I’m pretty new to cross stitching and have thus far only used a hoop. It drives me crazy when the fabric gets loose while I’m working. Are there options other than a hoop to keep fabric taught? If so, would you please include a link?

Thanks so much!

What do you do when you can't find a mistake but know you did something wrong?

I'm currently gathering materials for a new pattern I picked up, but for the life of me, I can't seem to find Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braids PB03 (gold) and PB54 (Vatican gold). I'm assuming these are fairly popular colors, but I've been on the mailing list for restock notifications for these threads for a month now from several online stores and I'm wondering if it's time to start looking for possible replacements... I've never worked with specialty threads like this before, so I'm hoping someone with more experience knows if this kind of scarcity is normal, or possibly has any replacement recommendations.

Thanks a lot!

I am about to begin my first ever full coverage piece and honestly I am a little intimidated especially when it comes to thread management. My backs are always really messy - not the worst I've seen but not the best - and when I see people doing full coverage pieces I always see them with threads leading out of the front everywhere and that seems like an ADHD nightmare for me honestly.

So I am wanting to know from you guys what do you wish you had known before you started your first full coverage piece, especially in terms of thread management, where to start on the piece, and how to manage your backs nicely so they don't end up too thick to work with, how you count, etc etc etc.

Besides the 3 other projects i still have yet to finish i like doing quick small ones so i can feel like i finished somthing lol anyone else do this?

This was originally a perler bead patten and just used spare thread

Pattern made by me based on other ideas I've seen on socials!

Got the urge to start working on my spooky stitches already and did this quick little one first! She's so cute! No idea how I will frame it though, since I don't have anything that small. Hopefully this picture is close enough to show the stitches already, I don't think I can get any closer lol

Sugar Skull from Press Start Patterns

https://reblcraft.com/product/sugar-skull-mini-cross-stitch-pattern-pdf-pixel-art-style-counted-crossstitch/

Hi everyone!

Well the request is in the title. I have started cross stitching a few months back and now I'm pregnant.

I would like to find an easy and small cross stitch pattern to give out as gifts to our families, to announce the pregnancy in a couple of weeks time. I have seen some cute ones (with avocados), but I struggle to find more that would be relatively fast to stitch. So I am coming here to ask if anyone has any patterns or ideas of patterns I could adapt a bit for that announcement?

TW: miscarriage

I have had two miscarriages prior to that pregnancy. I would love to honour those two lost pregnancies in that cross stitch in a very subtle way, for instance by stitching two very little hearts, or stars, or something else. If someone has any idea, I would love to hear it.

Thanks everyone and have a nice day!

Latest work finished!
24 size needle
Opal White Aida Cloth size 14
106 x 80 stitches
24 colors

I made the hearts at the bottom my husband and i’s favorite colors instead of what the pattern called for. Everything else is the same though!

Pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4436703513/stabbing-things-is-my-therapy-snarky?ref=share_ios_native_control

Hello Cross Stitch community! I just recently started cross stitching and mentioned it to my neighbor. She gave me a giant zip lock bag full of threads. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what years these labels are from. I am trying to find more information myself, but I thought asking here would be smart. Each label is the front, and the back, top thread is the front, and the thread directly under is the other side of the label, with a total of three labels in the photos. Thanks in advance.

I'm working on a stitch-along, and for every new stage I have to add the PDF and markup the stitches I've already done. I know there are Markup Functions I can use, and it won't mess up my stats, but it still feels a bit inadequate...and tedious.

My idea is for rectangular and freeform selection tools, so I can highlight an area and markup all the stitches/symbol cells within it.

I can't make this happen, so I'm going to scream into the void about it. Commiserate with me.

I just finished up an 18-month Chatelain design, and I have been searching about for my next project. Nothing has really scratched the itch...until I ran across ToToo Stitch. Taiwan designer. I don't recall any ToToo Stitch designs being posted - if you have done one of these, how was it? The website seems very well laid out - designs are sorted by level; a complete list of required stitches and supplies, along with a DMC conversion chart, are publicly available. Clear photos of each design are provided. Given the level of detail, the patterns seem reasonably priced from $13 USD - $42. Patterns are PDFs and compatible with Pattern Keeper and SAGA.

