Small Cross Stitch Piece Finishing Instructions
There are times when I feel like a small cross stitch piece deserves to be finished in a more elaborate way than a simple pillow, flat finish, or in a frame. Sometimes adding accent fabric around a stitched piece actually helps draw more attention to the stitched piece and allows it to be better appreciated.
I am going to give you the steps to add a pocket accent to a stitched piece that measures about 3-1/2" wide and 2-7/8" tall when stitched. The Sneaky Sam cross stitch pattern by Thread Maniac Designs is close to those dimensions when stitched on 32 count fabric (over two threads of the fabric) or 16 count fabric (over one square of the fabric).
Materials Needed
- Stitched piece with at least 2" of excess fabric around the stitching
- Two - 4-3/4" by 4-1/2" pieces of fabric to form the pocket (cotton recommended)
- 4-3/4" by 2-1/2" piece of accent fabric that will be visible at the top left corner of the finished piece (above the pocket) (cotton recommended)
- At least a 10-1/4" by 6-1/2" piece of fabric that will be the back of the piece
- Two - 7-1/4" by 3-1/2" pieces of mat board - acid free recommended
- Optional - 7-1/4" by 3-1/2" piece of batting (I used natural quilt batting)
- Iron
- Writing utensil to mark fabric
- Some sort of glue to hold the mat boards together (hold the front and back of the finished piece together)
- Hot glue gun to glue the front and back fabric pieces to the mat board - otherwise a needle and thread can be used
- Way to sew material together (sewing machine recommended)
Below is a picture of some of the materials needed to finish this small cross stitch piece.
Start by creating the top of the front of the pocket. No raw edges are wanted, so fold one of the 4-3/4" sides of the fabric 1/4" toward the wrong side of the fabric (side without the design), and iron it. Then, fold that edge another 1/4" toward the wrong side and iron again. This folding and ironing will fully hide the raw edge of the fabric.
Sew across the folded edge of the fabric 1/8" from the edge.
Put the right sides (sides with designs) of the other 4-3/4" by 4-1/2" piece (the one not sewn) and the accent piece (4-3/4" by 2-1/2" piece) together by lining up one of the 4-3/4" edges on each piece. Sew the pieces together 1/4" from the edge they are lined up on.
Unfold the newly sewn fabric and iron it. Then pin the piece that will be the front of the pocket to the portion of the newly sewn fabric by first lining up the bottom raw edges of the pieces of fabric. Only pin the left and bottom edges because the right edge will be sewn later.
Make a line on the piece with the stitching 5/8" from the left, top, and bottom parts of the stitching. These lines will help line up all the fabric for sewing.
Pin the cotton pieces to the stitched piece with the right (designed) sides together by lining up the left side of the back side of the cotton pieces on the line we drew to the left of the stitching, and center the cotton fabric from top to bottom by having an equal amount of cotton fabric above and below the lines we marked on the cross stitch fabric above and below the stitching.
With the back of the stitching facing upward, sew 3/8" to the right of the back of the stitching to connect the cotton pieces to the piece with the stitching.
Unfold the fabric and then iron flat.
Now, all the sewing is complete. Stretch or glue the piece to one of the 7-1/4" by 3-1/2" pieces of mat board. I added quilt batting between the fabric and the mat board, but that is not necessary.
Stretch or glue the 10-1/4" by 6-1/2" piece of fabric over the other piece of mat board.
Below is a picture of the front and back of the piece before they were glued together.
Glue the pieces together - I used Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. Let the piece dry and then go ahead and display it!
Consider displaying with some pins, a scissors in the pocket, or next to another cross stitch piece!
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about finishing a small cross stitch piece like the one shown, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section below.
~Lindsey
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