Animal Advent Stitch-a-Long - Let's Talk Fabric
Starting on March 11th, I am co-hosting a 2 year stitch-a-long with Brooke's Books Publishing, the Animal Advent Freebie Collection Stitch-a-Long. Check here each Tuesday for announcements and tutorials relating to the SAL.
With 3 weeks until our first chart is released, today I'd like to focus on fabric for your project. Taking a little time now to decide on your fabric means you'll be ready to get stitching as soon as the first chart is released.
The first choice you'll need to make is the fabric count you'd like to stitch on. If you will be stitching with one of my handspun silk thread packs, I recommend using 32 count linen (16 count Aida) with the Regular weight thread packs, and 40 count linen (20 count Aida) for the Petite weight packs.
Once you've decided on a fabric count, you'll want to think about how you plan to stitch the charts - are you going to stitch them individually, and perhaps finish them as ornaments? Or maybe you will want to modify the borders of the charts so you can stitch them all in a row, or in a grid, on one piece of fabric.
The design size for each of the charts is 43 x 52. On 32 count fabric that translates to 2.69 x 3.25 inches, and on 40 count you'll end up with 2.15 x 2.6 inches. If you are planning to stitch them all together, using these numbers should help you estimate your fabric needs (if you need help, just let me know!).
If you are planning on stitching the charts individually, make sure you also consider the border you'll need between pieces before deciding on your fabric. When working on a big project like this, I like to work with either 6 x 6 inch pieces of 9 x 9 inch pieces of fabric - it just makes the math easier!
Using 6 x 6 inch pieces of fabric will give you fairly small borders on the 32 count fabric, but with still more than an inch of each side, it should be sufficient for most non-framing finishing techniques. You can get 24 6 x 6 pieces of fabric out of a Fat Half, and 54 pieces out of a full yard (54 x 36 inches).
Using 9 x 9 inch pieces will give you plenty of border fabric to work with, but will require twice as much fabric - you'll only get 24 9 x 9 pieces out of a full yard of fabric.
Personally, I will be using 9 x 9 inch pieces for the Regular weight models, since those are going to be framed for display at my local shop and at trade shows, and 6 x 6 inch pieces for the Petite weight models.
Lastly, once you've settled on a fabric count and considered what size of fabric you might need, you'll want to think about color. I will be stitching all of my models on Forest Haven from Silkweavers - this is the fabric shown in the image above. It's a lovely blend of foresty green-grey with touches of pale sky blue. While you certainly don't need to use the same fabric I'm using, I would recommend you think about something either on the blue/green/grey spectrum or something neutral like Flax.
Lastly, I also wanted to remind you that today is the last day for the early subscriber's discount - purchase an individual pack or subscription through tonight at 11:59pm PST and receive the following discount:
Katie Kitty individual pack - 10% off
Auto-ship subscription - 10% off for the life of your subscription
Pre-paid subscription - 20% off
I am really excited about this project, and I know you will love stitching these adorable little animals with us. If you are joining the stitch-a-long, leave me a comment below with your blog, etc, so I can start following your exploits! Happy Stitching :)
