After what seems like ages I have picked up some cross stitch and it feels so good to be stitching again! The trigger that got me started again was that my absolute favourite cross stitch designers The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery have released a new pattern The Nutcracker Parade.

After Swan Lake The Nutcracker is my favourite ballet, especially at this time of year so as soon as I saw the pattern drop I knew I wanted to stitch it.

As I was stitching I thought I would share with you one simple trick that helps me keep the back of my hoop free of as many knots as possible thereby keeping it neat. This is probably something most of you know but just in case you don’t I hope you find it helpful! There are other ways of starting a new thread without knotting but this is my preferred way.

Most patterns call for 2 strands of floss so what I do is cut an extra long piece (about double the length of what I need) and instead of taking 2 strands I take just one.

Then I fold it in half so the 2 ends meet, you should have a little loop at the end.

Then just thread your needle as normal and put the needle in the hole where you are wanting to start and create a half stitch, but make sure to not pull the thread all the way through.

Once your needle is back through to the underside of the fabric thread your needle through the loop you have made.

Then just pull! This will secure the thread and make it invisible!

You’re now ready to carry on stitching as normal!

I’d be really interested to hear how you secure your threads? Do you knot? Do you have another handy trick or is this the way you do it yourself? Am I telling you all something you already know? I hope I have given a eureka moment to at least one of you out there! :)<3