How To

Want to learn something new or see how we accomplished something? This is the place.

Finishing

Step-by-step instructions for how we finished something.

• Bookbands -

  A non-dangling bookmark that keeps the embroidery outside the book.

• Cross Stitch Finishing: Overcast Backstitches -

  A two-sided bookmark, fob, tag, etc.

• Going, Going, Gone! Bookmark Finishing -

  If you’re stitching the Going, Going, Gone! Bookmark pattern as we did, on a Tokens & Trifles Trinkets Star Card, here are illustrated instructions for finishing.

From Us to You

Complimentary charts, projects, templates, etc.

• A Christmas Tree: Embroidery Free-For-All -

  Use random, layered, every-which-way stitches to create texture and depth for an embroidered Christmas tree ornament or bookmark.

• Free Cross Stitch Pattern: American Flag Illusion -

  Download a free cross stitch chart of a green, black, and yellow flag. See how this optical illusion reveals a properly-colored American flag.

• Free Cross Stitch Pattern: Clownfish -

  Grab your copy of the re-released free Clownfish Puzzle cross stitch pattern from the 2003-04 Funk & Weber Designs Live Trunk Show Tour.

Make It Yours

Very cool ways others (or we) adapt and alter our patterns.

• Colorful Critters Tree Frog -

  Dawn from AR stitched our Colorful Critters Tree Frog pattern for her son, Mac.

• Portraits of the Wild Life -

  Check out the story behind Joyce’s stitchery.

• Reads a Story Ambigram -

  What’s better than a hand-embroidered bookmark made especially for you? A hand-embroidered bookmark with your name on it!

• Reverse Night Howl -

  Linda, from Jefferson, SC, “reverse stitches” the Night Howl Stitchling.

• The Great Outdoors -

  Pamela from Dayton, OH, used letters from The Great Outdoors pattern to spell her sister’s last name.

Other Handy Dandy Stuff

Odd and ends, this and that. Tidbits that don’t fit anywhere else.

• Counted Thread Embroidery Fabrics 101 -

  Plain weave, even-weave, Aida, Hardanger, linen, Lugana, canvas—what are these things?

• Counted Thread Embroidery Fabrics 102 -

  Calculating design sizes for fabrics with different thread counts.

• How Our Online Classes Work -

  I got an email from Joyce recently, asking how, exactly, our online classes work. Great question! I’m sure you’re not the only one wondering, Joyce, so I’ll answer here.

Stitching

Explanations and demonstrations of stitches and stitching techniques.

• Create Eye Sparkles in Cross Stitch -

  Bring your stitched people and animals to life with a tiny bit of sparkle.

• Cross Stitch Over One Thread -

  Learn the secrets of cross stitching over one thread on any linen or evenweave fabric to create tiny, delicate embroideries.

• Embroidery: Stitching Over Two Threads -

  We can stitch the same patterns on Aida and linen and other evenweave fabrics.

• Fractional Stitches in Cross Stitch -

  What is a fractional stitch, and how do we know which color is the quarter and which is the three-quarter stitch?

• Getting Started in Cross Stitch -

  How to get started learning to cross stitch simple designs on a plain linen cushion.

• How to Cross Stitch on Dark Fabrics -

  Cross stitching on dark fabrics is easier with these tips.

• How to Make French Knots for Cross Stitch -

  Learn to make French knots, isolated French knots, and substitutions for French knots.

• How to Read a Cross Stitch Pattern -

  Learn what is included in a cross stitch pattern and how to interpret and use the information.

• Learn to Cross Stitch -

  I made this how-to-cross-stitch video as part of an outreach project for Needle and ThREAD: Stitching for Literacy.

• Overdyed Thread Techniques -

  Notice the different effects achieved by different stitching techniques.

• Starting Thread With a Pinhead Stitch -

  How to start difficult threads or starting threads when there’s nowhere to hide a tail.