Lessons

Lesson Info

Basic Cross Stitch

So the first which we're going to cover is the basic cross stitch this is the basis for all the stitching that we're going to do today for all the fancy stuff for all the things that you're going to want to do at home on your own after watching this course, this is it. This is where it all starts, the variations on the stitcher pretty simple, it's just size and like I said, we're going to be thinking and odd numbers so the first which we're going to start with is this little one kind of show it here on the table? Enough there too is that top row, the super teeny, teeny tiny and it's what I used to make the heart up there so that's the basic crossed it and that's the smallest one, and then from there, the more space you give, the larger stitch gets, so we're going to start there will do one of the larger ones, and then I'll show you what's called the zigzag, which is that stitch the bottom with the lines between them that's one of my favorite stitches? Actually, that looks super cool if...

it's turned on its end. If it's if it's vertical, if it's horizontal, it looks pretty cool I like that one a lot, so the first thing you're going to d'oh it's up to you where you start on your hoop but I would try and give yourself enough room to get a bunch of stitches on a bunch of different kinds of stitches we cover on youtube so I like to start a top corner we're going to come through the back and pull through and then you're just goingto go diagonally into the first hole that's diagnosed below and come through and you're going to come but through the back again so the whole next to it a way of keeping your thread in the needle thief just try and keep it in their girl I'm sure if you like tie it off or anything like that you could but it might start to catch on the fabric is you pull it through ok try to leave enough that it's long enough but it's also not driving you crazy yield as you start doing this, you'll realize your limit of thread ling on both ends like the actual maximum length of thread that you can handle without getting frustrated and then the length of thread you can handle here without it driving you crazy so when she have it pulled up through the front, you're just going to go back on a diagonal to make and x and the way the stitches repeated is to just keep doing that next to each other and now what I like to d'oh is go ahead of myself this is the way to do it instead of going back through the holes that you just went through it's going to be messy it's not gonna look att you want to go into the next open hole and work backwards a little bit if that is making sent in your mind but it's helpful to watch just go back in so I assume we want the same if I'm going you know like ones on top in one's on bottom do I want the same direction always on bottom in the same direction always on top ideally I wouldn't worry about night kiffin he's asking is should we be paying attention? Tio is the thread the final threat coming over the top or is a final thread are they all going to the right or is it going to the right and then the left the right and the left ideally they should all be going in the same direction if that can happen today awesome if it can't you'll get there it's not it won't I promise it won't ruin your life or the life of the lives of others in a different direction and essentially cross stitching is just creating a pattern. I like that because I like repetitive work so it's sort of zen and meditative to me to kind of keep doing the same thing but that's really what you're doing is you're creating a pattern and you will get used to it I already created like a mess back here wade you recommend just leaving it because a lot of period I can't just leave it mine you know I haven't not already so I'm losing that game of perfectionism um so and I'm still alive and breathing so I think I'm pretty sure you'll survive so we're not being created about yourself not me I could you give me a yeah but no no grading so once you feel like you've got that little one down and this is of course I'm starting with the hardest one because it's the smallest but then you can start to play around with a bigger version and what you have to keep in mind with the larger virgin is that there has to be a center right? So you can have a count of four you have to have a count of three holes so let me check in with you before we get super excited about that check in with all of you and see does anyone have questions about the little teeny tiny x I'm going you know what? I'm going to come over and make sure you all have mastered it tiffany of course is perfect surprises there sharon looks amazing this is really amazing getting distracted this is good, okay, so what you've done here is you've skipped level which is cool and awesome and that's a whole other way of doing it do you feel like you can do it the other way? I want to make sure you can do it both ways before we move on seems so crowd yeah no, it totally is like this this is super like tight but you just did that yeah, which is he got variation I'll try yeah because that looks kind of cool with space and then crowded yeah I try it to make sure that you get it but I mean, you kind of did what I prefer looks ok perfect yeah looks really good you got it don't know said two small looks good all right, so once you feel like you have that little x this is where you kind of get to play around with how you want to do it is you can start playing around with making it bigger. What I'm going to do is I'm going to do one that is let's see, I'll do three and then I'll do one too before I'll do five just to show you but like I said, you want to think in odd numbers and you'll see what I mean by that is you start stitching but the next size would be three and what I mean by that is your coming up through one there will be an empty hole in the middle so your your little through little imaginary square in your mind that you're keeping in your head about the grid is three holes by three holes so you're going to be going one, two, three and then down three and that's going to be where your taxes so you're skipping a hole in the middle and you'll see his eye as I do it will be able to watch and see what it looks like but it's the same steps you're just taking up more space on the canvas is all your doing and you'll see it drastically changes the way that it looks so we're going from the little teeny tiny x teo on here we're going from this and this too now this which looks really, really different no, I don't we're probably not getting into too much trouble with the thread getting outed at this point because the stitches aren't super complicated but one of the little hacks for yeah tiffany's doing it right? Yeah, she's taken one of my other classes so she she knows what I'm about to talk about is to just because the thread wants to twist you just want to let your needle hang and you'll see mine started tow twirl a little bit when I let it go so that's one way to kind of get the a little funk out of its system so that it won't not you'll get knots anyway and then you know don't freak out take a deep breath, use your needle toe work back into it and where's comes source if you get a knot and you can't get it out and it's on the front or on the back and you don't have enough thread cut it where it's that you can pull out a couple threads without losing everything that you've done pull it through the back and then just start over another little hack if you're having trouble