How To Do Large Cross-Stitching Projects

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[greysspas]

you are amazing..i love your videos...😍😍

[jazziered]

I remember I was at the airport, this lady had a huge cross stitch she was doing, it was a good 5 ft tall probably 3 ft across. She said she'd been working on it for 20 years. She was almost done. It was beautiful. It was a medieval unicorn tapestry with a beautiful ornate border. She said she wanted to have it done to give to her son before she passed away.

[diannebarmonde]

My son married a lovely Chinese woman while working in China. As one of their wedding gifts, I wanted to celebrate her heritage. I found an exquisite xstitch pattern of the Great Wall of China. It was more of a xstitch mural at 6’ wide and 24” tall. I knew that was too massive, there wasn’t a wall wide enough to accommodate it! I solved the issue by choosing a quarter of a panel. The panel was ~18” across and 2’ tall. I kept a diary while I worked. It took a little over 9 months of 4-5 hours a day to complete. I needed to have it finished by the time her spousal visa was approved. It became a daily routine.
I purchased longer wooden dowels to fit on my wooden floor mounted frame. I had a floor light/magnifier to help me with the stitches. Then I just began. The color instructions were a must. My panel had 16 full pages. I started at the center right top, then left top, then right bottom, then left bottom….
And just kept going one stitch, one section, one page at a time.
I began the fall of 2019 (COVID in China) and completed it in the late spring of 2020 (COVID in USA). COVID, embassies closings and the incredibly inefficient (legal) immigration system delayed their arrival till summer of 2021. The Wall was professionally framed and they both loved it!
Hope you enjoyed my own LARGE xstitch project story!!
Dianne NY

[debbieelholm]

I store all my floss in numerical order in several of the plastic cases like yours. When I’m starting a new project, I use another plastic storage case that not only holds the floss bobbins, but has a long slot to hold my scissors. I go thru the other cases and pull out the colors I need. This way I can carry my scissors, needles and floss and whatever else I need in what I call my project case. When I’ve completed my project, I return the bobbins to the other cases and prepare to pull out the colors needed for the next project!

[ashermiss]

For my third-ever cross-stitching project I've decided to do a huge poster-size full-coverage pattern. Not sure if this is confidence or just hubris. Either way, this video was super helpful, and I'm very glad I watched it before buying my supplies! Thanks for the encouragement and great advice!!

[bettablue]

I have a tip that changed my life: I get a rectangular piece of styrofoam....I wrap it in plastic wrap...I use a sharpie to draw circles and label each color number and symbol on the wrapped styrofoam...I thread every color on the pattern, and stick the treaded needle in the circle on the styrofoam accordingly. When you change colors, you simply pull a threaded needle from your styrofoam pin cushion. I make several threaded needles for large color areas, like sky. I only do full cross stitch patterns. I also use a pencil to shade each 10 x 10 section as I go. My aunt actually cuts it out an tosses it. That’s extreme!

[nicola.p]

I know I am several years late for this video, but I loved it. Especially about the cost savings of larger pieces. I am about to start my first large piece and it is mainly because I enjoy stitching, but I don't want to keep storing or finding places to put all the smaller/ couple of weeks projects. With a big one I can keep stitching and I won't have this build up of smaller pieces I don't know what to do with. 😊

[chrishouse]

I LOVE HAED!!! I have done several - I just wanted to share another way to set up the floss for a big project - or any project. I have a large lazy Susan I use and the little ziplock floss bags on a metal ring - I put them in numerical order and place on top of the lazy Susan - it’s so easy to find the threads I need when I’m switching them so much. If I knew how to post a pic I would show you!! Thank you so very much for this video!! God bless and happy stitching!!

[unfortunatelynotreal]

My favorite part was 12:32 when you said:

[LawnOrnament]

About to start a 30in. By 30in. Tapestry soon and wow. I need to grid, I’m so bad at counting and paying attention bc of my adhd and i think it will help me MASSIVELY! Thank you, this is a great video full of valuable information!

