#crossatitch

As what happens when I get involved in any craft, I start reading blogs, websites, and more to learn what I can about the new craft and I've been doing that a lot ever sense I crashed back into cross stitching. Because of this I'm learning more and more, and thought I might as well share it.

DMC's Prism thread is not embroidery floss. It looks like it and it's from DMC, so it should be, right? Nope! It for kids crafts like friendship bracelets.

Roll any excess fabric outside of the working area so that the backside is facing out - this will help keep dirt and oils off the front. (If you don't have a hands-free stand, look into getting or making one of those cool fabric covers - I wish I had because the frog project has a rather noticeable dirt ring on it from when I first worked on it a couple of years ago).

When finished with your piece, if it needs an ironing, place the piece face down on soft towel on the ironing board, place a thin towel or pillow case on top and iron through the fabric. This will help not crush or shift stitches. Also, make sure to use the proper iron setting - and be very careful with speciality threads like the metallic or glow in the dark ones.

As was told to me here on Tumblr, tape the raw edges of your project with either masking tape or blue painter's tape! This helps with keeping the edges from fraying.

Read the instructions for kits - this is important! A certain symbol or section could be supposed to be stitched with a single thread rather than double or could call for more than just 2 threads.

Have pets? Make sure to dispose your waste thread completely! I have a small glass jar with a snug lid I throw it all into. Thread (of any kind) can wrap around your pets' intestines and cause major damage and seriously harm your animal.