Sprite Stitch Board!

I'm a novice cross stitcher, and just bought a piece of Aida cloth that was folded into the package. Obviously I'll want to get the creases out. Is it best to do that before or after stitching. And any tips/hints for how to get the creases out?

Thanks.

Just iron it. It's cotton so it can take some pretty serious heat.

I'd probably wait until you're done unless you're planning on leaving it in the hoop or it's bothersome to work with the creases in it.

You always want to make sure you wash (gentle cycle by itself and then flat air dry) and then iron aida after you are completely done with your project. You can iron it before, but you will just be doing double work. You want to wash your project because as you are sewing it will get dirty. The larger the project, chances are the dirtier it will get.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

I ended up ironing it beforehand. It's going to be a fairly sizable project (for me) and I realized I didn't want to finish the whole thing, have to iron it and some how end up ruining it, so I did it first to kind of test it out. Heh, I'll have to wash/iron it again when I'm done, but at least now I know what I'm doing.

When you iron it after washing it you must put it inbetween a towel or teatowel. That way your stitches aren't getting the full of your iron. Also iron when your work is still damp and don't wring it out to get the extra water out. I did that and it was harder to iron afterwards with all those wrinkles!!!!

ive found it easier if you dampen your fabric first by spraying water on it, then gently ironing it, the creases come out very quickly. i dunno if thats already been said but it works well for me!

tnitnetny wrote:You always want to make sure you wash (gentle cycle by itself and then flat air dry)

wow. you put it in the washer? I'm kinda scared to do that. I usually just hand wash in the sink to get out any stains...

I am a woman, so I have many delicate things that go in the wash.

You just make sure it is cold/cold, on delicate, and use liquid detergent. I have never had a problem.

Washer?!@#
That is kind of scary, delicate cycle or not.
Soaking it with a tiny drop of dish soap (I use Dawn) got a purple pen stain completely out of white thread.
I didn't soak it very long either (an hour and a half?).
And yeah, have it dry flat, then iron when still kind of damp, it's been said before.

So it shouldn`t make the colours run with the DMC thread? I had a bunch of ladies tell me that they will if you try to wash it by hand.