A lady from my church goes to Sierra Leone to teach for a few weeks every year and the group she goes with always take teaching materials, playtime stuff like balls and skipping ropes, and so on.

This year she wants to do something "creative" with the children, particularly something stitchy, and she asked me to look into it. Our local Junior School have made a wall hanging, pictures of which will go with her to SL, and the idea is that the children their will make their own version.

What we want to do is this: Using a very low count aida and #5 or #3 perle cotton, they will all stitch a square with a letter (in as many colours as possible) which will then be sewn onto a backing in a sort of "cross word puzzle" shape, making words that are important to them.

I can get 8ct aida relatively cheaply, and 6ct Binca at a better price, but I'm not sure how they would work with perle cotton, and what thickness it would need, so before I buy i'd like to try both counts.

So here's the question -- does anyone have a small scrap of 8ct aida and/or 6ct Binca which you would be willing to send me? I've got plenty of perle cotton to stitch the samples with so that's not a problem (although if anyone happens to have a bag of perles lying around that they're not doing anything with it would of course be gratefully received!)

Thanks!

*bump*

Anyone?

I have some small count adia, but it might be 11ct. I'll have to go pull it out and look, which will have to wait until after I take big one to preschool. If it's 8ct your welcome to have some of it (you're welcome to have some if it's 11ct too).

mechie

mechie, that's really kind of you but being in America that would be far too expensive -- I was really thinking of UK-based stitchers!
But perhaps if you could find out how much it is i could pay you for the postage with PayPal?
If it's 11ct it'll be too small, but 8ct would be great.

Hi Mabel,

Sorry I only have 18count in Aida. Would you still like some of it in case there is an ''advanced'' stitcher among the kids?
Maud

It's not a big deal really. If no one closer has any I'd still be willing to send you some. I don't have pay pal anyway so no worries about paying for it.

For what it's worth, whatever size I have I got to teach my daughter to stitch (she lost interest for now, but we'll try again later). We were stitching with, I believe, perle 8 (I'd have to look that part up too) and it worked out nicely. I can post pics of what little we did if you're interested.

mechie

Maud, thanks very much for the offer, but I think they are all beginners, and quite young. But because I've never worked on 8ct or 6ct myself I don't know what threads would go with it! So that's why I asked if people had little scraps (they really only need to be tiny) so I can try a few different threads, and then I would buy either 6ct or 8ct in bulk for the project.

Mechie, if #8 perle gave good coverage it is probably 11ct, so I won't take you up on your offer. What I may do is see if there are any "mixed packs" on eBay with different low counts in them!

Thanks both

See, we should never rely on my memory. What I have is 6ct that we stitched with perle 3. Because the fabric was on backorder at my LNS at the time I got it I had to buy a 9x33" piece. My daughter and I used a small piece, but we'll never use all of it. You're welcome to have part of it if you want.

mechie

Mabel,
Don't have any of the aida but do have an idea.... I know a lot of the kits for the really young beginners come with yarn to sew with. This may be a cheaper option for you since perle #8 can get a little costly.

Mabel, I just thought of something else. I am guessing you are a regular customer at Sew & So, maybe you could contact them and ask if they would be willing to send you a small sample since it is for charity? I checked their site and they do carry 6 and 8 count.

Thanks for all your reactions!

Maud, what a great idea! I've just bought a Lowery from them, not to mention all my Mabel-stuff so they might be happy to send me a few scraps with my next order.

Mechie, if that doesn't work and if you're really all right to send me some I'd love to have a small piece of your 6ct; I'll try Sew & So first and come back to you if they won't play ball.

dwitt, unfortunately I've been specifically asked not to use yarn, so I felt perle cotton would probably be the best alternative. It's nice and shiny too . As the colours don't matter much (the wallhanging will consists of words made up of "letter squares", so anything bright will do) I may see if I can find a mixed job-lot on eBay.

It's no problem, Mabel. Just let me know and I'll be happy to send you some.

mechie

OK, no luck with Sew & So -- I got a very quick reply saying everything is cut into standard-size pieces and there is no wastage. Oh well.

But I found a pice of 6ct on eBay with a starting bid of 99p, so I've put in a bid, if I win it and it's not right I can always donate it to the local Junior school

Hi Mabel
Sorry I haven't seen this before, but I don't check this part of the forum very often. I have some aida, I think it's 6 count, and would be happy to send some to you. I helped my five year old to do her first cross stitch with it! We used all six strands of floss.
Anyway, if you let me have your address I'll gladly send you some!

I missed the Binca on eBay so yes I'd be very glad of a piece! Mechie, as 3madspaniels is in the UK that's probably the easiest thing, but thanks again for your offer!

Will pm you with my address, 3madspaniels -- anything you'd like in return?

Should hopefully be with you tomorrow, Mabel. Nothing required in return, thanks.

Thanks -- I'll post a pic of the experiments