The Cross in my Pocket & Instructions

A couple of years ago I made these little pocket crosses for some special friends and I was pleased that they all loved and treasured them. 

Since then, I was really amazed how that single post has generated so much interest from people all over the world who wanted to make them.

Recently, I made a few more and once again the demand spread amongst friends.

 I decided to update my template, as I had amended various details whilst working on these latest examples, so the new instructions follow.

Make them with love, as I did, and give thanks for all the good things you have.

Now that I am sewing a lot I used some pretty remnants from my fabric stash to make the little pouches, instead of the card wallets I used to make.

Make sure the ribbon is only 3mm wide. 

You can see in the next photo that the bottom two examples look far neater than the top two.

Click for My original post in January 2013

I have also added one extra square above the cross bar, now making 4 (instead of the 3 in the previous template) which I think gives better balance. 

You can see below.....

It is a bid fiddly to cut them out and the little bits of plastic canvas shoot everywhere but think of it as an act of love! It is a pleasure to see them take form as the ribbon is threaded into the squares and once you've made one or two it really becomes an easy task.

The plastic canvas comes in squares of various sizes but works out very cheaply per cross, for example Abakhan stores, at present, sell a piece 12 inches x 18 inches for £2.60 so that would make approximately a couple of dozen, which would be about 10p each and ribbon would add around another 50p.

If, like me, you manage to count incorrectly and snip the wrong square then the plastic can be patched together (as long as the patch is behind the ribbon areas) by stitching or carefully gluing with Superglue to save wastage. 

Below is my new template sketch...

Here's the special little poem which accompanies the crosses.

Here's a shortened version that can be used;

Here's a little cross
To hold each time you pray
Keep it safely in it's pocket
And close to you all day.
A token of our friendship
And of God's love for you
A reminder He is always there
Your whole life through.