Jules Jones

This is a 2005-release kit which I bought some years ago and have had sitting around half-completed for at least three years before finishing it off this month in a sudden fit of enthusiasm. The reason for that is that although it's a mini-kit, it's in the Advanced category, and that's in large part because of the Light Effects metallic threads.

The impression I had when I bought it was that the bracelets were brought out in part to introduce the then-new range of Light Effects threads (which were largely a re-working of the old Metallics range, and not really so new). I bought it partly because I thought the kit looked attractive anyway, and partly to try out Light Effects. I had very little experience with metallic threads at the time, and this seemed like a good opportunity to try them.

Having finally completed the kit, the threads do give an attractive effect. But my, are they the devil to work with. Thread conditioner is a must, and you really do have to use short lengths as they degrade and knot fairly quickly, although one good thing about the kit was that the threads came pre-cut to the correct length. They're springy and prone to wildly changing tension in one strand or the other in the course of a single stitch. These kits are really, really not for beginners, and don't let the apparent small size of the kit fool you into thinking it's a single evening's piece for an experienced stitcher. But used in the right way, on the right piece -- yes, these threads are worth the aggravation.

As for the kit itself, it's a narrow aida band fitted with bracelet findings at each end. All you have to do is the actual embroidery, there's no further making up required. In practice, I think the piece would benefit from having some felt or iron-on backing attached to the back, as the reverse side with the cut thread ends is going to be slightly rough against the skin, and the threads themselves would be vulnerable to wear without some protection against being rubbed. I think the kit could have been improved with the inclusion of a piece of appropriate backing material. I can't tell how robust the piece is in use as I've only just finished it, but the clasp looks to be cheap but reasonably sturdy.

I worked it without putting it into a frame, as normally I find pieces this small to be easier that way. But this piece has a particular problem -- the bracelet clasp includes a long chain for one side, which can be used to adjust the closed length to different sizes. It's a nice design detail on the finished piece, but the chain has a great talent for getting in the way and getting tangled in the thread when you're actually stitching the piece. In hindsight, I wish I'd mounted it on a small bar frame and taped the chain out of the way.

It's not perfect. But for four pounds, which seems to be the current going rate if you can find them online, I think this kit is good value for money as a way to try out a metallic threads project. It seems to be discontinued in all four colourways now, but some places still have stock.

Not the magazine of the same name, but an unrelated online shop for cross-stitch and other embroidery. I found them by googling for a particular Textile Heritage kit type I wanted that has gone out of print in all patterns other than one I don't like that much. They still had limited stock of the kit in one of my favourite Textile Heritage designs, so I decided to grab 2 while they were there, plus a couple of other items.

I got an auto-generated VAT invoice by email immediately. The following working day I got an "order has shipped" email to tell me that they'd had only one copy of the kit left and my payment had been adjusted accordingly, and an updated invoice. Three days later a stout envelope arrived -- the delay was entirely the fault of the post office, because the postmark showed that it had been posted first class on the same day as the "order shipped" email.

As noted, a stout envelope rather than a bubble envelope, but the items I'd ordered didn't need padding, and the envelope used was up to the job of protecting the contents. The package also included an unannounced free gift of a pack of embroidery 3/9 needles. The pack shows that they were packed as Woolworths branded stock of Coats needles, so I strongly suspect that someone has made a judicious purchase of relevant bankrupt stock. :-) No idea whether this is routine, or a way of apologising for the out of stock item. The packet included a paper copy of the invoice, with a standard debit card receipt stapled to it showing the amount actually debited -- it looks to me as if it's done manually as a "customer not present" entry on the bricks-n-mortar shop till at the time of packing.

Good service, and I'd be happy to order from them again.

This is a (now out of print, I think) mini kit from DMC which uses printed aida fabric and includes a frame for the finished piece. The picture on the packet made it look like quite an attractive little piece. Alas, it also made it look as if the printing was just to give a nice textured background for the seahorses, starfish, and shells, but on opening the packet, this turned out not to be the case. The entire picture is printed on the fabric, and you simply stitch over selected highlights, rather like a cross-stitch version of a paint-by-numbers kit.

This in itself wouldn't, and didn't, stop me trying it out. Unfortunately, the printing doesn't match the aida blocks well, or indeed at all. Nor does it match the paper pattern given in the kit. Try to follow the pattern, and you'll end up with half the printed picture sticking out from underneath the stitching. Try following the printed picture, and you'll end up with a very odd looking seahorse.

At first glance this looks like something that might be suitable for beginners, but in reality it needs a certain amount of experience to understand how to work around its shortcomings. I think a beginner could get incredibly frustrated with this kit. As an experienced cross-stitcher I found it annoying to have to spend so much effort on fixing the flaws. It's a shame, because if this had been what I thought it was, it would have been a very pleasant way to pass a few hours.

I swore I wasn't going to buy any more cross-stitch porn^Wmagazines until I've cleared a few of the existing patterns. I've been on the wagon for months. And then agentxpndble posted a link to crafty_tardis, and one of the earlier posts there pointed out that CrossStitcher 202 has a nice little Dalek pattern.

So I walked around the various magazine-selling shops in the village until I found one that stocked it. :-)

Also, it turns out that the magazine did a pattern of David Tennant as the Doctor last year, and it was so popular that they've put it online as a free download:
http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/crossstitcher/david.pdf