How to Cross Stitch

* A COPY OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS IS INCLUDED IN EACH KIT *

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LET'S GET STITCHING!

1. Before you begin, you might want to iron your fabric (under a damp tea towel) to remove any creases, although this isn’t essential. I like to edge my fabric with masking tape to avoid fraying. Alternatively, you could use a sewing machine to edge the fabric with a zig zag type stitch.

2. Next, fold the fabric in half and half again to find the middle. Then correspond this with the middle of the pattern (see where the red lines cross). Follow the design from the centre point using the correct colour thread from the key. Each symbol on the pattern represents one cross stitch.

3. The threads have been pre-sorted onto the thread holder according to colour and come in strands of 6. Separate these out into 3 lots of 2 strands. Thread the needle provided with 2 strands. There’s no need to tie a knot in your thread, just leave a loose ‘tail’ of around 10cm and later darn this in under your stitches.

4. To start, push the needle from the back to the front in the bottom left corner of a square and come down through the top right corner. To complete the cross stitch, come up again this time through the top left corner and down through the bottom right corner. It doesn't really matter which way round you complete your cross, just make sure all of your stitches are in the same direction so as to give a uniform completed look. Continue according to the pattern.

5. When you have only 10 - 15cm or so of thread left, run the needle underneath three or four completed stitches on the back of the fabric to secure it, and then neatly trim off the loose end. Continue like this according to the pattern until you've finished your piece!

TOP TIPS

- Try to keep your fabric and thread tension even to create uniform stitches.

- Don't carry threads across the back of your piece or they will show up through the fabric when you've finished (especially with darker colours behind white fabric).

- You can stitch whole areas in half stitches if you find this easier and then go back over them to complete the full cross stitches.

- The back of your fabric should look almost as neat as the front (although it's not the end of the world if it looks a little messy!)

- When the piece is complete, remove any creases by ironing the fabric using a medium heat, face down between two damp tea towels.