All cross stitch kits have a few things in common - one or two embroidery needles, a graphed pattern to follow, a piece of fabric, and floss.
I usually choose kits from a company called Dimensions. Now, in general I don't have much brand loyalty - I tend to buy for different reasons. But for cross stitch kits, I always look at Dimensions first, and here's why.
First of all, they chose beautiful images to turn into kits. Here are two of my favorites:
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| Midnight Dance via Amazon |
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| via Dimensions site |
Secondly, their kits are never boring to work. Now, having said that, if the idea of sewing hundreds or thousands of tiny colored x's onto a piece of fabric to make an image makes you shudder, these kits still aren't for you.
But if you're crazy like me, and find that kind of thing fun and worthwhile, then imagine combining different colors of floss together in your needle to get a unique variegated look, or learning how to make velvety dark shadows with four strands of black floss, or adding French knots and lazy daisy stitches onto a cross stitched background to create a patch of flowers.
Also, they're great quality for the money. I've completed somewhere between ten or fifteen of these kits, and I've never been disappointed. I've also never run out of floss, which is a good thing, because they dye their own. If you do run out, they provide a way to order more of that color. Of course then there might be problems with dye-lots, and that could be a huge issue if you're trying to finish a half completed kit. Luckily, I've always had floss left over when I'm finished.
And lastly, since they have kits for all levels, from beginner to expert, as I learned new things I've always been able to find a Dimensions kit that was interesting and challenging. Whether or not I will ever take on one of their really complicated kits (like Ballerina Dreams), that's another story.
For now, I'm back to crocheting. But that smaller kit below would be cute to gift to my mom, since she loves butterflies. Hmm....
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| via Dimensions site |
I love the midnight dance.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do with the cross stitch stuff once you're done with it? I used to love doing them but couldn't think of what to do with them once they were done. How do you get it on the pillow?
ReplyDeleteI've never tried this myself, but I guess what you're supposed to do is sew your finished cross-stitch onto one end of a rectangular piece of backing fabric, then you sew the rectangle into a square with one open side, stuff a square pillow inside, and sew it up.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was thinking of trying next is a tote bag with a cross stitch pocket. I think that would be cute and washable, unlike a pillow.