Stitch from Scratch Ep. 2.1 Materials: Cloth

Materials

First, you need some stuff. I really think the necessary materials are the ones you already have on hand.

If you are interested in any form of craft please don't run to the craft couple (Joann and Michael) and buy everything I mention here. This is one of the more cheap and simple ways to make very cool things. Please don't think you will be going broke learning.

You will need

• Aida cloth
• This is the only thing I don't expect to already be in your house. 
• A 15 x 18in piece of 14ct is about 2.99 at Michaels. 
• Thread or "floss"  
• .37 cents at Michaels for a skein and .40 and Hobby Lobby for DMC
• A needle
• use a sewing needle before you splurge and drop 2.99 on a 5 pack
• Hoop
• Price depends on the size.  6x6 wooden is about 1.50, plastic is about 2.99 and a q-snap is 9.99
• Or don't even use one.  :shrug:

We will talk about each of these things in order in it's own blog before begin actually stitching.

I'll try to make it painless. 

Aida cloth

Aida is the cloth that has holes in it. It's used for embroidery and cross stitch.  A count (ct) is how many squares per inch. The MOST commonly used ct for cross stitch is 14. That means that there are 14 squares per inch.

 The smaller the number the smaller the project.  On 14ct a 42 by 42 square will be 3 inches by 3 inches.  on 11ct it will be 3.8 inches by 3.8 inches and on 22ct it will be 1.9 inches by 1.9 inches and you will be blind. 

Go to Hobby Lobby's website, get the 40% off coupon and pick up some 14 ct white. It will be like 2 bucks and you will use it.

Moral of the story: Just remember to keep in mind the smaller the count number, the more stitches in an inch.

Also, If you buy a pattern (much more on patterns later) it will tell you which cloth you will need. Often it will include the cloth.  That's the beauty of a pattern, no random guess work. 

Here is a tons of different kinds of fabric that you can use - http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-bin/fabric.pl

Go pick up some cloth and I'll get back to you on next Friday to talk about floss.  Here we go!

Please post any questions below, or feel free to email me at Teresa@daisiesforviolet.com

Happy Stitching!
-Teresa