Stitch Ups Product Review

Stitch Ups are absolutely delightful ornament kits made by the folks at Stitch & Zip. The round ornaments come as complete kits with thread, pre-finished ornament, instructions, and even a needle. They make excellent on-the-go projects.

Stitch Up Product Details

The ornament has the design printed on 14-mesh interlock canvas, finished with seam binding. The finished ornament is 4″. Because the design is printed not all lines will be along one canvas thread. There is a full-color picture of the stitched ornament you can use as a reference, if needed.

The ornament has a matching suede cloth back attached only at the top to make a clean back (no stitching showing). There is also a ribbon hanger sewn to the top.

It comes with cotton embroidery floss in all the colors needed for the design.The threads are bundled into a twist of one-yard lengths.

There are currently 40 designs in the line with ornaments for Christmas, Halloween, Hanukkah, or any occasion. Unlike Stitch & Zip there is not a blank “Design Your Own” Stitch Up, though that would be a great addition to the line.

Preparation and Stitching

The first thing I did when stitching the ornament was to put everything into a small project bag, so I wouldn’t lose the needle.

Next I removed the thread twist and cut it in half, making stitching lengths of the threads. I then separated them into colors and tied each color into a loose knot.

The design is applied to canvas using some kind of iron-on transfer. It appears to cover the entire canvas surface, which allows for accurate placement. This means that some of the holes throughout the canvas are lightly blocked with the transfer. Unlike other transfers I have seen, this was very easy to stitch through. I did not find it a problem, although it surprised me at first.

I had plenty of colored thread for stitching the design area, which I stitched first. Then I continued to the background. I stitched the background in alternating rows of Continental and Half Cross; there just wasn’t enough background thread for all Continental or for Basketweave.

Once complete you can sew or use fabric glue to attach the backing.

Then your ornament is ready to hang.

Tips for Stitch Ups Success

The designs are pretty straightforward and easy-to-stitch. Even beginning needlepointers will be able to complete the project successfully. Here are some things I learned along the way that can make your project more successful.

• Unless you plan on having a lining behind your stitching and in front of the backing, you cannot use open stitches. Most of the trim and backing colors are very different from the stitched background and will not look good if seen through the canvas.
• You probably don’t have enough thread for fancy stitches, so stick with Tent unless you are using your own threads.
• Depending on the design, you may run out of some colors if you use Basketweave or all Continental. The piece is casual and small enough that I don’t find my mash-up Tent Stitch unpleasant. However I recommend that you go out and buy plenty of floss in a similar color if you want to stitch Basketweave, all Continental, or textured stitches. I would buy one more skein than I thought I needed. Then throw out or reserve for another use the thread that came with the kit.
• I began stitching at the bottom of the ornament. This works but it did make stitching the top more difficult than I would have liked. Stitching from top to bottom is a better choice.
• Because the seam binding is already attached it feels difficult to do the stitchesat the edge of the canvas. I found that if I always brought my need into the canvas at the binding I had more success. Even so, you may have to fiddle with your needle a bit.
• If you do sew through the seam binding, don’t worry, the backing is cut big enough to cover this.

Conclusion

I enjoyed stitching this kit, it was easy to do and very relaxing. I;m thinking doing several of them would be fun to make as gift tags or as favors for a holiday party. You could use matching thread or yarn and tie them onto rolled napkins as favors.

No vintage charts this week, between Christmas & a bit of tummy trouble, I’m just too tired. Check out Thursday’s blog post to see the schedule for vintage freebies in 2016.