poll have a black piece of paper and here you know be able to see it on camera depending upon the lighting that you're sitting in you may be having trouble seeing the holes in the canvas so one of the things that I'll do is sometimes you'll be able to see them better if it's up against a dark piece of paper or a light piece of paper it totally depends on your eye I don't think it's the same for everyone but um you can kind of see the difference there on the different color so sometimes that's easier if you're having trouble it's another little trick you can do how is everyone doing with the bigger x one good okay I'm going to show everyone who's joining us a larger version and then we'll move on to the zig zag because that's a takeoff of this larger stitch so I think for this do a larger x do it now okay, so I just did a basic cross stitch did the first one with the small x, and then I did one using a count of three and nominees when doing a count of five, and I do this at home, exactly isn't doing it now. I've been doing cross, which for a long time, but sometimes I still need to count with my needle the holes. So one thing that you can do, one trick that I do sometimes is if I'm working on a pattern is I'll actually make a little bit of a sizable hole so that I can then find where I'm going a little bit more easily, and you will all get extremely well versed in this, and you'll be able to do it super quick on amaze your friends and family unbelievable skills, but for now, just go slow, all right? So I'm going to finish this one, and then I'm going to come around and see how you all are doing, and then we're gonna move on to this exact stitch, but to start the dig, the start, this exact stitch you're gonna want to work on, and experts this size, which is spanning across five holes, is going in one and then into the fifth hole, d'oh three, because look, it's one, two, three so you're you're counting like the whole holes that hat yeah grid yeah does that make sense? So kiffin he just brought up a really good point she was looking at her isn't saying but that one's only two but we're counting the entire x so it's in one hole so one two and then three it skips that hole and and you're right on with the five time right on there yeah you got that so we were just lengthening the stitch than that correct that's what you want to stay to lengthen it not widen it well it's being widened as well because we're working in a perfect square s o if it's five stitches across it's also five inspired spaces across that's also five down we're going to work on some stitches where the length is different than the width and you'll see it will be like five down and three across, huh? But when but the ex is in a right now the base across which is a perfect square so it's the same opposite just down okay that's fine I mean you can what it's going to do is averaging a pattern it'll it'll throw it off yeah, but totally fine that's you can leave it or you can pull it out it's I'll leave it up to you okay, yeah, great count you did I gotta look teo yeah you'll know when you don't because it'll it's not going to work out the x has to have a center so it won't really work you've got yeah you've done an ob long stood so you've got three across and four down that's not what you meant though you're like you have your head so let me see what you're doing then oh I see ok so this is the next that you want to work on because we're going to be working off of that one teo the zigzag all right, let me do this and let me just finish this stitch and then oh yeah ok but we're going give your foot you're flying head your care advanced wakes uncertain to run out of threat do you have a specifically ending it like do you have a nodding technique for the and I tried to go through because I'm of the thread and then I not it in the back okay yeah as you would if you're selling I'm just a regular selling not or if you want you can leave this long enough to then not to the next ok that you pull through oh ok, you can do that too of course we're not purists okay, so once you have a larger x and I say this exact for the one that's five across in five down just because I think aesthetically it looks better at a larger size but you could do is exact stitch it ten across and ten dollar or even three it's completely up to you but I think it's easiest to see it this size so this is what we're going to be working on right here this is a zigzag stitch so you can do it as this exact stitch you can do is you go along or you can do a bunch of basic cross stitches and then put the upright stitches is you back as you go back the correct way to do it is to do it as you go along whatever if it works for you to have a whole line of exes and then go back it's fine, so I'm going to do one more actually it a nice pattern going here and then I'll show you where the oblong stitches go you guys got all right? So with this exact stitch all you're doing is you're adding a vertical line in between the access here, adding a straight steps and we'll talk about streets to straight stitches later but you're adding a straight stitch in between the axis so I'm gonna work what's going to seem like backwards c and I just got a knot so the way I like to try and get the knots out is put my needle through the loop and tug on either side and then it comes out usually sometimes no and then you just have to cut it and start over, but that's the first part of the upright for this exact stitch and you'll see as I keep going, so I'm gonna listen to my own advice and trim my thread before I try to get it through the needle and with its exact stitch because you're going back into holes that you've already gone through, it should feel a little bit smoother. This will be opened up in the fabric a little bit more. And remember when I talked about switching things up by color, you can really change things by color, so with this exact such, I'm using the same color, but on this sampler you can see it's a little bit different and that changes the whole look of it doing this exact at the same time. Do you do x x fine expect however it works for you again? Yeah, ok, yeah, he would do your ex and then you would do the straight stretch line in the news u next or you could do two exes and then doing the streets touch and the second you'd have x x straight stack and then you'd have another acts another accident straight stitch, ideally and I didn't even really do it, but there should be ideally, there should be a pattern on the back of the straits it and usually it doesn't even have these crosses in the middle. It's just lines all the way across. But that's that's not my my high interest to have everything on the back looking at me. Zelma, my grandmother was super into that. But maybe after I'm doing cross stitch for, you know, forty years or so be super into that too. How's. Everyone doing with the zigzag is that making sense? Come over and just check it out real quick. I like that car. Pretty. I think you'll be a good one to do it, right? Yeah. And one down. And then, yeah. So the straight stitch would be in here, in here, in here so you could do a lunch, faxes or you could do it as you go. Totally up to the correct ways to do as you go. Supposedly the right way. The correct way is whatever way works for you. Think gets it done. You like that look like? Yeah, it's not cool. It totally changes if you if you're doing it horizontal, flip it to look at it vertically because it looks totally different. Yeah, you got it. Okay. Thank you.