Hi all, this is Dana, in this video I'm gonna be talking about different kinds
of fabric that you can use for your cross stitch and also embroidery
projects. So there are three main types of fabric there's Aida and there is
evenweave cloth and there's linen. There's a lot of
varieties of these, but those are the three main ones that you'll find
stitchers use. You'll see occasionally people using something different like
maybe like a cotton or something like burlap or something like that, but yeah,
Aida, evenweave, and linen are your three main ones you'll hear a lot about,
and that's usually what's called for in most cross stitch patterns. So the first
one up is Aida and I've got some here. So Aida is neat, it's blocks of threads so
you can see here, I'm just gonna zoom in a little bit here, so you can see it's
actually made up of strands of threads that create little blocks in the middle. So
this is a really good fabric for beginners if you're just starting out
with cross stitch, because the holes are so easy to see. It also usually tends
to be a little bit stiffer, this is just a test piece of fabric I was using for
something, but so this is what's called, it's the Michaels
Loops & Threads variety. So if you go to Michael's shops and they'll have tubes,
like rolls of fabric, this is what this is. You can see it's a little bit stiff,
you can see it's left the hoop mark, and that comes out just by washing it and
ironing it. But yeah, you can see it's actually quite stiff to work with.
Whereas something like this is Aida as well, this is Zweigart, it's Aida, it's a
German company. They make they make beautiful fabrics. So you can see this is
a lot more pliable and a lot softer to stitch with. So this is what I used for
my Spirited Animals collection on my website, whereas this one, this
one's really good for quick little projects because it's not that expensive
and it is quite commonly available. This Zweigart you tend to have to go to
needlework shops or you can get it online places like Charting Creations or
123stitch.com or SewandSo. I'll put some links to those shops in the
description below. You can get these kinds of beautiful Aida fabrics. So you
can see that holes in this one are a little bit more
distinct than in the Zweigart, but the Zweigart is a lot more pliable. So this
is 14 count, that means it's 14 stitches to the inch. That's normal for what most
beginners start with, although many intermediate and advanced stitches also
prefer 14 count because it is easier to see the holes and to work with. Alright
and there's also different kinds of specialty Aida. So I'll show you this
here, this is this is Charles Craft which is DMC. So this is called Fiddler's Cloth
or Fiddler's Aida, and it's basically an oatmeal Aida. But this is actually
really nice, it seems stiff at first but actually when you start
working with it, your hands start touching it, it actually gets quite soft
and pliable. So that's really neat, it's actually gives a really nice rustic look
to patterns. So I use this for my Adorned Life collection, it's like a bunch of
pin cushions and and things like that. So that was actually really nice
for that, I wanted the pieces to have kind of a vintage look, and so this was
actually really really nice to work with. I actually got this on Amazon quite
inexpensively. Yeah and it's made by Charles Craft so
there's that, there's that kind of specialty Aida. You can get this is from Zweigart, I
just got this this is amazing, this is linen aida.
So I'll be talking about linen fabric separately, you can see the texture of it,
it's really cool. So this is actually made out of pure linen thread but it's
actually been woven like Aida, so it's a lot easier to stitch with than a normal
linen fabric which I'll go into in a moment. And you can get all kinds of hand
dyed Aida, you can hand dye Aida yourself like you would any other fabric as well. So
that's the Aida, it's good to start with. The next step is what's called evenweave,
and you can see I've got a bunch of different colours here. This is it's
called Purple Passion. This is also from Zweigart fabrics, and you can see the
count on this, that the thread count is a lot higher. This is 25 count, or 25
stitches to the inch if you're gonna be stitching over each individual thread. A
lot of people with evenweave and linen fabrics will stitch what's called over two.
