Washing Aida cloth

Question: Am I supposed to wash the aida cloth before I start my cross stitch project? It is often so stiff I can hardly get the hoop around it!

Thanks, Pamela Griggs

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starstarstarstarstar 		wondering
by: Anonymous

Does that mean that the Aida fabric I ordered isn't Aida then?

I want the stiffness of it, but when I got my order it's not stiff at all! I hold for a min and its super soft I am having a hard time…
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starstarstarstarstar 		Washing Aida, Hoops
by: Debbie Rice

If you just want the stiff to go away, you can just rinse a colorfast aida in cool water without any complicated washing directions or arguments about different solutions to use.

If you are more comfortable with an embroidery hoop (while I agree with Valerie that q-snaps and other non-creasing holding devices are better -- it's your project and you want to do what's comfortable and pleasant for you), ALWAYS take hoop off when you put your stitching away versus storing your work in progress in the hoop. Unless you stitch more than 8 hours straight in a day, this prevents the major almost-impossible-to-iron-out creases.

If project completely fits within hoop, don't even worry about the creases that will not be seen once your piece is framed or stitched into bellpull, pillow, etc.

Don't forget to occasionally clean your plastic hoops in case they pick up any oils or grunge from your hands/projects.

If using wooden hoops, beware of machine oil from manufacturing wood turning process.

Particularly with wood hoops but also useful for plastic hoops -- layer your project as bottom hoop, fabric, acid free tissue paper or plain white paper napkin, top hoop. Then rip whole in tissue paper to expose your stitching area. The paper just gives a little more protection.

I work for a needlework shop and the 80+ year old lady who stitches our large Mirabilia and Lavender and Lace angels as shop models -- she uses a small hoop and I have never seen a hoop mark on her work. She never leaves hoop on when putting work away.

The hoop horror stories are from a variety of hoops that have had machine oil staining a person's work, so rough projects got snagged, creases from hoops left on for months or years, and really bad creases from hoops left on needlework that wasn't kept clean so the creases have added grunge ...

Just take off hoop when putting project down.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Washing Aida cloth
by: Valerie Kalyani

You can wash the Aida cloth to remove any sizing and soften it. But I would not use a hoop. I used to but now I only use scroll bars or Q-Snaps. Hoops are rough on needlework fabrics and often leave permanent creases in the cloth. If you use a hoop on a piece of linen, you will very disappointed when all the pressing in the world does not remove the creases.

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