You are getting ready for a big vacation or trip to visit loved ones and you know you are going to have lots of spare time on your hands. That current work in progress is staring back at you, waiting for you to finally have time to work on it. Do you take all of the supplies with you? How do you prepare your travel with your project?

So many forums on social media groups dedicated to cross-stitching have had questions come up about the topic of traveling with your cross stitch project especially if your trip requires flying on an airplane. This article is going to give you tips on how to prepare to travel with your project via flight.

The first thing that you need to know before you gather your entire inventory of floss and aida is how much realistic time are you going to be able to spend on your project. You may think of your vacation being a week or two long, but you really need to consider how many hours during that time frame that you will actually get to sit down and focus on your project. When traveling by airplane, your luggage and carry-on space is very limited so you really only want to take what you will actually need. I usually select a smaller project to travel with unless I am taking a flight upwards of five hours. I do stitch on the flight sometimes and since I usually end up on flights that are 16+ hours long, I would either select 2-3 simple, small projects or one larger project keep me busy.

Secondly, depending on the location of my destination, you may find it beneficial to photocopy your pattern and take the photocopy with you in lieu of the original. It is never pleasant sitting on a sandy beach and a slight breeze comes along whisking your pattern into dirt or water. I highly suggest just making a copy to be safe.

Next, once the pattern or patterns are selected, gather the floss that you will need. Honestly, if I know the project will not get completed on the trip, I just bring the amount of floss for the amount of estimated time that I will be working on it. It is ok to bring some extra floss as it doesn’t take up too much space, but it does get a little difficult to keep it organized while traveling so keeping it to a minimum is usually beneficial.

After you gather your floss, you can gather the remainder of the items you will need for your project. One requirement for making a trip is getting a large zippered pouch to keep all of your supplies in. Even a large Ziplock bag would work. Next, carefully select the fabric or material of your choosing that will fit your project. Then, make sure you grab your hoop, if you choose to use one. I rarely use a hoop and I personally have never traveled with one. I find that they get in the way and take up unnecessary space in a carry-on bag.

The most commonly asked question regarding traveling with cross stitch projects is about the scissors. I usually pack scissors in my checked in bag and instead carry nail clippers on to the plane. I have heard of people successfully boarding a plane with their fancy scissors and having no issues while others get theirs confiscated. Although I am almost certain that if the scissors are smaller than a certain size, you can possibly get by with them on a domestic flight, international flights don’t always abide by the same rules and you really can’t argue to keep your expensive crane scissors at that point anyway. It is just best to play it safe, check them, and use the nail clipper during the flight portion instead.

That being said, I do the same with needles. I generally carry two blunt embroidery needles on with me and leave a couple extras in my checked bag. From personal experience, I have boarded several domestic and international airplanes with embroidery needles and never been asked a question about them nor had I been stopped in a security screening until the one day it actually happened on an international flight. They pulled me aside, emptied my bag completely and located one single needle that I stuck in the fabric of my project. They confiscated it.

Needless to say, I questioned the fact that that very needle boarded three planes on the way there with no problem but in the end, no amount of arguing in the world could make them change their mind so it was gone. Luckily, I had the second needle stored separately in my coin purse and they didn’t question that one so I was still able to work on my project for the following 23 hours of flight and layovers.

In the end, you can easily travel with your cross stitch project. As long as you take precautions in advance, you should have no problems getting your items on the plane. The biggest problems you will have is deciding where to go on your next big adventure and which project you will ultimately take with you.

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