Cross stitch is the one needlecraft where you can know nothing at breakfast and have a finished piece by the weekend. It uses a single stitch, a little X, repeated until a picture appears.
The easiest way in is a kit. Everything is measured out for you, so you are not standing in a shop wondering which fabric, which needle or how many colours to buy. You open the pack and start.
What you get in a kit
The fabric
Usually Aida, a cotton woven in a grid of clear holes so every stitch lands in the right place.
The threads
Stranded cotton in every colour the design needs, already sorted or carded.
A needle
A blunt tapestry needle that slips through the holes without splitting the fabric.
The chart
A grid of symbols, one symbol per stitch, with a key that tells you which colour each one is.
Watch the stitch before you start
Video: DMC
How to pick a first kit you will finish
Most people who give up on cross stitch chose a design that was too large. A big landscape looks lovely on the packet, but it is months of work. Start small and you get the pleasure of finishing, which is what brings you back for the next one.
Choose a small design, something you could hold in the palm of your hand.
Look for solid blocks of colour instead of lots of shading.
Keep to a kit with ten colours or fewer.
Pick a picture you love, because you will be looking at it for hours.
Three good places to start
A first project in an evening or two
Just Love Stitch keyring kit
KES 1,100
Small enough to finish quickly and useful once it is done. A keyring kit teaches you the stitch, the chart and the finishing in one go, and it makes a gift people keep.
See the keyring kitsSomething for the wall
Just Love Stitch wall art block
KES 3,500
A step up in size, with a finished piece that stands on a shelf or hangs on a wall. This is the kit to choose once you know you enjoy the stitch and want something to show for it.
See the wall art kitsNot keen on counting?
No-count kits have the design printed on the fabric in colour, so you simply stitch over what you see. Our Ladybird no-count kits start from KES 3,000 and are in the cross stitch kits collection.
Reading the chart
The chart is the part that looks hard and is not. Each square is one stitch, each symbol is one colour, and you begin in the middle of both the chart and the fabric so the design ends up centred.
Video: DMC
More than 170 kits to choose from
Come and browse them in person at our shop on the 1st floor of Sarit Centre, or pick one online and we will deliver it.
Shop cross stitch kitsOr call us on +254 798 316860
In Stitches is the authorised DMC distributor in Kenya.
Prices correct at the time of writing.
