Lessons

Lesson Info

Supplies and Resources

Hi and welcome to customizing your cross stitch a creative life I'm lisa anderson schaffer I'm a fiber artist and jewelry designer and you might know me from my modern fiber needlework jewelry designs for my brands alma rose great we go or maybe you've taken one of my classes in the san francisco bay area are on the west coast. I'm really excited that you're joining us here today for this course needlework is a wonderful tool toe have in your craft skill toolbox if you're just starting out or if you're super skilled already and it's also a time honored tradition to share with your family and pass along as it was in mine. I first learned needlework and crossed it from my grandmother zelma when I was nine years old and I learned simply by watching her I immediately fell in love with the slow natured process and attention to detail and working with her and learning from her is one of the reasons why I love to teach today you're going to get an incredible amount of information from this co...

urse and it will not only be great for you today while you're watching it but also to look back paws and review the stitches as we work together in time to come what you learn from this class is we're going to make a beautiful cross stitch while hanging that you'll be able to display in your own home so let's get started okay? So crossed number going to be doing today and here's the project so I'm going to walk over here to our beautiful little studio and show you that this is the live real project that we're going to be working on today it's sort of a nordic style modern crossed it peace and these air all stitches that you will have learned in our intro to cross stitch course which is also available these air all basic cross stitch patterns that I put together toe look somewhat like a complex design and in your takeaways from the chorus is a downloadable pattern that you can follow along with what we're going to be doing today so I'm going to take this over to my desk so we can work along together so one of the things I love about cross stitch and I've talked about this before is that there's so many different ways to vary it and I'll go back to this side so you can kind of see a little bit you can see just by using different fabric and different color and different stitches all the different things you can do with it and that's one of the great things about it if you put the time in to learn the basics and then get a little more abstract with a project like we're doing today you can even take the pattern that we're working on today and do the exact same pattern on a different fabric and with a different threat and a look completely different so that's one of the great things about it's like once you learn it you can do a whole lot with it simply by changing a few basic things so I'm gonna go over um some of the things we're going to be doing today within this pattern like I said the stitches are basic stitches and they're ones that we covered there's a nice little photo in the intro class so one of the stitches were going to be doing is of course the basic cross stitch which is just using the same number of spaces across and down to cover a space another one is the star stitch and this project actually uses a different variation of the star stitch which I talk about in the intro class but you can vary it by using a horizontal attacking stitch or vertical or both a scene here and then also the strait stitch which is super easy you're just going in through the fabric and down making a straight line but you can see all the different variations you can get from it and this looks kind of super interesting this is all just straight stitch right across here you get a really patterned on textured kind of look to your work go back go back to here so we can look at a little bit okay, so I'm gonna go over some of the supplies were going to be using today, but before I do that, I want to talk a little bit about the resource is you have a really great resource guy that I put together for the class, which has direct links to all the supplies that we're using today. So if you want to order online or you want to go to your local craft store, it outlines everything for you so you can bring it up and at least even make a list that you can print, bring to your store. We're so lucky to have some really great books from chronicle books, and these are all books that I have in my own studio to use, but some of them ones that I wanted to focus on today to look at are these three these air, this is print pattern and geometric. This is all about finding different inspiration for prints and patterns. This is a great super beautiful bug for color combinations and things like that. If you're looking for inspiration, if you want to create your own pattern eventually, after you've sort of master the one that we have here, this is wonderful, too this is great for choosing color palettes if you get stuck there's all sorts of color combinations that are super beautiful that's good to think about and then this pretty patterns book is also really beautiful inspiration just to get familiar with how patterns repeat and some really nice color combinations and inspiration. Like I said, these are all books that I have in my studio that I reference a lot these are all good things to get teo and then this I talk about in the intro classes both entered a crossed it and intro to embroidery. This is a great book that is a good reference when you've already learned the stitches so you can go back and look and see and then this book to the merchant and mill selling book going to be doing some hand stitching today so this is just a great book tohave if you're crafter into selling at all just to have on your bookshelf, it goes through the basics of sewing how to do different simple tasks it's a really beautiful book so pretty and it also has some really great projects but pressing techniques all these kind of things that are good to have on your bookshop so