needlework Archives - Little Thread Crafts

Term of the Week: s.e.X.

Term of the Week: s.e.X

For this week’s Term of the Week… I know, at first glance, it doesn’t look family friendly. But trust me, it is an actual term I have seen used in conversation, and it’s not as bad as you might think!

s.e.X. It’s obviously an acronym, but what does it mean? And why would anyone use it in a conversation when it’s clearly going to be taken the wrong way? Well, to answer the second question, that’s part of the fun!

Anyway, s.e.X stands for Stash Enhancement eXperience. Some will tell you it’s basically a way to make “shopping for new stash” sound dirty in a funny way. Others will say that s.e.X is a particularly euphoric stash buying experience – maybe you saved a lot of money during a great sale or found something you’ve wanted for a long time really cheap, or a hard to find item made its appearance just as you started looking for it.

s.e.X is a stash buying experience that fills you head to toe with pleasure and glee. Hence the appropriately named acronym for the event!

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“Term of the Week” is a weekly blog post highlighting a new word or phrase commonly used among cross-stitchers but not found in an ordinary dictionary. These posts are to help explain the words’ meanings in context and provide a resource for anyone wondering what a term like “frogging” means. Check back every Thursday!

crafts, cross-stitch, dictionary, diy, embroidery, glossary, little thread crafts, needlework, s.e.x, term of the week

Crazy Stitching Habits #24

Little Thread Crafts Crazy Stitching Habits

Crazy Stitching Habits #24

There are downsides to all of them, but if you ask me, I prefer plastic. I’ve have wooden hoops tear at the fabric because of a splinter, and metal has rusted and gotten rust on the fabric. I know some people complain that the color in the plastic can leach into the fabric, but I’ve never had that happen. Whatever way you want to go, the moral of the story is to never store your project on a hoop!

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Have a crazy stitching habit of your own? Feel free to leave a comment and your habit may be in the next segment! 🙂

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more before the blog, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!

crafts, Crazy Stitching Habits, cross-stitch, diy, embroidery, little thread crafts, needlework

Term of the Week: Stitchy Bug

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Term of the Week: Stitchy Bug

This week’s Term of the Week is one of my personal favorite terms! I use this one all the time! I’m really excited to share it with you all.

The Stitchy Bug goes by many names, but the variation of ‘bug’ is what I hear the most often. So what is a Stitchy Bug, and what does a bug have to do with cross-stitch?

The Stitchy Bug is a lot like a ‘muse’, the Greek goddesses of inspiration, and the name for what many a creator call their creative energies. The Stitchy Bug is the cross-stitch equivalent of that. It is the drive, the determination, the motivation, the creativity, the passion, the thing that makes stitchers want to sit down and stitch.

The phrase can be most commonly heard when someone is referring to their lack of drive or motivation for a cross-stitch project. “I lost my stitching bug!” is a common complaint in the needlework world. That’s what happens when your craft is an art; everyone loses inspiration, their drive for creativity every once in awhile.

Sometimes it can take awhile to come back, but it always does in the end. And that’s the second most common way you will hear the term used: “My stitchy bug came back!”

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crafts, cross-stitch, dictionary, diy, embroidery, glossary, little thread crafts, needlework, stitchy bug, term of the week

Crazy Stitching Habits #23

Little Thread Crafts Crazy Stitching Habits

Whenever I go to start a new project, I always take my thread list and go through my thread boxes to see if I have any of the colors I need before I make my list to take to the store. And without fail I’m almost always missing every single color I need! I’ve started buying extra skeins just to have them around for the next time I kit a project!

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Have a crazy stitching habit of your own? Feel free to leave a comment and your habit may be in the next segment! 🙂

crafts, Crazy Stitching Habits, cross-stitch, diy, embroidery, little thread crafts, needlework

Term of the Week: Procrosstinate

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Term of the Week: Procrosstinate

This week’s Term of the Week is a fun one, and one you can find on a coffee mug! I thought it was cute and wanted to share. So without further ado, here is the definition of Procrosstinate!

Procrosstinate

verb: To Cross Stitch when you could be doing housework

It’s like procrastinating for stitchers! How many other stitchers have avoided housework, homework, actual work, and any kind of other work you can think of because stitching is so much more fun and enjoyable? I know I definitely procrosstinate… maybe a little too much sometimes… everything in moderation!

I got the definition off of this cute mug from the YarnTree website:

Find it here! Procrosstinate Mug

The mug shows up in posts in my Facebook cross-stitch groups every couple of months, it seems. This definition feels so true I thought it would be worth a share!

