A couple days before spring break during my freshman year of college (back in 2010), I was lucky enough to be diagnosed with Mononucleosis (AKA "mono"). I say lucky because while it seemed crappy at the time, I found a fun hobby to help me pass a week in couch-locked purgatory: cross stitching!

I had been collecting cute animated pixel sprites from the Korean social media site Cyworld, and they seemed like the perfect designs to use for some cross stitch patterns. In honor of the #DisneyQuiltSwap2015 on IG, here are a few Disney-themed sprites I used. As you can see, they're animated, so I used Photoshop to select the specific frame I wanted to stitch, then saved a copy without any animation, shown below.

I use KG-Chart LE to make all my cross stitch patterns. It's available to download for free and is incredibly easy to use. The PDF user guide can be downloaded here (although I've never needed it). Click File > Import and select your sprite. Note: If you have an animated sprite, KG-Chart LE will just use the first frame by default. For this example, I'll use the cute Winnie the Pooh eating his pot of honey.

When converting a sprite to a pattern, the key is to make sure that 1 pixel = 1 stitch. Select "Aida" or "Linen" for which cloth you plan to use. I use Aida. "Th. Count" is where you should enter your how many stitches per inch or cm you plan on using. Now, check the dimensions of your sprite. If you use Windows, you can find this info by selecting the sprite file. The dimensions will be listed in the info panel, illustrated below. In KG-Chart LE, input these dimensions as your under "Chart Size" for Width (ct) and Height (ct). That tells the program to treat each pixel like a single stitch. 

If you select DMC for "Palette," KG-Chart LE will tell you exactly what colors of DMC floss you will need. In the "Color" field, enter approximately how many colors you will want to limit your pattern to. Hit OK!

Now you'll see something like this. The program uses a symbol key to help tell your colors apart from one another. You can turn on or off by clicking the "Show Mark" button at the top. The "Selected" panel on the right will show you the colors your pattern uses, including the DMC code and number of stitches you will be making with that color. Sometimes I'll further reduce the number of colors I need by repainting them with the "Set Pixel" tool (highlighted in the image below). 

You could also use these patterns for a pixel quilt pattern! 

Instagram Sewing Swaps: Are privacy and participation mutually exclusive?

When I signed up for my first sewing swap earlier this summer, I had no idea how quickly I would get hooked on swaps.While I've had to be careful and not over-commit myself with sign-ups, I indulge my swap love daily by following their hashtags on Instagram. (Shout to to all my #KittyMiniQuiltSwap participants!) It's always inspiring to see all the hard work and creativity everyone puts into their projects. It can only be topped by the lovely pictures people post of their happy packages and their sweet thank yous. I love how positive our Instagram sewing community is, right down to the generosity and graciousness of swappers.

But, like anything else, there are some elements of swaps that spark disagreements, like privacy vs. participation. I've seen the question discussed many times: should you sign up for a IG-based swap if you have a private account?

I have read through many lengthy comment threads on IG of participants lamenting their ghosty partners and it seems to be a polarizing argument. Private swappers appreciate their privacy and don't want to give it up for a swap, simple enough.

But why would private accounts be a bad thing for swaps?

For starters, if you are participating in a secret swap, you won't be able to view your partner's photos if they have a private account. That throws "stalking" out the window, making it harder to get a clear idea of your partner's style. If you want to view their photos, you must send a Follow Request that they will have to manually approve. Consequently, there is a greater chance your partner will deduce your identity, ruining the "secret" element of surprise.

Second, any swap-related photos a private user tags with the swap hashtag (like #KittyMiniQuiltSwap), will NOT appear under the hashtag feed unless you already have been approved to follow that user. That means if your partner snaps a photo of the lovely package you made for them and tags it with the swap hashtag, only their followers will be able to see it. Anyone who wants to browse the hashtag will never see your pretty swap items or their thankful comments. This may sound a little silly, but I would feel a bit sad that all the hard work I put into a swap package would only be seen by a small group of approved followers beyond my control. I want the joy to be spread far and wide!

I'm not going to pretend to be impartial on this subject, because I do feel that IG-based swaps are social by nature. It's called social media for a reason! Keeping your account private during a swap seems like going to a cocktail party with a bag on your head. However, I'm not saying people who want privacy should be excluded from swaps. I do think we both need to meet in the middle to make swaps enjoyable for everyone.

The easiest solution I think would be for private swappers to create a second, public account to use for swaps. Using a separate account would enable private swappers to maintain their personal privacy while selectively sharing swap-related photos. I think this would be the most simple, inclusive solution.

But what if private users do not adopt the second account approach? Well, if it is an important issue to the swap hosts, they could choose to designate their swap as a "social swap" or a "non-social swap." Social swaps would indicate that participants are expected to be public and active IG users in order to maximize the sense of community. Non-social swaps would release participants from these expectations, meaning you can share as much or as little as you like.

