Each weekend we spotlight something that helps us as a stitcher. This weekend I’ve chosen Cherise Smith’s Stitchingly Along needle minders, fobs and froggers.
It appears to me that these days stitchers fall into one of two categories:
- Those that are addicted to fobs, froggers and needle minders and have specific sets for each of their designs or
- Those who don’t know what these things are?
Fobs
Fobs are pretty dangly things that hang from the bottom of your scissors, usually with a larger, weighted bob at the end. I use fobs because they help me find my scissors when I lost them down the side of the lounge; the scissors slip down but the bob at the bottom of the fob doesn’t.
Also it helps me remember which scissors are mine when at a stitchers’ get together. We do tend to show off the different fobs we use.
Frogger
Froggers help to pull out any incorrect stitches. I find it easier to use a frogger than my needle as I have a tendency to lose hold of my needle and then have to find it in the folds of my clothing or the floor. With the extra length of the dangly bits I find the frogger needles easier to hold and less likely to lose.
Needle minder
A needle minder is a pretty item that goes in the corner of your fabric and magnetically holds your needles.
Most needle minders are made with light rare earth magnets such as these.
The little magnet on the right goes under your fabric. The large magnet on the left is turned over and set on top of it, on the top of your fabric; so the pretty side is seen and the fabric is sandwiched between the two magnets.
As I stitch in whatever chair I tend to be in, holding a Qsnap, I tend to thread the needle through the fabric or through my clothing which changing floss. The sheer number of lost needles that I find on laundry day, convinced me to try out a minder.
These sit nicely in the inside corner of a qsnap, or near the edge of a hoop or a stitching frame; wherever there is spare fabric that you will not being stitching or getting your floss tangled in.
Review
Cherise’s Fobs are well made. The top clasp is big enough to use on any of my embroidery scissors without being so large that it gets in the way.
She has many designs with glass cabochons on top of images, such as the ones above, but she also does cute metallic and sparkly bobs such as this dog and paw set I bought for a friend.
Cherise’s Fobbers are a good length to hold in your hand. I tend to stitch on 32ct with a size 28 petite needle. While the needle attached to the frogger is larger and stronger than my usual stitching needle, it is still a good size to unpick my stitches. I have unfortunately seen froggers with size 20 needles that are simply too large and cumbersome for petite stitches.
While Cherise’s Needle minders tend to have a curved surface (the glass cabochon) the magnets still hold the needles nicely. I prefer a flatter surface as I tend to prick my finger when picking needles up from a curved surface. However thankfully not everyone is as much of a klutz as me and the curved cabochons look great as part of a set.
The sets arrive very well packaged. Each item is in an individual ziplock bag and then each set is placed in a pretty pink tulle bag.
This bag is then wrapped in pink tissue paper:
and then finally bubble wrapped. Every item arrived in Australia completely unharmed!
All in all I would recommend looking through the Stitchingly Along Etsy shop and the Facebook Page and selecting a set or two for yourself or a friend.
Giveaway
In my last order, Cherise included this lovely Purple Grape set to give away. To win, comment below why you like this set?
This is a 3-piece set for stitchers & others that includes a Fob, Needle Minder and a Frogger. It’s made with glass & crystal beads, a vintage graphic and glass cabochon in a silver setting.
Contest is open to anywhere in the world. Whilst we love comments and sharing via social media, only comments on this post will be eligible for entry.
Mel will use her trusty digital magic eight ball to decide the lucky Cross Stitch Review reader.
Contest closes FOUR weeks from Publish; midday, 7 February 2014, Melbourne, Australia time (UTC+11 hours).
Discussion
Why do YOU use fobs, froggers or needle minders?
If you like this review, please share it with your friends.
Last Updated: 23 January 2015 (edited as I misidentified the cabochons as plastic. They are in fact glass.)
