What to Do With With Excess Aida When Stitching a Large Cross Stitch Design

In this episode, I am sharing some tips on what to do with excess aida when stitching a large design and you have a lot of excess aida/evenweave hanging down around you.

You can listen to the episode below and grab the links mentioned in the episode too. And/or keep scrolling to read the blog post.

And there is an image below to pin this episode for later if you want to come back to it.

Links mentioned

What to Do With Excess Aida When Cross Stitching

I’m not an expert in this and I’m sure I will be back with part 2 soon as I am currently stitching a huge project.

When I’m stitching, I want the aida/evenweave out of the way on the side that I hold it on (left hand for me). I’m not too bothered on the side that I stitch with (right hand for me). This is because I don’t need to flip my hoop over (if I’m stitching using a hoop, which I usually do) when I’m stitching. I can bring my needle through the back without looking. But this takes practice so if you are a beginner you may need it out of the way on both sides.

Use a larger hoop/Q-snap

I am comfortable holding a 10-inch hoop. The bigger the hoop the more fabric is being held so the less excess you have hanging around it.

Sometimes with a large hoop I lean back and rest the bottom against my chest to take some of the weight off.

You can also put larger hoops on a clamp to hold them for you if larger hoops bother your hands. I like this Elbessee Lap Stand or you can get a table clamp from them too. They both move up and down too so that you can change the height of where the hoop is for you.

Roll it up

You can roll up the excess aida and use binder clips to secure it. This can make your hoop heavy though. You can use paper clips if the fabric isn’t too thick which are lighter. Or you can pin it but I don’t always like putting pins in my cross stitch fabric.

Use a needle minder

If you have a strong needle minder you can fold your fabric in and secure it with your needle minder. These are something you usually have lying around so you could even put 2 minders on to secure if 1 isn’t strong enough.

Drape it

You can put your hoop on, or put a frame on but don’t roll it up. Then you can drape the excess fabric over the arm of your chair or across your chest. Fabric on fabric tends to stay put and won’t slide around too much.

Use a scroll frame

I prefer smaller ones so I can hold them in my hand but again you can get a stand to hold them if you need a larger one.

For scroll frames, you clamp your fabric on the top and bottom with plastic clips. Then you just roll your fabric up and tighten it when it’s done.

These are my new favourite things to use in cross stitch; your fabric doesn’t crease and as someone who rarely irons, these are perfect!

This is the one I have from Love Crafts*.

Use a floor stand and frame

For really large designs you can get a floor stand with a frame attached to hold your fabric. This will make sure all your fabric is tucked away and allows you to work on large areas at a time. But they do take up quite a lot of space.

I don’t have one … yet! But I would love one and it’s on my wish list!

You can get lots of different sizes but I love the look of this Elbesee Floor Stand from Love Crafts*.

What to Do With With Excess Aida When Stitching a Large Cross Stitch Design | S3E47

Links mentioned