PC cross tutorial

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This is a plastic canvas tutorial for making the little crosses I talked about in a recent post. The thumbnails do NOT lead to a larger picture. It will give you an error.

Big thanks to my son Ben, who helped me with the pictures. I could have done it by myself if I'd had three hands. LOL

First step is to get some plastic canvas crosses, or a large piece of plastic canvas from which to cut crosses. Cutting plastic canvas is a pain so I like to buy precut pieces. I understand that Michael's has the 3" crosses and I have also purchased them from Oriental Trading online. I didn't find them at the Michael's site but check your local store.

Next, you have to cut a strand of yarn for each cross. For the 3" crosses, you will need approximately 24" of yarn. You might cut one strand, make a cross and if you find that length works well, then cut the rest of them. You don't even need a ruler for this. I measured my pieces by the front of the drawer of my desk. One drawer-length is what I needed. :-)

Then I get my needle - I like a #16 needle for sewing. It has a blunt end and I find it works for most applications.

Now I have to thread the needle. You do this just like you would with sewing thread. What I do is double it up and slide it along the needle to thin it out, then I pinch it at the top and work it through the extra large hole in the needle, pulling one thread all the way out. You can do it whatever way works best for you.

Then you begin.

Reminder: Do not click on pictures. They are not links to a larger picture.

1) Holding the cross at the bottom, bring your needle up from the back and through the second hole from the right.	2) Bring your needle up and through that hole, leaving about a 5"-6" tail. You will have to be careful as you work not to pull that tail up too short.	3) You will bring your needle down in the next square to the right.
4) Next bring your needle up from the back, through the hole which is above the one you just left	5) then down in the one above that one	6) the up in the one above that
7) When you get to the "cross" section, you will go into the square on the same vertical row that you are on, but which is also on the horizontal row, then you will go one over to the right. This will be a "down" stitch, bringing the hook from top to bottom.	8) Continue as before, going into each square, in and out (over and under) as you have been doing	9) Now you at the end of the cross. You bring the needle into the last square and pull the yarn through. This should bring the yarn to the same side of the cross as your beginning strand.
10) My last strand, as you can see, is longer than my first strand. This will vary, depending on how much you cut, how much you left at the beginning, how tight your stitches are, etc.	11) All you have to do is trim the extra before you tie.	12) then you tie the two ends together Here is a picture of the completed cross, from the back (wrong) side.