Cross Stitch Fabric

You know from all my bellyaching about it that the hand dyed linens for cross stitch is hard to get. The bigger pieces seem even harder. The fabric, for the most part, comes in fat eighths, fat quarters, fat halves and full yard pieces. A full yard is 36″ x 55″. Once I figured out that the colors I love and will use over and over again, I decided it was more cost effective to buy full yards.

It isn’t that it’s more economical to buy the full yard vs. the fat quarters or fat halves because, on the Vintage Country Mocha, the full yard is $71.09. One fat half is $35.55 so, two would be $71.10.

Stick with me here while I do a little math.

For the Farmhouse Christmas piece, I’m using 32 count Vintage Country Mocha and I need my fabric to be 19″ x 19″. I never buy the exact size because I had one piece that was cut very crooked. It wasn’t an issue because I needed a piece that was something like 10 x 13 and the piece I had to buy was 13 x 18.

For the Farmhouse Christmas piece, I would feel comfortable buying a 20 x 20 piece. That would give me extra to pull a thread and make sure I was starting with a straight edge and still have 3″ on all sides. To get a 20 x 20 piece, I would have to order a 27 x 36 piece for $35.55. The best way, in my opinion to salvage the leftover fabric would be to cut it so I have a 16 x 27 piece and a 7 x 20 piece.

But, if I buy a 36″ x 55″ piece, cut out the 20″ x 20″ piece I need, that leaves me with this:

There’s a lot more I could do with that! I could square it up and have a 16 x 20 piece left, and a 36″ x 35″ piece.

The way it comes out more economical is by being able to cut out the size pieces I need and not having to buy one of four sizes offered. Maybe it isn’t really more economical but it seems so to me, plus . . I have the extra fabric in my stash.

So, yesterday I cut out the 20 x 20 piece. I first pulled a thread to make sure I was cutting it straight, cut it out and serged the cut edges. That meant I had to thread the serger, which I had been dreading. It would not fit back in the box with spools on the spool holders so I left it threaded but cut it the tails very long, tied them all together, then I cut that knot, added new thread and pulled them through individually. That didn’t take but a second and I now all two sewing machines and the serger running. That makes me very happy.

Last night I started doing a bit of gridding on the piece I’ll use for Farmhouse Christmas. I’ll finish that today and get it loaded on the frame . . ready to start stitching tomorrow.