that's that so the basics tio cross stitch or any needlework supplies are you need needles so the needles that I talk about in the resource guide and also the needles that everyone here in the audience has are just standard embroidery needles they come in a couple different sizes and circumference it's really up to you if you like a larger archer needle or a thinner I he like to work with a thinner needle. My only caution or concern would be that if you go with the super large I sometimes it does catch on the cross stitch fabric it's not going to ruin it or anything but it might make a bigger holding you need so that's the only thing to be cautious about but otherwise you're pretty much free to choose any needle that's marked embroidery that you choose for this project or really any kind of cross stitch project that you might be doing when it comes to thread. Like I said that's one of the easier ways to really switch up a project really quickly there's so many amazing kinds of threats out there I use for my own project it's because I have a product baseline for my jewelry I use cotton and I use standard dnc thread which looks like this it comes in these little skeins and it's coated with different numbers, so the reason why I use this is because if I have a certain design that goes into a different season or a different here and I need to recreate it like six months or a year later I want to make sure that the colors match exactly so I'll have it I have my little car that I keep that has the colors outlined and then I'll just follow the code and it's it's always the same I've never encountered something where it's the same code but the color is off if you don't want these and we're going to be using cotton today we're going to be using dnc and that's what I recommend use for this project today but there's also lots of different other kinds of threads there's well this is like a worsted wool it's really beautiful I think this is hand dyed too and this has a different look to it well like a wool sweater kind of has a fuzzy look so it's not a sharp when you use it that could be your benefit or the look that you're going for in a project this is part silk this is I believable and silk and it's super soft really strong but it also has a different look than the cotton has a little bit of a sheen to it if that's what you want this is a variegated cotton and this is hand dyed so this is one of those things where you might be able to match the color exactly a couple months down the line you might not be able to so if you do want to use something that's hand died like this the best advice I could give would be to buy a lot of make sure you have enough for the project or if you're doing multiples of a certain design this is actually part bamboo and there's some thread that is also part soy um silk with ran it's look with cotton there's all different kinds there's different theories about the strength of it but for the kinds of projects that we're doing here you don't necessarily need anything that you're it's not you're not making a cushion to sit on or something like that, but if you are doing something like that, you want to think about strength and will's really good for that this is also a hand died variegated this is one hundred percent cotton like what we're going to be using today, but it has this beautiful, you know, hand I'd look to it and anything that's variegated or sort of dip dyed like this you're going to get something that doesn't look uniform so in terms of creating a pattern that might not necessarily be what you want, you could use something like this if you were using the same stitch over a certain amount of space, then it would have a natural difference to it. So that's the thread then the other couple things we need to talk about our this specific supplies for this class again everything's listed in the resource guide but what you'll need is a piece of rope or twine this is one hundred percent cotton it's it's sort of a macro may type court it's listed in the resource guide this is twenty five inches so it does actually doesn't look like that much, but when I measured it out I thought twenty five inches sounded like a lot over two feet but it is over two feet so you'll need a little bit over two feet whatever you choose to use, you could use leather to would be really nice if you wanted and this is what this is just a piece of rope then the two towels these are I think the circumference is like three eighths or something like that it's listed in the resource guide, but the most important part is that they're twelve inches long you want them to match in length there's a direct link and the resource is so you'll be able to find them easily. But I would say, you know, you don't want to go too much of a circumference if you're sort of going off the resource is or you have towels at home that you want to cut like an inch would be way too wide so, you know, three quarters of an inch is probably as big as you want to go and then a hoop this is this is our really big this is a lot bigger than possibly the hoops that you're used to seeing this is a tenant shoot, and it might be at some craft stores listed as a quilting who a lot of times the hoops with these really sturdy blocks of wood on the top are referred to his quilting hoops instead of cross stitch or in verdery hoops and that's just because they're a little bit thicker and more sturdy and they can handle a larger piece of fabric coming through if you were actually hand quilting something, but for all intensive purposes it's, it's the same thing and hoops come in wood or plastic, they come with rounded edges or flat edges like this it's totally up to you what kind you want to use for this project, whether it's flat around it doesn't matter, but the size should be ten inches because what's going to happen is we're going to be using it on this fabric fabric for cross stitch is called a fabric, and all that really means is that it's a grid, and this is the same fabric that I talk about in