Cross-stitching has a long history
Cross-stitching has a long history
The earliest piece of
embroidered cloth includes cross-stitch and dates back to the sixth or seventh
centuries AD.
In Eastern Europe at this time, folk art was
prospering, and cross stitch was used to decorate household items using
geometric and floral patterns still found in pattern books to this day.
Cross-stitching really came into its own with the
working of samplers. These were a
means of recording a verse, a prayer or a moral saying. In 1797 poor children from the orphans’ school near
Calcutta’ in Bengal were given the task of stitching the longest chapter in
the Bible, the 19th psalm.
As pattern books become more readable in Europe and
America during the seventeenth century the function of samplers changed.
They developed into educational tools, stitched by children to teach them
the needlework skills essential to young girls who would be making household
linen and clothing.
Stitches would cover the
designs, often in half cross-stitch and cross-stitch, to produce many articles
for the home; bell pulls, purses, cushions, fire screens, pincushions and
cushion fronts.
Cross stitching as we recognize it today was
re-discovered in the sixties, when increased leisure time was a factor in the
revival of counted cross-stitch for pleasure.
To do cross-stitch you need
suppliers like haberdashery shops, hobby craft, embroidery shops, sewing shops
that sell buttons wool, needles, knitting needles and cross-stitch needles.
The books are sold at the newsagents and bookshops.
There is also the Internet as well for patterns.
Equipment that
is available. Aida
is a material that has small square holes in it so you can sew when doing
cross-stitching/embroidery. Aida comes in a lot of colours and sizes.
You can get it in kits or on its own.
There are quite a few colours of silks that are available.
You will also need coloured thread, needles in
different sizes and hoops to hold the material taut for when you are sewing.
Frames and stands are useful for keeping large pieces of work taut and
work can be also on show with this piece of equipment.
Good lighting for the work area is essential.
Working
cross stitch
Firstly you have to fold the fabric in half to make a small square.
Unfold it completely and the fold lines will cross in the middle.
Start stitching here and your design will be centred on your Aida.
Next look at the key chart to see
what colours to use, how many strands are needed and what size fabric to use.
Find a pattern chart of your choice, which are available at craft
embroidery shops. You can also get
patterns from newsagents and bookshops. There
are many patterns charts in colour and black and white, some for the seasons
such as spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Some have themes such as Christmas, Birthdays, Births, spring, summer,
autumn and winter.
How to finish a group of stitches
when a length of thread is completed.
Finish off the end carefully before
starting a new colour. At the
back of the work, pass the thread through the back and snip off the loose end
close to the stitching. Don’t
leave small loose ends, which have a nasty habit of pulling through to the right
side.
There are quite a few colours of aida
and silks available. There are some
books you can also buy from sewing clubs (a bit like book clubs).
The leaflets are available at paper shops with magazines on cross
stitching.
I did my first cross-stitch when I
was about six years of age. I'm now
older and do it more regularly. I
have learned from books and from my sewing teacher.
In my spare time I am doing a sampler
that is blue shades with the English rose on the corners.
A sampler is a square piece of Aida with the letters that make up the
alphabet. I have a pattern
that has a young girl. The young girl is a slogan that is on most things it so
that whoever reads this will know what a pattern consists of or what it looks
like. You need a pattern so that you know what colours to use and what size
needles you need to use.
Suzanne
Wheatman