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crafts, cross-stitch, dictionary, diy, embroidery, glossary, little thread crafts, needlework, procrosstinate, term of the week

Term of the Week: English Method

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Term of the Week: English Method

This week’s Term of the Week dives back into some more technical terminology!

When looking through cross-stitch techniques, guides, and instructions, you may come across the phrase ‘English Method’. And if you were like me, you’ll have no idea what that means. Luckily, the concept is actually pretty simple.

There are two main methods of stitching the crosses in cross-stitch: the English Method, and the Danish Method. We covered the Danish Method last week. Today, we’ll cover the English one!

When you make your stitches, if you do each ‘x’ at a time – so / and \ to make your x – before moving on to the next stitch in the row or column, they call that the English Method of stitching! It’s as simple and basic as that.

The English Method is also called the Vertical method because that is the primary use for this method of stitching. You use it to make a vertical column of crosses. Stitchers do not recommend using this method on horizontal rows. Also, this method is more sturdy and anchored on the fabric, but it also uses a lot more thread than the alternative of the Danish Method.

Example of the English Method of stitching

I don’t know why the English Method is called that. I tried finding the origin behind the name. My assumption was it was used primarily by the English in their embroidery work and that’s how it got its name. I couldn’t find anything to confirm this though. If any readers happen to know or have a source to the origin, feel free to let me know!

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crafts, cross-stitch, dictionary, diy, embroidery, english method, glossary, little thread crafts, needlework, term of the week

Term of the Week: Danish Method

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Term of the Week: Danish Method

This week’s Term of the Week dives back into some more technical terminology!

When looking through cross-stitch techniques, guides, and instructions, you may come across the phrase ‘Danish Method’. And if you were like me, you’ll have no idea what that means. Luckily, the concept is actually pretty simple.

There are two main methods of stitching the crosses in cross-stitch: the Danish Method, and the English Method. Today we’ll cover the Danish Method.

When you are making your stitches, if you go all the way down the row doing half stitches like this: / / / / / /, and then go back across the row to finish your crosses like this: \ \ \ \ \ \ , that is the Danish Method of stitching! It’s as simple and as basic as that.

The Danish Method is also called the Horizontal method because that is the primary use for this method of stitching, when you are stitching on a horizontal row of crosses. Stitchers do not recommend using this method when stitching on vertical columns. Also, this method, while less sturdy on the fabric, uses less embroidery floss than doing it another way. I don’t know about anyone else, but the Danish Method is how I was taught to stitch.

A small, kind of pixelated example of the Danish Method!

I don’t know why the Danish Method is called that. I tried finding the origin behind the name. My assumption was it’s used primarily by the Danes in their embroidery work and that’s how it got its name. I couldn’t find anything to confirm this though. If any readers happen to know or have a source to the origin, feel free to let me know!

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crafts, cross-stitch, Danish Method, dictionary, diy, embroidery, glossary, little thread crafts, needlework, term of the week

Progress Report: Home Is Where Your Mom Is, Part 1

Little Thread Crafts Progress Report

Progress Report: Home Is Where Your Mom Is

Today’s Progress Report is a Christmas gift I started to stitch for my mom! I made a valiant effort to get this done before Christmas. I didn’t quite make it… but I made huge progress on it! Now it’ll be a gift for whenever I manage to get it done.

So I started this piece with the heart in the center:

Friday Finishes #40: Rock The ‘Stache

Little Thread Crafts Friday Finishes

Today’s Finish!

Today’s Friday Finish is a fun quick stitch I did as a gift for a guy. You don’t find many kits, mini or otherwise, that are good presents for men.

Name of Piece: HD45759 Mustache

Designed by: No designer listed!

Chart or Kit?: Mini Kit

Distributed as a kit by Plaid Bucilla.

Kit Contains: 3 in x 3 in frame, 100% cotton white Aida cloth, floss, needle, chart

Finished Size: 2 1/16 inches by 2 9/16 inches

Progress Report: Home Sweet Home Code, Start To Finish

Little Thread Crafts Progress Report

Progress Report: Home Sweet Home Code

Today’s Progress Report is a project based on CSS coding that I bought on Etsy! My boyfriend studied Computer Science in college. When I saw this chart I had to get it to stitch it for him. A cool variation of the usual Home Sweet Home saying written in code was right up our alley!

The chart is called Home Sweet Home in CSS by Happy Stitch Net. You can get the chart for yourself here: Home Sweet Home in CSS.

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