FASHION ‘INSIDER’ FOR THIS FALL

I was at the mall today and was drawn to the women’s accessory department. There are oodles of pretty scarves there in all colors and fibers. There is a definite trend toward purples/burgundies for this Fall and Winter. Many of these scarves fall into the ’scrap’ category for us crocheters. Here are a few goodies that wouldn’t take much of a pattern to recreate.

This one is by Fossil. Ges some variegated yarn in deep teal and other blues, some solid blue/black for the embellishment, and a large gauge crochet hook. It would take an hour for the scarf and maybe another hour for its ‘flower’.

This Ralph Lauren sells for $48! Pretty colors. Easy to create some motifs and join them to suit yourself.

Here are two by Echo that sell for about $35. How easy would these be? Grab your orphan skeins and get busy!
The cutest scarves there today (IMO) aren’t on their website. They were made in bulky yarn, rows of burgundy and off white with slightly ruffled ends like the one on the orange sweater. These are really no challenge to make. So, start crocheting your holiday gifts now. Just pull out what you have on hand and work up some splendid scarves of your own today. Save at least $25 per scarf!

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One of the most common problems that cross stitchers at all skill levels have is that the cross stitch fabric can start fraying while you stitch.

Beginner cross stitchers might wonder why this happens and if there is something they are doing wrong to cause it.

The reason cross stitch fabric frays is because it is a woven fabric, and the nature of any kind of woven fabric (whether that’s cross stitch fabric, a torn up towel or a piece of fabric you’re going to sew) is that it wants to fray.

It’s not necessarily a huge deal if you cross stitch fabric starts fraying mid-project if you have left a lot of extra fabric around your stitching. But if there’s not much fabric to spare in order to be able to finish the project the way you want, you’ll want to do something to stop the fraying.

When I was growing up I remember my mom using masking tape for this purpose, but it turns out there are lots of different things that you can do to stop your cross stitch fabric from fraying.

Craft with Cartwright came up with 15 different things that you can try, which seems like a lot, but that just means you have lots of different things you can try.

If you don’t want to buy something, you can stitch along the edges. If you already have supplies like tape or glue, or access to pinking shears or a serger, there are lots of options you can try.

Some of these are more permanent than others, so it will depend a little bit on how you want to finish your cross stitch project as to which is the best choice for you. It’s a great idea to read through the whole list just so you can have them in the back of yoru mind the next time you start a project and think about how you would like to protect it.

You can find the whole list at Craft with Cartwright.

How do you like to stop fraying on your cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Craft with Cartwright]

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