I personally would only want to host social swaps in the future, because I know how "meh" it can feel to be sewing a project for a virtual stranger. It's just not as fun for me, and I don't want other's to go through that if they want a more active, friendly environment.

I want to hear your opinions and thoughts on this subject! If you have a private account, how would you feel about making a public swap account? Have you ever been paired with a private partner? Do you have any other solutions to the issue? I want to know!

EPP Glue Basting: Fons & Porter Glue Pen vs Elmer's Washable School Glue Stick

My last few posts have all mentioned my newfound love for English Paper Piecing. EPP is a fun way to use up oddly shaped fabric scraps while taking a break from sitting at my sewing machine. The downside is that it's so time-consuming! I'm a naturally impatient person, and I will look for any shortcuts I can find. I know some people enjoy the slow, steady pace of EPP, but the "meditative" appeal is totally lost on me. 

When I learned about glue basting in lieu of thread basting my EPP pieces, I jumped on the bandwagon without a thought. Thread basting just takes too long for my goldfish brain.

The tutorial I read (linked above) uses a Sewline fabric glue pen, but I also saw posts advocating the classic Elmer's disappearing purple washable school glue sticks. Over the years, I've bought pricey specialized craft tools and materials as well as their cheaper alternatives. Sometimes the cheap products work just as good (like my Niagara starch spray vs the more expensive Best Press), but sometimes you get what you pay for (like my recent switch from Coats & Clark thread to Aurifil). I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to do a glue stick showdown!

The Fons & Porter Glue Pen

Although most posts I saw used the Sewline glue pen, I purchased the virtually identical Fons & Porter glue pen for $1 less (and free Prime shipping) on Amazon. I'm 90% certain this is a case of a single manufacturer supplying both brands. The pen structure looks the same with the exception of the color and branding of the pen shaft. According to this post, the F&P glue pen refills even fit the Sewline pen. The F&P pen cost me $7 with one glue cartridge. Refills are sold as a 2 pack for about $5. I picked up a 3 pack of the Elmer's sticks for $2 at my local grocery store. They're generally priced at $1 per stick or less. 

I tested both sticks while basting my diamond jewel star quilt. The F&P pen and the Elmer's stick have a few common features. Both are water-soluble, so they'll wash off your fabric (as well as hands and work surfaces) easily. Both are pigmented upon application (Elmer's is purple and F&P is blue), but dry clear within a minute or so.

Right of the bat, you'll notice that the F&P pen has a smaller diameter than the Elmer's stick. This allowed for neater glue application when basting down my side seams. With the Elmer's stick you have a few options: 1) Over-apply the glue which can get a little messy. 2) Use the edge of your stick, which will destroy the clean flat glue stick surface. 3) Apply the glue with half the stick on the paper and half on the fabric seam allowance which effectively "doubles up" your glue when you fold the seam over. On the flipside, I like the fatness of the stick to initially to adhere the paper piece to the back of my fabric. TL;DR: Elmer's fat purple face makes it a bit trickier to apply glue neatly. If I had to pick a pen based on neatness of application, I would go for the F&P, but only by a hair.

The F&P pen has a narrower tip

The texture of the glue differs between the two pens as well. The Elmer's stick has a lot more moisture to it, which gives it more "glide" during application. The F&P pen feels more tacky in comparison. The result is that it takes a few swipes to get enough glue on my paper, but the fabric sticks to the paper slightly better. The Elmer's stick is sufficiently sticky, but may require a firmer finger press.  TL;DR: F&P pen takes longer to apply, but is slightly stickier. Due to extra time it takes to apply glue with the F&P, I would give the point to the Elmer's stick here.

In the end, the real deciding factor for me was the price value, and to a lesser extent, product availability. My F&P pen cartridge ran dry less than halfway through my diamond jewel star, which is not exactly a big project. I was pretty shocked by how quickly it was used up. While the pen is approximately 4.5 inches tall, the cartridge is only like 2 inches tall! It felt kind of like buying a big bag of potato chips and realizing that the bag is like 50% air with 10 chips in there. It was hard not to feel like I'd been cheated out of my money.

The three Elmer's sticks I purchased for $2 lasted me the rest of the diamond jewel star, my Honeycomb mini and about 4 cogs of my current project, the Passacaglia quilt before I had to buy more glue sticks. Buying 3 more Elmer's sticks would be cheaper (and last longer) than buying the F&P pen refills. Additionally, I would have to make a special trip to Jo-Ann's or order the refills online. When I ran out of my Elmer's sticks, I just picked more up at the grocery store. Convenient!

The Verdict: The cheap Elmer's stick wins my seal of approval!