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Plastic craft grid,
or plastic "canvas," is readily available at most craft suppliers
and is inexpensive to buy, easy to use, and an ideal medium for
Guides of all ages, from the smallest Rainbows to the Senior Section
- and beyond.
All the designs in
this booklet are meant to be worked in cross-stitch or half cross-stitch,
using wool of the appropriate colours. For younger girls it is
probably easiest to stiffen the end of the wool with sellotape
or glue (leaving it to harden first) rather than spend your whole
time re-threading needles!) but older girls who are capable of
a) keeping the wool in the needle and b) re-threading the needles
themselves if they don't, will probably prefer to use tapestry
needles.
Once you have chosen
your design (or made your own design) cut a piece of plastic canvas
slightly larger than the finished design - the canvas cuts easily
with ordinary scissors. Make sure you count the bars of the canvas,
not the holes - the cross-stitches are worked over the intersections
of the bars of the grid. Leaving an extra couple of bars on all
four sides allows for miscalculations…..
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If using
thick wool, half-cross-stitch (see left) will probably work OK,
and will certainly be much quicker - if the grid is filled in when
you've worked the stitches in one direction there's no need to go
over them again the other way! If your wool is thinner, however,
you may need to do a full cross-stitch : stitch the first row diagonally
across the intersections of the canvas grid as shown (depending
on the age and dexterity of the girls, you may want to do the colour
blocks completely all in one direction, or row by row.) |
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If the grid is not
sufficiently filled in, then work a second row of diagonal stitches,
with the stitches lying in the opposite direction so the threads
form a cross (see diagrams to the right.) It's easier than it
looks and the best way to learn how is by doing it.
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Once you
have completed your design you can either fill the background in
with a contrasting colour or trim away the excess plastic grid.
If you decide to cut the shape out, DON'T cut too close to the stitches
or they will come undone - leave enough plastic to support the stitches
(if in any doubt, or if the stitches are particularly loose as they
may be of done by younger girls, don't cut it out.) |
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These designs, when
finished, make effective Christmas tree decorations - simply add
a loop of wool to the top to hang them by.
If the girls want
to make their own designs, simply provide them with squared paper
and felt-tip pens!
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