Craft Time: Cross Stitch Logo
I finally finished my first cross stitch project about a week ago! I'm so happy with how well it turned out. I think the only thing I would change is having an extra shade difference between the two purples. It's a little hard to see the shading, even in person. I used a 14 Aida white canvas, a 3" hoop, embroidery needle, and DMC 211, 208, 3873 and 310. It's been years since I last attempted a needlepoint project and was very nervous going in. I knew the basics of how to do cross stitch, but had no idea what type of needle and canvas would be best to use. Thankfully, there's a ton of resources on Pinterest that I was able to click through an get a better understanding of how to go. I know once I'm super comfortable with doing cross stitch, I'll have a solid understanding for the best needles and canvas sizes to use. For now, though, I'm having fun with it.
I didn't really create a pattern to work from with this piece. Luckily, I made my logo by the pixel and the number of squares was still fresh in my mind. From there, I lightly marked the basic outline with a pencil and did the black (DMC 310) first knowing I'd need my perimeters set up before getting too deep in. Next, I did the light purple (DMC 211) highlights because I wanted to get the easiest steps out of the way. I would say doing the medium purple (DMC 208) and the dark purple (DMC 3873) was the hardest, primarily because the shades were too close in color and I was working in pretty poor lighting.
At one point, the thread in the back became a jumbled mess that took me nearly an hour to untangle. If you're working with a particularly long strand of color, be mindful of what's happening in the back because you might end up getting tangled and losing half your length. I originally wanted to have the full URL at the bottom. I realize now I could have achieved this if I had done a simple straight stitch instead of the cross stitch, but didn't want to risk it not coming out legible. Instead, I went with just the letters PNG. To get the curves on the letters I did a half cross stitch.
Overall, this project took me about a week to complete, but I was only working on it for maybe 5-20 minutes at a time. If I was able to give this my full attention and complete in one sitting, I would say this would probably have only taken me an hour or so. The total cost for this project was about $15-20, and that was for the hoop, canvas, embroidery floss spools, embroidery scissors and pack of embroidery needles with a case. The thread I already owned for a different failed project (friendship bracelets). I still have a TON of canvas and spools left, so really this project probably only cost about $4. I got this particular set of supplies at my local Hobby Lobby and saved with a 40% off one item coupon from their app.
I've already started on my next project which is Bulbasaur from Pokemon. He's so tiny on the medium sized-hoop I bought, so I'm thinking about having his evolutions layered behind him and stitching "I choose you" at the bottom. it's for a set of Pokemon ones that I'm doing based off the initial Pokemon I've chosen for each of the version I've played. Bulbasaur just happens to be my favorite of all the Pokemon, despite having never really chosen him as a starter. He's just so cute and cuddly looking!
