Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Grime Guards

Call me a sucker, but lately I’ve been falling in love with accessorizing my cross stitch. Of course the accessories must be functional.

Haven’t used a grime guard before?

Prepare to be amazed. Grime guards serve many purposes. I recommend that grime guards be a part of every stitcher’s arsenal.

What are Grime Guards?

A grime guard is fabric with elastic in it to keep your cross stitch clean.

You know how when you take the hoop off of your project and you notice stains from the oils of your hands? The grime guard prevents that. It gives your hands a place to hold the hoop or frame and keeps your cloth clean.

What are the Different Uses for Grime Guards?

Keeping Your Fabric Clean

You might be thinking that you can just fold the fabric the reverse way in the hoop or frame so that the oils get on the backside of the fabric. This is also known as stitching “in the well.”

Personally, I do not enjoy stitching this way so I always fold my fabric over the normal way. It takes a little bit of getting use to and comes down to preference.

Either way, I think that preventing the stains is the better option. Regardless if the stains are on the back, I do not want to take time to remove them. This would be especially difficult when using hand-dyed floss or fabrics.

I love washing my finished projects, but I know many stitchers prefer not to. In certain cases, I don’t either. Again, preventing the oils from your hands absorbing into the fabric is the best strategy.

In addition, I like to wash my hands every time I start stitching and after intervals of stitching time. I have really oily skin so keeping my hands clean is important to me. The grime guard acts as a barrier between your hands and the fabric.

It is best practice to keep your fabric as clean as possible during the stitching process.

Use Your Grime Guard as a Needle Holder

Another one of my favorite accessories are needle minders.

Never heard of a needle minder? You can make your own fabric covered needle minder and have a matching set!

However, if you don’t have a needle minder handy and need a place to store your needle, you can weave the needle into the grime guard.

I have done this on smaller projects with longer thread. It does the job in a pinch.

Storage for Your Excess Fabric

I have heard so many stitchers complain about what to do with all their excess fabric while stitching, especially if you are working with a smaller hoop or q-snap.

It’s no fun constantly fighting with your fabric to cooperate and maybe accidentally stitching through the additional cloth.

Even rolling up your fabric and clamping them with binder clips, the extra fabric can still get in the way.

Just tuck all that rolled up fabric under your grime guard. Then there won’t be any fabric preventing you from stitching.

Final Thoughts

Grime guards are a great way to keep your projects clean, hold your needle, and store extra fabric.

These are a fun way to accessorize your cross stitch with so many patterns to choose from. Create grime guards that match the seasons or match your projects.

Check out my other tutorials!

Happy Stitching!