Category Archives: Tips & Tricks

Life is like a box of sewing machine feet

I used to keep my sewing machine feet in a bag, where they floated around my sewing drawer, getting in the way as I ignored them and only used the regular presser foot, with the occasional zipper foot rendezvous. But no more! Now they have their own secure, labelled home in a repurposed embroidery floss case:

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They remind me of a fancy box of chocolates, each in their little compartment with a coordinated label.

Since I don’t have that many feet, I also put my different machine needles in the organizer, too, and a few pieces of beeswax for coating threads.

As a bonus, I had to find out what the feet I had actually were, which means I learned what they do, too! That overcasting foot is going to handy; it’s what you’re actually supposed to use to stitch over the edges of fabric so they don’t fray. I know I’m going to break that out next time I’m starting a new cross stitch project and want to keep the Aida from fraying.

If you’re thinking of organizing your own sewing machine feet, here are two posts that I found helpful for identification. My sewing machine manual was also a useful resource.

Sew Much Easier’s Guide to Presser Feet

Feet, Feet, Feet! from Sew Mama Sew

How do you organize your sewing machine accessories?

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Tip: An easy project size calculator

Today I have a quick helpful thing to share with you, dear readers. It’s just a Google Doc that I created that easily calculates the size of your cross stitch projects for different evenweave fabric sizes.

cross stitch calculator screenshot

The first page calculates size in inches and centimeters when you enter in the dimensions in stitches

cross stitch calculator screenshot

The second page calculates the dimensions in stitches when you enter in the finished size in inches or in centimeters

Open the spreadsheet here. Update: This is now available as a Google Doc template, making it even easier to save a copy to your Google Drive and use it all the time!

It handles both inch and centimeter measurements and 5 different sizes of evenweave cloth (11, 14, 16, 18, and 22; the calculator assumes you’re stitching over one, like on Aida cloth).

I hope this makes your cross stitching just a bit easier! Share & enjoy!

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