways and pinch that point tightly. So when you unfold it, you'll see it. I do have a crease already in my fabric which was in it when I purchased it, but it's not centered. There's my fold loop stitching. I should mention here that I usually don't stitch with my fabric in the hoop, but some citrus do and some don't. I did when I first started many years ago, but I find that rolling the fabric inward gives me a good access to the area I'm stitching. If I'm stitching on a very soft fabric than amazed the hope to keep all the stitches uniform. For anchoring with a loop stitch, you'll need one strand floss, put the two ends together and thread your needle. Now the fibers are running in opposite to each other. I know I don't like it. Bring the needle up through the bottom left whole of your first stitch. I'll be flipping from the front to the back of the fabric to show you what's going on. On the back you'll see the loop of thread. Hold that firmly with your finger, then flip the fabric over to the front. Put the needle down through the top right hole of your first stitch. It should look like a forward slant while still holding onto the loop on the back, pull the thread through, then flip the fabric to the back, put the needle through the loop and pull the thread through gently until the loop becomes taught onto the thread. Flip the fabric to the front, bring the needle up through the bottom-right whole of your first stitch and then back down through the top-left Hall of your first stitch. You have now completed your first hole cross stitch. You should never pull your thread tightly, which will pull the woven threads of the fabric into the stitches and make the holes of the fabric bigger. Think of it as laying stitches onto the fabric. You can use a gentle firmness but no tight pulling. Now we're going to learn next technique of anchoring. You're a tale of threads under the stitches. I check my chart and account from the top green stitch, five stitches. And of course here I'm running the thread through my fingers so I can sense which is the smoothest direction of the fibers. This time it took me a little bit longer than on the green thread, twisting in the opposite direction and pulling out one thread at a time. This time I am using two threads in my needle. Pull the threads out one at a time. Make the ends even. Thread your needle. Here I'm showing you the back and then I need to go that direction to start the left of the flower stem. The chart, I can count five stitches over from the top. Green stitch, 12345. Now I do it the same thing on my fabric. This is why it is so great. You can find the holes easily with your needle. Bring the needle up through the bottom-left whole of that stitch and flip the fabric over. Pull your thread through, leading a tail of about an inch or so. Don't worry about it being too long, you can clip it later, believing it too short, we'll make this process more difficult. Hold the tail with your finger underneath and begin to make the five stitches, making all the forward slanting stitches first. This is called the 10th stitch by the way, if you were to leave it like that. With each new stitch, go to the back of the fabric and assure you're capturing the tail under the stitches. Once you've anchored detail under at least five stitches, you can clip away what's left of it. You have now anchored your thread a second way. Guess what? You are now ready for some serious stitching. See you in the next video. 4. L4 Part 1: Cross stitches: Welcome back. Now we're going to get into the meat of the stitching, which is the actual cross stitching. The following two videos, I'll show you how to complete rows and columns of full cross stitches, as well as how to anchor your thread for beginning or ending a grouping of stitches. Remember that loop stitch I taught you to anchor your very first stitch. Here I'm giving you a quick refresher and then continuing with this color and stitching the stem of the flower. This is where the counting of counted cross stitch comes in. I'm counting how many stitches are in the stem, but notice two things. First, there are perpendicular dark lines on the chart and their space ten inches apart. This helps hasten you're counting because you know, if the stitches go from one line to the next, that's ten stitches. Secondly, I haven't counted all of the stitches that are chartered for the stem. I'll take care of that later. You'll see that I'll try to keep my hand am needle on the top of the fabric while I'm stitching. I didn't use to stitch like this and was taught to move my hand from top to bottom for every stitch. And they're doing it using this sewing method was somehow wrong. But as I got older, I had to experiment to see if an elbow movement and this method works great for me. I still have to use the old method occasionally, but this method has saved me so much time and joined to use. Because I'm stitching a column. I don't bring my needle up in the same starting point for each new stitch, mostly to save on floss and give me a shorter distance for my needle to reach underneath the fabric and to the next hole. Sometimes I started in the top right corner because it's just one hole down from where I left off on the previous stitch. Just find what works best for you. Here I've started backup the column to complete the cross stitches. I've lived a longer portion of me stitching here to show you a mistake I made and how to fix it. Stitches make mistakes all the time. And your decision on whether or not to fix it depends on what kind of error is made and how long it takes you to notice it. By the way, stitches have started calling removing stitches, frogging because they have to rip it out. Here, I'm counting the chart to see how many stitches I need to make on