I’ve been working on a rather large (9X17) and complicated Noah’s Ark cross stitch project for a few years now. It’s for my soon-to-be-born niece/nephew’s nursery and will be one of the first projects I’ve actually completed. After several years of being carted around and worked on sporadically, I’m going to need to wash it before framing. Anyone kno how I should do this? My guess would be by hand with Woolite and air dry flat.
Thanks y’all. I promise to scan and get it up somewhere when it’s complete.
Actually, somewhere in the back of my head I’m vaguely recalling (or else I’m having a False Memory ;)) that Woolite should NOT be used on this stuff. Can’t honestly remember for sure, though, but I’d check it out before I tried it.
:: pause ::
Okay, I went and pulled the instructions for one I’m working on right now. Here’s what it says:
I love cross sttching, I am about to start one with a cat on it, he has a feather hanging out of his mouth as he sits beneath an empty bird cage asking : " What bird?"
First off … are there any “strong” colours in it? Black and red have a tendency to bleed (as do some of the darker redder browns) and if you didn’t set the floss beforehand, you could have problems.
Cold water, mild dishwashing liquid, and a splash of vinegar should keep it from running if they weren’t set. Rinse with cold.
NEVER wring the work. To dry, take several towels and lay them flat. Lay the piece on top of them, and slowly ROLL it full length. This will suck most of the water out of it. Let it dry flat (a sweater dryer, the screen type that lays flat in a bathtub works great).
Don’t even think about trying to iron wrinkles out if the piece is still dirty or has skin oils on it, they’ll darken as the piece ages and look awful. If you got it clean, then ironing it UPSIDE DOWN on top of a towel or two for padding will help remove any lingering hoop marks.
I’ve been needlepointing since I was a little tyke & blocked several pieces. Blocking is a necessary step with needlepoint: you wash the piece, then stretch it evenly while it is drying. I don’t know if it is necessary for cross stitch
One option you have is to let the framer do the cleaning. Make sure that you have a very reputable framer.
If you clean it yourself, make a test swatch with threads from your piece. Wash & dry the test swatch first, that way you’ll know if it’s going to run. I’ve always used dish detergent(like you’d do with delicates if you don’t use woolite) and never had any problem. Rinse thoroughly. Dry flat if you’re not blocking.