The book
Stitch by Stitch
A beginner's book built to sit next to your hoop for years, not just your first project. Coming later this year.
Too many beginners give up in their first few weeks. Almost never from lack of talent. Usually because the instructions assumed knowledge they didn't have, or because nobody told them that everyone's first hoop looks like that.
This is the book we wanted when we started: thorough, honest, and written for someone holding a needle for the first time. We're still finishing it. A full chapter is below, so you can judge it for yourself.
What's inside
- What you actually need
- Floss, hoop, needle, fabric, scissors. What each one does, and what you can skip for now.
- Setting up
- Cutting a workable length, separating strands, threading, and getting the fabric drum-tight.
- Six stitches worth learning first
- Running, back, split, satin, stem, French knot — in the order that builds on itself.
- Reading a pattern
- Colour codes, strand counts, and what the symbols mean.
- When it goes wrong
- Tangles, puckering, thread that keeps snapping, and knots you cannot undo.
- Finishing
- Ending threads securely, washing out marks, and mounting a piece in the hoop.
- What normal looks like
- The messy back, the unfinished project, the piece you hate on day three.
We're finishing it now. It will be published on Amazon later this year.
Read a chapter first
How much thread to cut
Cut about 45 centimetres — roughly the distance from your fingertips to your opposite shoulder. It will feel short. Cut it anyway.
Longer thread seems more efficient and is the single most common reason beginners end up with tangles. Every pass through the fabric twists the strand slightly and drags it against the weave. A long thread accumulates both, and the last third of it will be worn, fuzzy and prone to knotting just as you're trying to finish a section.
Standard 6-strand cotton floss is meant to be separated. Cut your length first, then pull strands out one at a time from the cut end — never try to split the whole skein. Two strands is the usual starting point for most beginner patterns on medium fabric.
If your thread is twisting on itself as you work, let the needle hang free from the fabric for a few seconds. It will spin itself back to neutral.
That's one section of one chapter. The rest of the book works the same way: the reason first, then the instruction.