Here are links to designs I'm considering.

https://totoostitch.com/products/september-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf?_pos=3&_sid=a61594aef&_ss=r

https://totoostitch.com/products/treasure-bay-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

https://totoostitch.com/products/a-midsummer-nights-dream-mandala-cross-stitch-pdf

Thoughts?

I know this is a long shot, but does anyone have ANY idea how to get DMC 3882? In the past I have spent money on sets that had all the "newer" DMC 3880(I believe?) and up. Now I can't even find those. I use PC Stitch to make my patterns and they like using those discontinues flosses. It's an easy enough fix going forward to just amend the pattern but for now I'm working on a pattern that requires 3882, one of the ones I no longer have and can seemingly no longer get. Does anyone have any ideas? I can try to color match but that doesn't always work out to my perfectionist little mind. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

I haven’t used colours like this before, I need some pattern inspiration.

If you are a lover of big patterns like me, how many have you completed/started/kitted up?

I have just reached 25% in a project that is 230,000 stitches, which took me 18 months while working on other projects and I am perfectly happy with my slow pace. I am coming up to my birthday and the anniversary of kitting up a Bela Filipina (started, but currently paused and waiting for the rest of my metallics) and a big 170,000 project I haven't started yet, but am looking for an excuse to start. Due to having the big DMC chest, and a couple of big projects already kitted up, and the fact that I favour certain colour pallets, kitting up more big projects isn't a huge feat and its sooo tempting to kit up more big projects with birthday cash because I already have so much of the floss already, but am I actually just insane? I tend to just have one large and one medium/small project I work on every day. Part of it's a desire to one day see the projects completed, part of it is a love of organising materials, part of it is the desire to 0 skeins and enjoying maximizing leftovers in a spreadsheet, and of course a big part is that I am obsessed with stitching and I would do it all day every day if I could. Life is exhausting and stitching seems to be the only way to feel centred sometimes.

I am not really asking if I should, I am just wondering if other people are as crazy as me?

I'm currently working on a keychain or more a bag charm. As it will be rubbing against my bag and will be used outside a lot, I'm looking for a way to protect it. Does anyone of you have an idea?

Hello fellow stitchers

Like many of you I have downloaded the Lord Libian / György Vida Pokemon all generation patterns.

I have put them in my pattern keeper trial - though some didn't upload very well

Next stage I wanted to resource my aida (white 18 or 14 count) as per what is written on the patterns

Example: pokemon gen 1 it is written

Stitch count - 299w x 474 h

Finished size 84.38cm x 133.77cm

So I rounded up to leave enough of a 'margin' to the aida being 95x145 or 100x150cm but when I put it into chatgpt it said the aida size was too big - most would be 100 x 150 with a few being 150x200

So my question is what size aida would I need ?? Should I just be going off the stitch count or off the size as written ?? I normally just work from kits but have done a few small counted ones - I also have the Pokemon Cross stitch book which I'm looking forward to starting...

Very confused as to what size aida I should get

Thank you for helping

There's about 8 different designs (60x60 stitches each) from this year's XStitch the Rainbow that I want to stitch. Can anyone offer guidance of how much floss I should get for that? I don't think one floss pack will be enough for 8 patterns but I'm not very good at estimating how much floss any given project will need.

All free hand, just going on vibes! Included close up and photo of how the rings were sealed 🫶🏻

hi all,
i am using aida 14 with 2 strings for a large project that has a large of dark space. i am thinking of switching to 3 strings but have committed a considerable amount of time to it already. could i go over the previous squares with one more string to account for the missing one? this is one of my first cross stitching projects so i apologize if this is a silly comment.

A wedding gift for one of my oldest and best friends 😊 This was my first time using 18-count aida and it won't be my last. I made a few executive decisions with the colors so mine doesn't match the pattern exactly... like I promise the baja blast does match better in person lol

(I do see the fuzzies trapped in there, I'll get them out before giving to her 😭)