Tip to use really small pieces of cross stitch fabric

Nice quality cross stitch embroidery fabric can be quite expensive so it’s good to be able to use every bit and not waste any so I have a thrifty craft tip for you today.

I used to do a lot of cross stitch embroidery have a nice little box with all my cross stitch embroidery bits and pieces.

In that box are a few small oddments of embroidery fabric which are ideal to use for tiny embroideries, maybe for a greeting card or for a motif to sew on something. I had several pieces, varying from tiny scraps to pieces each about 4 or 5 inches in either direction.

Aida v Evenweave linen

There are 2 main types of cross stitch embroidery fabric; Aida, the woven fabric that has clearly marked squares and even weave linen which is a simpler woven fabric where you work your cross stitches over 2 threads.

Aida is often quite firm and easy enough to use as it is. However a nice evenweave linen is usually soft and floppy so you really do need to use an embroidery hoop to get good results and avoid your embroidery puckering.

Putting these small pieces of embroidery linen to good use was posing a problem simply because that they can be really difficult to put in an embroidery hoop effectively. Really small embroidery hoops are available but can be awkward to use and if you don’t have one there is no need to rush out and buy one. Let me show you the solution I found.

When I was stitching this Autumn poem cross stitch design I used one of my small scraps of evenweave cross stitch linen fabric, a piece just 4” by 5.5”.

How to make a tiny piece of embroidery fabric big enough to fit an embroidery hoop

Take a larger piece of scrap fabric. Any fabric will do, mine was some old curtain lining and is about 12” x 12”.

Place the embroidery fabric centrally on the scrap fabric and sew all around the edge. I used my sewing machine but you could stitch it by hand if you prefer.

Turn it over and CAREFULLY cut away the scrap fabric layer from within the stitched rectangle, leaving the embroidery fabric intact. Take care not to cut into the embroidery fabric of course.

Now you can easily put your fabric into your embroidery hoop and stitch away!

When your embroidery is finished you can either leave the extra scrap fabric in place if you need it to frame your work or it is simple enough to cut the scrap fabric away. Or unpick the stitches that secure your embroidery fabric to the scrap fabric if you prefer.

A simple and effective way to make small pieces of linen embroidery fabric useable in an embroidery hoop.

A while ago I also shared a similar tip to extend a piece of embroidery fabric if you want to frame it in a hoop and you didn’t leave quite enough fabric to secure it into the hoop neatly. A niche issue maybe but I surely can’t be the only person to have found myself with that predicament!

Julie

I’ll be sharing this embroidery tip at these link ups

You might be interested in more of my embroidery patterns and ideas: