It’s either an all too common video you’ve seen, or an all too familiar story on Reddit, Facebook, or other cross stitch communities; the new stitcher, at their wits’ end, asking for help on how on earth to remove aida from their stitching.
You see, they’ve fallen for the TikTok Trap.
To be fair, this isn’t just on TikTok, but we see more new cross stitchers falling for this trap from the platform. But the story is almost always the same:
I saw a cute video of someone stitching on their jeans, and so I tried to replicate it. But I can’t remove the fabric! What am I doing wrong!?
Someone on Reddit
It’s normally accompanied by an image of someone stitching a decent little cross stitch onto fabric, with tufts of aida hanging on for dear life, refusing to be extracted from its new home.
I feel for those new stitchers. The issue is a basic one; the video was using soluble canvas or waste canvas, and they’re using aida, or another type of cross stich fabric.
No one said anything on the video, and no one showed the fabric being removed. It was an easy mistake to make!
I kind of understand it from the video creators’ point of view as well; it’s all about the format, they aren’t doing it to be mean. The 15 second video looks better when there are no words, no explanation, or no struggling to pull out the fabric. The payoff, just like a cross stitch timelapse, is the speed of the result, and how great it looks at the end. The “this is how to remove the fabric” or “this is the type of fabric” part of the clip just doesn’t engage on the platform.
Is TikTok Good For Cross Stitch?
I’ve tried to get to the bottom of if social media is good for cross stitch before, and I settled on the idea that it probably was. But TikTok is a different beast.
The Bad:
You can imagine how annoyed you might be as a cross stitcher to get stuck with a completed design, only to have fabric hanging off of it, refusing to budge. But it’s actually worse; it’s new stitchers.
These people have come to the hobby hoping for great things, stitch away and put in hours (and it does take hours for a newbie), only to stumble at the final hurdle.
My greatest fear is that this mistake costs them the joy of cross stitch. Do they throw it all in after a bad situation and never stitch again?
I have been in this situation, admittedly in knitting, which is a great hobby for a cross stitcher, but I got stuck in the quagmire of a scarf that I couldn’t complete in 6 years, and didn’t knit again for a decade.
I went back, and now I love it! But it’s that bad experience right at the start that stopped the fun dead.
The Good:
That said, there is a really big positive here! Cross stitch is still engaging with people, cross stitch is still being found by new stitchers, and it’s being presented in such a way that people actively want to try to stitch. It’s taking a grandmother’s hobby and bringing it right to the eyeballs of the youth. I’ve even seen a massive increase in manbroiderers as a direct result of platforms like TikTok.
So, can we really be all that harsh on the platform?
Yes, the core bit of info gets left out, but with communities like Reddit, you see people laugh, you see the frustration, but you also see heaps of people piling in giving tips for what to do next time, or how to make the best of the situation.
TikTok plays a dirty trick on new stitchers sometimes, especially with waste canvas, but I can’t help thinking that, as terrible as it is, it’s still a good thing.
For all of those out there who came here looking for a solution, I’m afraid you won’t find one. You need to use a special fabric for cross stitch called waste canvas that can be pulled out of your stitching once done.
This project might just be a write-off. But don’t despair! Another project awaits…
Happy stitching,
Lord Libidan