So let's go over two threads, and I'll show you that. And this is just a little
project I did for a friend, I'll zoom in here, make sure it's focused. So
you can see, these stitches here you can see it's
actually each cross is actually going up two holes instead of one. They can go
over one but it's gonna be really small and you're gonna end up... what you might
want to use over one for, if you're doing a really really big project and say you
can't find fabric wide enough for it, then then you would go over one. But for
the most part these higher count fabrics you're going to stitch over two. Another
advantage of stitching over two is you can do fractional stitches. It's hard to
see here, but this is a back stitch this way and then it's actually a little
diagonal stitch here that goes across to help fill in this little part of the
letter here. So that's called a fractional stitch, and it's a lot easier to do on
the higher thread count fabrics like like the evenweave and the linen, just
because you've already got a hole there so you're not trying to puncture the
center of your block of Aida. Like if you're trying to go through the
center of this block to make a fractional stitch it's possible, but it's
a little tricky with a tapestry needle because the tapestry needle's not really
meant to go through the middle, it's meant to go just through the holes. So it
is possible but it is a lot easier when you're using the evenweave fabric. So that's
that, so this is Zweigart fabric, I've got a green and I've got a nice cream
one here, I used these all for the recent Royal Proclamations collection, and I'll
put links to all the collections in the description below as well so you can
actually see the differences in the fabrics. This is Monaco 28 count, so it's
a little bit higher thread count than the Zweigart here, the Zweigart's
called Lugana, that's just the name of the 25 count
from Zweigart, this is the 28 count
Monaco fabric from Charles Craft. You can see it's a little bit finer but with
evenweave you can see all the threads are really really even, they're all
identical, the space in between each hole is totally identical. Evenweaves
tend to be made out of cotton or cotton blend fabrics, and you know it's called
evenweave because it is so consistent across the whole fabric. So lots of
people like evenweave and it's really really nice to stitch with. And then the next
step is linen and I've got some examples here to show you, get everything out of the way,
this is some Cashel linen. So this is really really beautiful stuff, also
from Zweigart, my local needlework shop only stocks
Zweigert because they're one of the better companies and they've got a huge
range of colors and such. So these are both Cashel linen, obviously is it's
black and it's a little bit trickier to do, but you can see with this one it's
got a ton of fractional stitches, like all these little diagonal stitches are
actually all fractional stitches. So this is being stitched over two, same as this
one, this one doesn't have any fractional stitches at all this is just a pattern I
got off the Antique Pattern library I'm just stitching for myself. So this is a
like a delicate beige linen. So linen is actually from the flax plant
and you can see it's got a really nice sort of gentle sheen to it, like it's not
shiny at all but it's got a really really nice texture. But you can see how some of
the threads are a little bit thicker, some are a little bit thinner, sometimes
it'll have what's called a slub which is like a little area where it's like one
little section is just a little bit thicker and that's actually totally
natural. That's part of the beauty of linen. So that's the main difference
between linen and evenweave, is linen is a little bit more natural looking,
it's less manufactured looking but it does depend as well. I mean if you're
using a really really high thread count linen like this is Zweigart's
Newcastle linen, this is 40 count, so you can see how fine that is but yeah, you
see the little the little slubs. But yeah, that texture of the linen is
what makes it so beautiful, it's got a really really nice sheen to it.
So linen is really nice to work with, it is obviously more expensive than using
Aida but if you're doing a big project or you wanted to do something really
special, I would definitely recommend looking at linens and seeing what you
can either get at your local shop if you have one or order in. Most shops can
order in a huge variety of fabrics that you probably don't even know exists. One
thing to note though too about linen is it does crease a little bit more more
easily when you're working with it, like I'm stitching this one in hand so I'm
just rolling up the edge and then just stitching it without a hoop, and so you
can see it does get creased a little bit more easily. It irons out fine though, I
mean if you own linen clothing, you know that linen is a little bit more
temperamental in the fact that it does crease easily. But yeah, it is fairly easy
to take care of as well, it's nice durable fabric. it's really really beautiful,
I really like working with this. And I'll also show you some
specialty fabrics. So with the linen, so here's some other linens here, some
different colours, let me show you. So here's just some other colours I was
testing. so it's a nice gray there, and then there's the beige one I'm using for
the peacock. With the linen and evenweave, as well as the Aida, it depends on where you're buying it from, but there's all
kinds of neat patterns like this is 32 count even weave and it's so cute.
This is from Zweigart, they just sent me some samples which is fantastic. I think
they're so cute, like little polka dots again this is 32 count evenweave,
and it's got different colors available. I got some neat marbled type ones here
some more marble ones here, so you can get all kinds of really beautiful textures
and colours. You can even get sparkles, like a lot of fabrics have sparkles, this is
a linen that's got sparkles woven into it which is amazing, this is actually a
linen aida. This is 18 count linen so obviously it's
not pure linen because of the metallics running through it, but it is super cool
I'm really looking forward to trying something out with that. So that's pretty
much it, like I said you can get good fabrics from your local needlework shop
or Charles Craft which is DMC has a lot of good selection.
Zweigart you can search and see where they are available or where to order
them online, Charting Creations, 123stitch, sewandso.co.uk,
they can all order in any of these fabrics. And also for hand dyed
fabric there's a company called Fiberlicious, and I'll put a link to that as
well in the description, I haven't used their fabrics but some of my customers
have recently been using them, and they look amazing. Like there's one that a
customer is using right now and it's like this colour, it's similar to this colour
maybe a little bit deeper purple, but it's got sparkles all through it which
is really really cool, and her patterns coming up looking really really neat. So
that's pretty much it for now. If you have any questions or comments please
let me know in the comment section below, and if you'd like to access
the free patterns on the site, you can click on the little pop up in the top
right and then you can sign up to get instant access to those free patterns
that are on my site. And I hope you have a great day, bye for now!
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