Hi, y’all!

I am a die-hard crochet artist, but some of you may know I have decided to learn a few more fiber arts, like cross stitch. Of course, this makes me a cross stitch beginner. Feels so odd to start a new hobby since I’m so deep into crochet, but I knew from the start I wanted to start my cross stitch journey with a huge project. Digging around for a large cross stitch project for beginners, I found something I completely fell in love with, and that is so motivating!

Even though I haven’t done a cross stitch since age 10, for whatever reason I was in the mood to go big or go home. Are you feeling the same way? A large cross stitch project may be right for you, and I have gathered some tips and thoughts that have come up on my journey thus far.

Before beginning your cross stitch project, you must choose a pattern and order supplies. Let’s dive in!

Cross Stitch Pattern choice

Since we are talking about large, full coverage projects today, I recommend starting with this well-known site: Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) – pronounced “haid.” After looking through pages of beautiful patterns, I fell head over heels for this design:

Books, animals, landscapes, the Northern Lights, that glowing sun… just wow. The design is called “Supersized The Amazing Animal Kingdom Max Color,” but there are just tons of patterns on this site. Do you love Christmas? Sunsets? Flowers? Fairies? There are thousands to choose from, and you definitely want to pick one that you absolutely fall in love with, because a large, full coverage cross stitch project can take years to complete – but there are ways to make it go faster, and I will discuss those in the next part of this series!

The digital pattern for this piece is $20 on the site, and the kit that I would want is $330 which is too expensive for me, especially for a starter project. So I bought the $20 pattern and will source the materials elsewhere. Next: embroidery floss!

Note: All linked products below will lead to Amazon.com, and I am a member of the affiliate program. Everything that I link is something I have purchased and love. Buying anything after clicking these links will help support CypressTextiles.net! Thank you!

Cross Stitch Floss/Thread

There is more to embroidery life than DMC floss, interestingly enough. CXC floss is actually cheaper and higher quality than DMC, and the numbers and colors match up between the two brands.

Ordering Colors

Order the floss one by one can be a little daunting without a spreadsheet, a careful eye, and a lot of time and patience. It may tempting to run back and get the full kit but you may not be able to justify the price. Instead, you can go Amazon.com and order a full set of CXC, after all, you are building your floss collection anyway. Then, when all of the colors you need are used up, you can go ahead and order what you need to complete the piece. By that time, you’ll be familiar with the cross stitch head-space.

Fabric

Now, source some Aida. Eventually, you may want to experiment with linen or a different cloth, but at first you’ll probably use Aida, which is the common cross stitch cloth with the grid of holes. You will find your pattern is sized for a certain gauge of Aida. Example sizes listed from larger distance between holes to smallest: 14ct, 18ct, 25ct, 28ct. It just means how many holes per inch on the cloth. My Animal Kingdom pattern is 30x39in on 25ct Aida, so I set out to fulfill that need with a big enough sheet of Aida in that gauge. I couldn’t find a cheap enough Aida that fit that description exactly, but I did find a 28ct 36x55in piece. That just means my finished piece will be a little smaller than 30x39in.

Needles

To start out, you can scoop a small pack of size 28 tapestry needles on Amazon. There are a few other sizes besides 28, but you can use a 28 for everything in the beginning. I bought Bohin brand, which is more expensive but your needle may break frequently if it is cheaply made.

Frame

For a larger project, it is best to use a Q-Snap frame instead of an embroidery hoop. The largest Q-Snap I could find was 17x17in, so I think it’ll be okay. With a larger sheet of Aida, you can clip the excess to the back by rolling it and using a clip at the edge.

Needle minder

Haven’t got one yet! Will have to look into this.

Embroidery floss organizer

The standard plastic box organizer can be found on Amazon with the bobbins and all!

The damage

All in all I spent $150 on everything. Not bad considering the full kit on the design website costs over twice as much. Granted I’ll have to buy the remaining floss eventually, but hey not bad for all the starting materials that I’ll be using later anyway.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe it will give you a little boost on your cross-stitch journey. Thanks for coming along with me!

Happy crafting y’all,

Rachele C.