It’s finished…but what could you do with it now? Cross stitch projects – whether they’re large or small, whether they took two weeks to finish or were on your frame for a year and a half, whether they were chosen as a perfect gift for someone, or just because you fell in love with them – can be transformed in so many ways into decorative, useful, or just fun items for you or someone special. Let us show you some things you could do with your finished needlework, to turn it into something unique and personal.
Before you begin, you might choose to wash and iron your cross stitch – if you do, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, to avoid the colours in hand-dyed fabric or threads running and spoiling your work, and iron carefully through a towel, to avoid squashing your stitches. A piece of lightweight interfacing, ironed to the back of your work, can help to stabilise and protect the stitching, ready for your transformation.
You could hang it on the wall or pop it on a mini easel
You can find very affordable frames in many high street and online stores, or you could re-use one from a charity shop. Your needlework can be neatly framed by cutting a piece of foam board to the correct size and wrapping your fabric around it, pinning the edges neatly into the board. Adjustments are easy to make if necessary – it will be immediately very apparent if the design is not straight and/or not well positioned. Using a frame which tones with your stitching can make the piece really “pop”; for example, the gold frame I used for my “Dreaming Girl” design, on the far left, highlights the rich tones in the stitching; and the silver frame for the panda is in the same colour family as some of the geometric shapes from which he is constructed. If you were looking for a simpler finish, without a frame, you could lace your stitching over a piece of robust card or an artist’s block and display it on a small easel. Layering the stitching onto another colour works in the same way as toning it with a frame colour – I picked out one colour from each of my seasonal pieces and, having laced that onto a slightly larger piece of card, glued the two together. One tip to try for all of these finishes is to stick felt or fleece onto your board or card before you lace the stitching – this will give your stitching a fuller, rounder look, smoothing it beautifully for display.
Another way of finishing your stitching so it can be hung on the wall is simply in the hoop you stitched it in!
Again, you could tone the hoop with your stitching, wrap the hoop in ribbon or thread, or just keep it natural so that the stitching is the absolute focus of attention. Stitching a piece of felt onto the back is a neat way to conceal and protect the wrong side of your work, and it can then be hung on the wall with ribbon or simply through the screw-tightening mechanism.
As a final idea for displaying your stitching, you could choose to make a wall hanging. By backing it with a piece of fabric, and attaching hanging loops (I added decorative heart buttons to mine, to match my design), the cross stitch can be attached to a wall hanger. These come in a range of designs and sizes – I chose a heart one as it complemented the stitching on the lady’s skirt and on the flowers – and can be found in quilting and needlework stores.
How about a cushion?
Perhaps you would like a large cushion, for your sofa or armchair, or a small cushion, for pins or a decorative display?
You can really personalise these with your fabric choices and trimmings, adding ricrac, lace, buttons, ribbon and piping as you choose. Larger throw cushions for the bed or sofa can be made by inserting a zip or an envelope fold in the back and using a pre-made cushion pad; whilst the smaller ones can simply be backed with scrap quilting fabric and the opening sewn shut. You could co-ordinate your choice of trim with your stitching, or highlight one of the colours in it as an accent statement. Pincushions are an essential accessory for many stitchers and can be made very simply from a piece of your needlework. Stitching done on canvas with wool thead is ideal for cushions which are expected to be used (for example, on your sofa or for your pincushion), as it is very robust and stable.
For smaller stitched pieces, maybe a coaster or magnet finish?
A really simple finish for smaller stitched pieces is to transform them into a coaster. This is very simply done, by cutting them to size and popping them into an acrylic coaster, where they will be protected from spills but can still be admired and enjoyed.
Alternatively, if you have a white or magnet board at home, your stitching could double as a holder for useful reminders or important lists! Simply gather the stitching over a circular piece of card (again, with felt applied to smooth the surface), and glue a magnet onto the back. Leave to dry throughly before you snap it onto your board!
A bookmark for you or a greetings card for a friend?
If your stitching is not too big, and longer in shape than it is wide, and you are always searching around for a scrap of paper to mark your place in your current book, this might be very handy! Bookmarks always make great gifts for any keen readers in your life, and you could always personalise your needlework with initals or a name before you begin your transformation.
Personalised, hand-crafted greetings cards always seem to be popular, and if the theme of your stitched piece is particularly suitable for someone, this might be a very well-received card/gift! They are simple to make – you could use co-ordinating card mounts to highlight your stitching, fray the edges of your fabric, and then attach everything to your card with double-sided tape. The Doctor Who enthusiast in my life was very happy to recieve this one!
And finally, if it’s Christmas-themed, something festive to hang on the tree!
Smaller, festive designs can look charming if they are transformed into ornaments and hung on your Christmas tree. Gathering them around a circle of card and then concealing the back by stitching or glueing on a circle of felt is a perfect way of displaying them in this way – don’t forget to add a hanging loop of ribbon or lace during your construction! Adding co-ordinating trim or a cute button can add extra charm to your piece, or you could add a touch of personalisation, such as initials or a charm showing the year it was made.
So, we hope that one of these ideas for how to fully finish your cross stitch project will be just the inspiration you needed to go ahead and begin your crafty transformation from stitched piece to fully-finished object!