the top of the stem. When I had started in the center of the chart, I had left a few stitches above that point. Also, I do want to show you another mistake. It's not terrible, but comes from my desire to finish stitching a section before my thread runs out. Of course, it ends up costing me just as much time. I've loved the tale of my thread get too short. See how my fingers have to get so dainty with the needle as I continue trying to get it and the short thread through the fabric. But I keep trying and eventually decided I should take it to the back and anchor it. But does that work out well? No. What I do in this happens is a thread the needle through the anchoring stitches on its own. Then read thread the needle and pull it through, which also requires a little help. Here are the threat is so short I have to bend the fabric down so I can get it through the eye of the needle. Here's just a few seconds to remind you of the other anchoring technique. Yes, One could use the green stitches close by to anchor a new thread. But I wanted you to remember how it's done. Here I'm showing you how to use the sewing method when stitching the row. I'm counting on the chart as I begin stitching two of the petals, crossing underneath the flower stem to stitch on the other side of it, and then crossing to its other side again to complete the row. I'll add here that during a project I often let my needle dangle from the fabric and let it untwist itself along the thread on its own. This keeps your thread line more flat on the stitches, which gives you the best coverage on the fabric. After the first row is completed, count for the next row to find where it needs to start and continue your stitching. This completes part one of the cross stitching section of this course. Please go to the next video to watch the completion of the cross stitching. 5. L4 Part 2: Completing cross stitches : At the end of the last video, I had started the second row of stitching on the petals. After completing that row, accounted for the next one and saw it needed to start two stitches further out and leave two spaces before the flower stone. I decided since there's two stitches between the end of that section in the stem, and then another three to the next section of stitches. I'd complete this section and finish this petal. Here I'm finishing the first petal and showing how to anchor the thread when you're done. Notice my thread tail isn't too short this time. Well, Okay, I'll admit it is because I had nowhere else to go with it. Here. I'm starting my needle and new and starting on the row above the original one counting out on the chart and fabric to stitches in from the row below it, starting in the third space. I'm going to finish the short row of two stitches, leaving open the flower's center. Here's some just quick proof that what I have only two stars left, I do indeed still separate them, smooth them out, and put them back together. I'm reading the chart for color flower center here. I've finished the petals and it's time to stitch the center. I check the chart for the symbol and color to use. Get my two strands and fill in the center with cross stitches. Next, I check the chart for the symbol and color of the leaves. I like to find where I should start this leaf in relation to what I've already stitched. I see that if I count from the puddle above it, one down the diagonal than one directly under that. And then went over to the left. That's where those first two stitches that belief should start. I anchor my thread under the last row of that petal since it's close enough to where I'll stitch next. Now it's time to do the bugs on the flower. I anchor my pink thread and make the two stitches on each side of the stem for the buds running the thread under previous stitches to get to the other side. Here I'm stitching the orange center of the buds. Since there are only two stitches for the orange, one for each bud after our anchor and stitch, the first one, I'll run my thread under previous stitches and over to the place where I'll make the second orange stitch. When you're done, anchor the thread and clip it off. You have finished the cross stitching portion of this project. Good job. In the next video, we'll learn how to do our back stitching. See you there. 6. L5: Backstitching : Welcome back again. You are almost done. Most cross stitching projects will have some backstitch and included in the chart. Some people hate back stitching and others love it, but all agree. It needs to be done to bring out the details in a project. In this video, I'll teach you how to backstitch. I've kept the back stitching to a minimum for your first project. But what is back stitching exactly? Back stitching is an outlining stitch gets done to add definition to a design and does provide some extra coverage, especially when you use a color close to the same hue as what you're stitching around. Back stitching is done after all the other stitches are done In such as whole cross stitches, partial cross stitches in French knots. In larger pieces, some stitches may do their back stitching after they completed section so they can enjoy the full effect of the project as they go. It's a bit of an incentive for when the stitcher has months of cross stitching left to do. Back setting is often done in black no matter what colors stitches are being outlined. But sometimes back stitching is done in a similar huge, the whole cross stitches to give definition and some shading. Note that back stitching is often done using one strand or at least one less strand from the number used for the cross stitches. Be sure to refer to your project key before starting. Why is it called back stitching? As you can see in this diagram, it looks like the stitching is going toward the right, but then I bring my needle towards the left under the fabric to start the next stage. I come at it up at home. A, put the needle down at whole B, then come back up at Halsey. I've made my first backstitch. To make my next one, my whole C becomes my new hole a, and the process continues. The original hole a is now my new hole B, which ensures the outline is connected. On this diagram you can see I continued with the previous process and made several back stitches one-by-one. But sometimes stitches will skip spaces to cover larger distances at once. This all depends on preference. There are stitches who never do this, and some of us who use both methods within a project, It's up to you what you want it to look like. Here I've come up with my new hole a further away by several spaces, and I've gone down into the new hole B. Note that you always go down into the last hole so you're back stitching is connected. Now let's take a look at our project. On our key, we can see which two colors to use for the back stitching that one strand is indicated. I'm looking at my chart and see backstitch and around the flower center. Also, notice that the center of the buds are also outlined with back stitching. I begin back stitching the flower's center. Notice I start my first stitch by coming up with my needle at the top of the flower center. One stitch in from its right edge as my whole a down through hole be through holes C, which becomes my new hole a. After I make three back stitches on the top, I bring my needle to the left side of the flower center. But notice again, I do this one stitch down as my whole a. I can stitch up to hold B then bring my needle down another whole space, the whole C, which then becomes my new Hall a. I'm freezing the video here to give you a better look. Here I have rotated the piece and I'm back stitching the bottom of the flower center. I'll complete the right side of the flower center and then move on to the leaves. On the chart I see these solid green lines. One runs from the bottom of the leaf towards its tip, and there are two other lines off of that center line angling towards its sides. I'm going to bring my needle up at the base of the leaf where the solid line begins. Sometimes the needle can be a tight fit. Once there are other stitches made through the holes. I hold the thread across the top of the stitches to see if I think I'd like to make one long stitch or individual ones, I decided to make individuals stitches, but it's your choice here. It would give a different looking texture which you might like. I put my needle down one whole way diagonally and proceed with making back stitches as shown earlier. Because the line on the chart is not along the exact diagonal, I do choose to make some longer stitches here. You can see where I've put my needle down to complete the previous stitch. Then I brought it up further away than one space and on a different angle. Continue this process until the back stitching is complete. The Chartered back stitching is complete. Now if you happen to love back stitching or just want more practice, you could use the green back stitching thread to outline the leaves. And the orange would look nice around the flower petals. But do that before moving on to the next video. See you there. 7. L6: Finishing : Well, this is the homestretch where you will finalize your project and make it ready to adorn your wall. The first thing you need to do is to gently wash your piece. This is done to remove oils from our hands at any dirt that has accumulated onto the fabric which could degrade your piece over time. If you are using DMC Floss, then you know your floss is color fast and you can follow my instructions for watching. If you're not using DMC, you can to be sure your floss is color fast and you should do the following. First, put about an eighth of a cup of white vinegar into a mixing bowl filled with cold water and then submerge the piece. This helps set the colors. Is any leftover die. Let it soak for a few minutes than brands and cold water to wash, put one drop of dish detergent into a small mixing bowl. Though with cold water, submerge the piece and let it soak for a few minutes. Swish, then rinse and cold water. Do not bring your fabric. Lay flat and a clean dish towel and roll it up. After rolling your piece in a towel, you may squeeze it but do not ring or twisted. Next laid flat down onto a dry towel and press with a hot iron. I said mine on the cotton setting no steam. Your fabric will steam. All the creases will come out, press until it's completely dry. If you've pressed until it's mostly dry but all the creases are out. You can lay it out to drive the rest of the way. Choose your framing method. We talked about putting these pieces into hoops. The one I've chosen is a foreign troop. Open the hoop by loosening the screw at the top. Center your piece over the bottom part of the hoop. Then place the top part of the hoop over the fabric and bottom part of the group. Pressing until the two hoop pieces are flush with each other. Titan, well, cut off the excess fabric. You may want to attach some gathered islet trim or other trim onto the back of the hoop using a glue gun or leave it as it is and hanging on the wall. You did it, You're done. Treat yourself. 8. Thank you, and final thoughts: Thank you so much for attending my beginning cross stitch class. If you have any questions now or in the future, please ask me. I'll be happy to help when you complete your project or all three of them. I would love it if you would post them below for me and the class to see. Also remember to download the reference file. It contains links to cross stitch groups, shops, and includes tips to help ensure you will enjoy your cross stitch journey. Have fun.