[shaneyofcourse]

This video is so inspiring! I rotate between crafts and I have just circled back to cross stitch. Thank you for the wonderful tips 💖

[marlaseng]

I must be crazy too. On any type of project I always go big or go home. Haha

[lumiahtisaari]

This video is amazing. The naturalness with which you spoke made me feel like you're talking to me in real life. Your information was so so so good you really helped me understand so so much. This was very engaging. Thank you very very much for sharing this, it really helped💕

[barbaraguy]

Thanks, Jules. I love this video. I am preparing to start my first “full coverage” project and needed your enthusiasm and hints to confidently move forward. It will be a Christmas present for my son and his fiancé that is a copy of a photo of their beloved puppy. One thing I wanted to mention is that I organized my floss into the little plastic bags with the name, number and symbol on them and then hooked them together with two large rings through the holes in the bags.

[irisandu]

Absolutely love your personality. Thank you for helping me understand better, and yes, I'm crazy too! I'm old now, hahaha, and need to see better and this will really help. Stay safe.

[TheBenbenben]

I am glad that the point of choosing the pattern was discussed. I find it very hard to do embroidery on request and now stopped taking requests. I am about to embark on a major project which will take a couple of years to complete and can only do it because the image is that of my beloved doggie.. I came across this video because I am researching info in prep of it and I am very grateful to the author of it :)

[TheBizWizz]

Hi there Jules,
I started a large project this Christmas for the first time. Followed all your logic and organisation tips, but on top of all of them, I have a notebook in my project bag. I have a notebook because I bought myself a Stopwatch!

Every time I sit down for a sewing session, I click it on and at the end I click it to stop! Every time it crosses the 24 hours point, it restarts itself and I enter the date and the 24 hours on my book. It is amazing at the end to add up and see how many hours you have spent sewing your piece.

At a £ or a $ an hour for our labour, nobody could afford us! We have very valuable pieces of work.

Lorna
x x x x

[christinechipman]

I love this tutorial and will be checking out more of yours very soon. I too love large projects, with as much detail as possible, and I am so blessed to have a floor frame that my husband made for me years and years ago to use with scroll rods, which are absolutely awesome. I, too, have had repetitive strain injuries to my hands, wrists, elbows and neck, none of which were operable, so I have had to find a way to live with them and still enjoy my favourite hobby - needlework. Scroll rods on a floor frame are amazing, because I don't have to hold the fabric and/or hoop, and it saves me from aggravating my injuries. I will be 70 in 2 months time, and just can't live without my embroidery, especially since my husband passed away 12 months ago from lung cancer. I actually gave up embroidery for many years because of my husbands ill health, but after he passed, of course I still had all my supplies (and I'm a hoarder of the worst kind), and when I started to look at what was available online in the way of patterns, etc, I was flabbergasted. I am working on a Z'AnnaCrossStitch design which I found on Etsy, and have several more of her designs, which are HUGE. I have a Noah's Ark design that I want to do for myself which is 900 x 700 stitches using 240 colours, and I'm going to work it 1 strand of floss over 1 thread of 32 count fabric, and it will be close to 3 ft wide when it is finished. Looking forward to see some of your other work, and thank you so much for sharing your ideas, most of which are exactly the same as mine. HUGS!!!!

[lauragreen]

I feel a little better starting "Stary Night"...a little😱. Thank you much🤗

[Appellonia]

Man...THANK YOU! . cross stitched for years but never wanted to tackle the REALLY big projects I had in my stash. The worry amd anxiety I.would get took all the fun away. So thank you so much for all of this knowledge amd for.sharing it with us. You really are helping people, seriously, you really helped me get over that crap and back into doing something that IS FUN AGAIN...NOT WORRYSOME. This and your other video, how to set up and start a cross stitch project, have absolutely been invaluable tools and helped me get back at it again...FINALLY!!!! Its been too long. Way way WAY too long!! So..I just wanted to say thank you. THANK YOU. THANK YOU! You have helped me overcome, and way WAY more than u could ever know. 🥰🥰😘😘Love ya lady! YOURE AWESOME.