the intro to cross stitch class as well, and anything that's crossed, it works off of a grid, so if you hold it up, you'll see there's tiny holes in it it's pretty sturdy fabric the size piece that we're using is ten by twelve and you'll see it's not going to fit holy over completely over the hoop it'll just be a portion, but that's like in a matter because the final product is going to be removed from the hoop. And put flat like this ada comes in about not a million but like a lot of different colors and it comes in different gauges so we're using fourteen we also use fourteen in the other class I use fourteen all the time I like it I like the size of the design that comes from using fourteen and the higher the number the smaller the whole size of the moor delicate and detailed the stitches you're going to get so twenty two is pretty high I can't even use twenty two because I don't like toe see that small that's really really tiny and super detailed so I'm happy with between like fourteen and sixteen around there then the other supplies you have our this is just a piece of sticky back felt it has this little appealable part of it we're going to be playing around without later you'll see what we're going to do to it I'm using it for the purposes of this class so we can just kind of stick it and move on and you can see eventually how to finish the back this has the felt on it on the back here but you could also so your own piece that doesn't have sticky back on it if you want to do that or if you can't find sticky back but the lincoln the resource is should work if you'd be able to find that and then scissors you'll need scissors so I'm gonna talk a little bit about working your own design in your own pattern before we get started. For the purposes of this course, we're going to be working from a downloadable pattern that's included with your resource guide and the other downloadable cz with this course it's for this pattern here, but once you complete this course, you might want to go on and create your own pattern. So one of the things I want to talk about in doing that is size and color, so I'm gonna hang this back up and we'll talk a little bit about scale because that's really important to think about, I know a lot of times will create projects for friends, for gifts, which is great, but there's some things you wantto think about. So typically in terms of home decor, the average size to think when you're creating something should be around eight by ten when I spoken to friends of mine who worked for a major home to core brands, they've told me that the most popular size for any type of frame or print is usually an eight by ten area that's large enough that it makes an impact but also small enough that people can combine it with other pieces in their home to court to create a gallery. It's also ideal for small spaces, so those of us living in the bay area are familiar with that. If you live somewhere else and you have an entire, you know, nine hundred square foot room just dedicated to crafting a what's that, like and b, you can go a lot bigger than eight by ten. But for all intensive purposes, you should be thinking around that general size, the fabric that's cut for this class is ten by twelve, which is going to create something that's around that eight by ten size. Another thing you want to consider is contrast and color, so I used of black background, and I used her crew are off white thread. You're welcome to use whatever color thread you want, you can use multiple colors, but definitely think about what's going to make an impact from a distance. Most likely, you're not going to be right right up against it. If you have a room or a hallway where you don't get much distance, then you could do something a lot more subtle than having a super amount of contrast. But those air a few things to think about in terms of pattern for this course with this pattern, I'm using a seven by seven square, so when we talk about the size of the the whole space and everything in the intro to cross stitch course, the basic cross stitch here is going across seven and down seven, and we'll get more into that when I start and I start talking more about the pattern, but those air, some important things to think about, definitely when you're doing your own thing and then of course, seek out inspiration that's really helpful for color, one of the great things that I've discovered if you sort of want to play around online and this is in the resource guide, is there's a link for a random stripe generator? Yeah, it's really cool, so you go to this web site and you type in, they'll be little boxes that you can choose with different colors, so let's say you want to match a comforter or something that you've crow shade and bedrooms something different and it's a blanket has seven colors, and you'd like to match that you can put those colors in to the best of your match, and then it will create a random stripe, which actually looks a lot better than any stripe we create. If we really think about it kind of has a casual beauty to it, and you can use those color combinations for something like this so you could start. With one strike, the second strike like that in the different colors and that's. One way you could come up with your own pattern with a little bit of assistance. The other thing you want to make sure you dio is because cross stitch works on a grid. The best thing to use is graph paper. Don't not start it on graph paper. You want to make sure that, however large or small, your basic cross stitches of this five across and five down or seven across in seven down, you're starting your pattern on something that you can easily translate. So graph paper is a great way to do this this's I think of for this probably a four square per inch graph paper. You can also get graph paper that is like seven or eight per inch and then there's theme or architectural vellum, which I think can go even smaller. So those are all great things to use when creating your own pattern.