term of the week 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!

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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

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

A Stitcher’s Dictionary: Table of Contents

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

A Stitcher’s Dictionary: Table of Contents

Each week on Little Thread Crafts I do a Term of the Week dictionary article, where I pick a common word or phrase among cross-stitchers and explain its meaning. Here they are, all collected, as a Stitcher’s Dictionary!

Below you will find an alphabetized list of every term I’ve done so far. Think of it like a cross-stitcher’s dictionary, and this is the table of contents.

Click the word to read the article. Happy Stitching!

Term of the Week: PMS

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Term of the Week: PMS

This week’s Term of the Week is another acronym where stitchers have taken a word and claimed it as their own!

So, what does PMS mean? It’s fairly simple: PMS means Protecting My Stash. Actual PMS is known for its moodiness and irritability, which is what happens to stitchers whenever someone tries to threaten our stash! A common phrase to hear is, “Someone wants to clean out my craft room and I’m PMSing!”

As all stitchers know, we are very protective of our stash… so if someone tries to come between us and our stash – whether to say we have too much or wanting us to give or even – gasp! – throw some of it away, stitchers can get very aggressive and snappy!

Whenever I see the word used by stitchers, I picture a dragon hoarding and protecting its cave full of stashed stitching stuff. It’s definitely a useful term when you think about it!

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

Term of the Week: FFO

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

This week’s Term of the Week is actually a request from a reader!

Let’s get right down to it: what does FFO mean, exactly? Unless you’re familiar with another popular cross stitch term, UFO, the acronym won’t mean much to you. But if you know what UFO means, then FFO makes a lot of sense!

FFO stands for Finally Finished Object. It is the term and acronym for when you finish a UFO, or really any piece that feels like it’s taken forever to finish. It’s a term that means success and achievement, because you finally got over that roadblock to finish something that’s been on the list for a long time.

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

Term Of The Week: Craftermath

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

Today’s Term of the Week was posted on my Instagram feed, and I decided I must do a Term of the Week on it! It fits so many so well.

So, what does the word Craftermath mean? It’s pretty basic. A Craftermath is the aftermath of a particularly intense crafting session. It is most often demonstrated by your crafting area of choice being a total disaster.

I’m sure we’ve all been there. You get into a particular groove and you can just go and go and go! And when you’re finished, your area looks like a tornado blew through it. There are fabric and bits of thread everywhere. I never look forward to cleaning up once I’ve had a long stitching session, as it usually gets pretty messy! Especially if I kitted up the project at the same time as well.

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

Term of the Week: PIZL

Little Thread Crafts Term of the Week

This week’s Term of the Week made me laugh when I saw it. I had to cover it for today’s term. It applies to me so well!

So, what does a bunch of random looking letters like PIZL mean? Well, it’s actually an anagram for a bunch of different words.

PIZL stands for Projects In Zip Locks. What does it mean? What are Zip Locks?

Ziplock is a type of plastic bag for things like sandwiches that seal together using grooves like a zipper. They are resealable and come in all different sizes. So Projects In Zip Locks – PIZL – literally means cross-stitch projects you keep in resealable plastic bags as a means of storage.

This applies to me so well because I use the plastic bag storage almost exclusively for my projects. Once I open a kit or get all my supplies kitted up for a chart, I stick them all together in a plastic ziplock bag – usually a Ziploc brand, which is the company the word came from.

For anyone else who may use the same system of storage, this is the term to describe what you use!

Just some of my PIZL!

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

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