The other day I was reading through a Mr. X Stitch post about cross stitching and saw reference to “waste canvas.” I had never heard of it so I started exploring further and my mind nearly exploded. It’s a cross stitch grid that allows you to cross stitch on any fabric. You just place it on the surface of the fabric you want to use, do your cross stitch, and then you pull out the strings afterwards. I couldn’t believe this had escaped me for so long and I immediately started brainstorming all of the different possibilities that this opened up.

I’m working on a larger project, but I was getting impatient to see how it was going to look. So I did a little test pattern to see the results. It’s different to work with the waste canvas because there are extra holes. I found myself getting confused and having to take out a lot of stitches.

The directions suggest getting the canvas damp. So I used a spray bottle so it wouldn’t get too wet. I used tweezers to help get the strings out.
First I took all the vertical strings out and then did the horizontal ones. Here’s a progress shot. The idea is neat but I don’t know how happy I am with the result, it’s kind of messy looking. In hindsight, I’m thinking I should have used an interfacing for the back. I thought it would be fine without it, but it could have benefited from some extra stabilization. The fabric was thin and I felt like I was constantly tightening it to make sure the tension remained consistent. Hopefully the bigger project will turn out better since the fabric is thicker. Only time will tell!