CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#29) STITCHING HELPER

Have you ever wanted to try stitching (sewing) on your pages, projects or cards and thought the following?

-I don't want to buy the expensive stitching gadgets
-I can't quite line up the stitches
-I don't have a steady hand for stitching
-Not sure I can even faux stitch

In this week's tip I offer an inexpensive solution to assist with your first step in stitching...piercing. This step is often times a deterrent for many contemplating stitching or sewing on their pages, papers & projects.

Piercing is often the difficult part because it is what sets your pattern or creates your path for whatever image you are trying to sew or stitch. But after you've got the piercing down the rest will follow. Even if you don't sew I assure you that using this gadget will help you to get that stitched look you just might be going for or just help you to create small pierced holes on your project.
Once you pierce your paper, you don't have to sew with a needle either. You can just do a faux stitch with a gel pen or marker.

So what's this revolutionary & inexpensive thing that is going to help you towards your goal of simple stitching?

It's a: plastic needlepoint canvas. They come in a variety of shapes & sizes. Here are a couple to give you an idea of what to look for:




They are essentially a plastic canvas with holes in them. Sometimes they are squares, sometimes they are round but there are consistent holes in them for threading your needle through for needle point and latch hooking.

You can buy just a medium, single circle shaped one at Joanne Fabrics for .49 cents like I did and it will help you to achieve stitching perfection.

What you do is: lay the needle point plastic canvas over your paper/project which will be sitting on a cutting mat or piercing mat. Hold your canvas in place and pierce the holes of your choice. With these canvases you can:

- Use a dry erase marker to draw a pattern right on top of the canvas itself and pierce that pattern directly on to your paper. You can soak the canvas in Dawn soap & water later and the pattern should come right off.
-Pierce holes in a straight line which is often very challenging but these canvases have aligned holes making it easy to work with.
-Create shapes by piercing holes that follow the outer pattern of the canvas you are working with.
For instance: with the small star shaped canvas as seen above, you can just pierce your holes within the perimeter of the star, following the holes closest to the outside edge of canvas and you will create the pattern of that star on your paper/project.

Once you have pierced your holes you can do any of the following:
- Leave them blank- sometimes just a subtle touch, outline or shape is all you need
- Stitch the holes in a criss-cross pattern with embroidery floss
- Stitch the holes in a straight line with yarn
- Faux stitch by running your gel pen across the holes connecting the dots
- Faux stitch by connecting your dots with a gel pen in an "x" pattern.

These plastic needlepoint canvases are inexpensive and very helpful. If you have always wanted to try stitching but worried you wouldn't be able to pierce straight or that you can't sew...I hope this tip makes you reconsider.

Happy Crafting!