My husband is almost finished with the cute snowman for Spencer’s Christmas stocking. He tried to be careful about keeping his hands clean, but the white fabric shows dirt really easily. What’s the best way to wash / clean it?
Sez here you can hand-wash cross-stitch pieces in warm water and mild soap, e.g., liquid dish soap.
That’s what I do for freehand embroidery pieces (though I’ve never tried it with cross-stitch), and it works just fine. Of course, dry the piece flat and if necessary pin it into the proper size/shape while drying (with rust-free pins, natch).
I put my cross stitch into a bowl with a bit of dish soap and some lukewarm water. Swish it aroung a few times (maybe more than a few depending on the size of the fabric). and dump out the water. Replace with fresh water–repeat till the soap suds go away.
Take towel, lay flat. Place design on top, roll up, squeeze gently.
When dry–or when you feel like it-- take design and a fresh dry towel to ironing board. Spread towel out. Lay cross-stitch on top, design downwards. Iron.
(This helps make the design really pop.)
I always used a solution of one tablespoon of laundry detergent with color safe bleach, and two cups of cold water. I would get the piece wet in regular water, lay it flat on a counter, and use a clean toothbrush (specifically bought for that purpose) to apply the solution against the BACK of the piece (rubbing the grime deeper into the front never seemed like a good idea to me). Let it sit for a few moments, and then rinsed it out with more cold water. Always looked great after that.
Remember, though, I came up with this on my own and it might be the “wrong” way to do it.
~Tasha
Mom always taught me to soak them in cold water with a little lemon juice.
Just don’t wash it roughly, or in hot- embroidery floss colors can bleed.
Dry clean.
Thanks for all of your tips! He’s not quite done with it yet, but only has some outlining to do. I’ll post a picture when the stocking is finished.
A cross-stitch piece should always be washed once it’s finished–even if it doesn’t show dirt, it’s still full of oils from hands and so on, which will cause the piece to deteriorate over time. I just use slightly warm water and Ivory soap, it works fine. Most embroidery threads don’t bleed any more, but it’s still good to be careful.