Tags [edit]: cloth edges, cross stitch cloth

For the Newbie.....When I first started to Cross Stitch, I really didn't know anything about the material, what it did, how to handle it, how to keep it clean etc. I was unaware of how easily it pulled apart to be honest. At first, I just merely rolled it up on one side and worked with it from one edge. Later on, I just taped it. Neither is really convenient because the rolling marked the material wrinkled and messy, the tape makes it bulky and stiff. But without any other methods, or lacking anything else, tape will really work in a pinch. Eventually, because I had a sewing business at the time, I acquired a serger and serged my cross stitch material. Naturally, not everyone is going to run out and get a serger just to keep their cross stitch material from unraveling! Instead, most women DO have a sewing machine so just run a close zig zag stitch around the outside edge of your cross stitch cloth before you begin your work. You'll find this an enormous time saver. Madeleine Jacobs