Cross-Stitch Minecraft Earrings (Double Sided) (WITH PATTERN)
Introduction: Cross-Stitch Minecraft Earrings (Double Sided) (WITH PATTERN)
This guide will show you how to make any small cross stitch design you want into a double-sided earring! As an example, this guide uses a lava bucket from Minecraft, but any small (~18x18 or less) design should work. The pattern for these earrings are included, but the possibilities are endless!
Step 1: Gather Supplies
You will need:
* Clear Plastic Canvas, 14-Count
+ This count is difficult to find in stores, so you will probably need to look online for some. It comes in white as well, so feel free to go with whatever colors you think work best!
* DMC 6-Strand Embroidery Floss (For this design: 414, 445, 452, 648, 720, 742, 762, 3024, 3799, 3858, and White)
+ These are the colors that the pattern uses, but feel free to substitute with whatever colors you have on hand.
* Scissors
* Needles and Any Other Cross-Stitching Essentials
* Heavy-Duty Thread (not pictured)
+ I use heavy-duty to be safe, and I use black because it's universal, but make the most of what you have. Regular sewing thread would also work, but embroidery thread should be avoided if possible, since it is designed for form over function.
* 2 Fish Hook Earring Backs
* 4 Jump Rings
* Two Pliers
* Cutting Mat & X-Acto Knife (Optional)
+ You can get away with just using scissors, but if you have these they can definitely speed up the process.
Step 2: Cross Stitch Your Design
This is the step where you cross-stitch your design on to your plastic canvas. Since this guide is specifically about the process of transforming designs into wearable earrings, this step will largely be glossed over, since there are already many fantastic tutorials on the internet to teach you how to cross-stitch, such as this one.
The pattern for the design I made is included in picture form above if you are interested in following along with the same design. It is included in both color and black and white, so you may use whichever form you prefer.
Since these earrings are designed to be double-sided, the pattern provides the original design, and then the mirrored design as well. Since the outline of the lava bucket is symmetrical it doesn't matter that much in this case, but with other designs, it is important to cross stitch two original designs and two mirrored ones, in order to make sure that they will fit on top of each other.
One important thing to note when cross stitching is to leave at least one empty row of holes between each design, so the pieces can be easily separated later. For reference, you can see in the picture included above that there is an empty row of holes between all designs. If you forget to do this, you will run into trouble later, so remember to leave ample room between your designs!
Step 3: Cut Out Designs
After all of your designs have been stitched, you can start cutting them out! To start, roughly cut them out. 981
In this part of the process, the goal is to separate them from each other, you can focus on making them look nice in the next part. Scissors are the ideal tool, and you want to try to cut down the center of the holes. See the first photo above for reference of what you should have after this step!
After your designs have been cut apart from each other, it is time to make them neater. Use either scissors or an X-acto knife to trim the shapes down so there is one square of plastic canvas on all sides beyond the design. Make sure to never cut into the cross-stitch. If you cut into it accidentally, it will free one of your stitches on one side, and while that piece is potentially still usable, it might not be up to your personal standards, and you may need to restitch one of the shapes. In my experience, you need more caution on this step if you're using scissors instead of an X-acto knife, but you must be careful either way.
Another thing you can try to do is to reduce the "plastic-canvas" look by shaving away the bumpy bits on the sides that you get when cutting something out of plastic canvas. You can see the results of me doing this in the second photo. While this technique does improve the appearance, it must be done with caution so the design is not destroyed. 276