Following our super popular post on how to show cross stitch offline we’ve received a few comments about the best forums to display your work on. On the last count, there were about 30 forums, and so we’ve reviewed and ordered the list from the most active community to least active community, based on a test every day for 28 days.
In a stark contrast to cross-stitching.com’s forum, Reddit’s /r/CrossStitch is far more contemporary (although there is a fair share of traditional in there), and MUCH more international. There are roughly 50 people logged into the forum at any time, and whilst that’s much smaller in size, the participation is much greater, and often this is where the cross stitch masters hang their hat.
There’s a bit of a learning curve needed though, as each time you post, you have to add a code to the start of your message, but once you’ve picked it up, it’s actually super easy to navigate.
CrossStitchForum
Starting to get on the less busy side now, we have the CrossStitchForum, who’s the whole purpose in life is a forum for cross stitchers. Whilst it was extremely popular back in 2007, it suffered from low figures for a while, and I think we may see the end of it soon. However, in those archives are some of the best cross stitch question and answers you’ve ever seen. Whenever I have a question I look up the answer here first.
Craftster
A much larger forum, is Craftster, which in itself is a massive beast, however, the cross stitch and needlepoint section seems to have dwindled in the last 5 years. Whilst it’s a great place to show off your completed projects and WIPs, the community isn’t really there, and there isn’t much participation past the occasional “well done”.
The Cross Stitch Guild
The Cross Stitch Guild, unlike all our other entries, has never been a busy forum. However, the one saving grace, is anyone posting is likely been stitching for decades. This means that any questions you have will not only be answered but be answered by someone who has gone through the exact same things thousands of times before. Not too busy, but worth its weight in gold; pun intended.
If you know of any good forums, even if they’re specific to certain parts of cross stitch, then drop me a line and I’ll review them!
What sewing machine do you all recommend for finishing cross stitch projects and other intermediate sewing projects?
I have been wondering if Cross Stitch Forum is related to the one that was attached to Mary Hickmott’s New Stitches magazine. I enjoyed that one, pre- Facebook. After New Stitches quit publishing it held together for a while, and around that time, I became part of Facebook, but never really went back to the Cross Stitch Forum. Fairly recently it has shown up on my Facebook page. Just curious.
Timing-wise it does match up, but I don’t think they’re related in any way…
just noticed the forum is shorted was there anything taken off or out
cross-stitching.com no longer has a forum, so it was removed from the list
I bet the hobby of crossstitch has gone astray as I have read others and are doing same accept 123 cross.
Actually, there is good evidence to suggest cross stitch is still very popular. You can read up about it on my post asking “is cross stitch dead?”
A lot of businesses around cross stitch have closed recently, but I think that is due to poor customer care rather than dwindling sales…
Thank you!