AW YISS. It’s that time, beotch! Welcome to the Steotch Fine New England Needlearts Inaugural Mystery Stitchalong.
What is it?
We’re going to post a series of cross stitch patterns at this URL. Each pattern will reveal a little more of the design. You stitch along with us, and create a badass sampler of your very own – but you won’t know what you’ve created until you’ve invested way too much time to allow yourself to see it as anything but a triumph!
How often will you post the patterns?
We’ll post a new pattern twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays, beginning on May 27, 2013, ending on June 20, 2013. Follow our page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get notified when there’s a new pattern posted. Otherwise check back here.
Share your progress using #steotchalong on Twitter or posting pix to our FB. We’ll have other ways to interact as we go along. If everyone is having trouble keeping up with the pattern schedule, we may slow down, so stay tuned.
What’s the finished sampler going to look like?
We’re not telling you, that’s what makes it mysterious and fun. But we’re really quite pleased with ourselves more than usual with this pattern. It will not suck. Think along the lines of House and the Cook. If you like those, you’ll probably like this a lot.
How big will the final sampler be?
It’ll be suitable for framing in a 5″x7″ frame, so a pretty decent size.
What materials will I need?
DMC Floss:
- 310
- 316
- 368
- 433
- 434
- 435
- 436
- 437*
- 632
- 738*
- 739
- 801
- 898
- 938
- 3371**
- 3772
- ECRU*
(*only small amounts; ** you’ll need the whole skein)
You can use any gauge of fabric, but if you want the final sampler to fit nicely in a 5×7 frame, we recommend Aida 16. We suggest “antique white.”
Do I have to be good at cross stitching?
If you’re totally new to cross stitching, we can’t promise you won’t have a little trouble keeping pace – but we’ve designed the pattern to be easy to complete for stitchers of all ability levels. If you fall behind, we won’t post spoilers above the fold on this link, so just don’t scroll down or read the comments.
The pattern uses cross stitches, quarter stitches, backstitching, and optional french knots. No fancy ninja stitching. It’s a very involved pattern, but doesn’t require extensive experience. We use blended entries (using 2 different colored threads to make stitches, instead of stitching with 2 of the same, like usual). We’ll post some basic directions, too.
Is it going to cost anything?
No, it’s free to play along. If you want to chip in something, you can. We’ve always said we’re like the Radiohead of infrequently-updated craft blogs.
Here are some links you can use to send us something via Paypal, if you want.
And yes, please share this announcement – the more people stitching, the more fun.
