Desktop stands and floor stands an absolute necessity for a two-handed stitcher and picking the best product for your needs.
When searching for these all-important tools to make your stitching experience easier and more enjoyable; be it cross-stitching or needlework the tools we use have to work for us and our personal needs. Everyone’s requirements are different, but for a two-handed stitcher, you will always need some kind of stand to hold your hoop, q-snap scroll frame or embroidery frames.
Some stands will come with a bigger price tag than others, but when you know it is the perfect stand for you, that usually means several months of saving your pennies into your stitching penny pot and ticking away the funds until you have what you need for that “Must Have” stitching stands.
How to choose the right one for you
When considering what stand we need and picking the best product for your needs the questions have to begin with:-
- Where do I plan to use it?
- What must it be able to do?
- How long do I expect it to last?
- Do I need more than one?
Let’s break this down and have a look.
Believe it or not, for me the questions did not start with number 1. Where do I plan to use it? – but instead, mine started with number 4. Do I need more than one stand?
Do I need more than one stand?
When investing your hard-earned cash into your new stand you want it to be usable in almost any situation – right? Well, nearly every situation. If like me you mostly stitch at home, but also travel and take your stitching with you on holidays, stitching retreats or in the car, this is where the consideration may need to be more a question of ….
But do I need more than one stand for my needs?
For me, this is where the desktop stand and a floor stand needs came into play. I knew I needed two very different stands for very different purposes and this is why I chose to have a floor stand and a desktop stand.
Where do I plan to use it?
Floor Stand
The floor stand needs to be usable wherever I want to stitch in the house, in the living room on the sofa, an upright chair in the dining area or in the study in the armchair – these are the places I would usually stitch when at home and working on my big projects using my scroll bars.
Desktop Stand
The desktop stand needs to be usable wherever I want to stitch on the go or whilst traveling, so for me that is on stitching retreats where there is a table we are sitting around, on a plane, in a hotel room or around family or friends house’s when visiting for a long weekend and of course whilst commuting on the train to work – for me these are the considerations I needed to think about.
What must it be able to do?
Floor Stand
Floor stands cannot be folded and put in a drawer out the way so a big stand that will be out on show in my house needs to look good, it needs to be pleasant on the eye and fit into the decor of my home. The floor stand needs to be able to hold my all-important Millenium frames firmly and securely. I do not want to have any part of the frames clamped to anything so I have free movement to turn my work to finish my thread and flip the work over easily. I want the flexibility to change the angle of the stitching on the frame to suit the place I am stitching in, such as in the armchair in the study or on the sofa. It needs to have a place for my Ipad to sit for my electronic charts for the bigger projects that I tend to do more whilst stitching at home. My stitching needs to come to me, not me moving to get closer to my stitching.
Desktop Stand
The desk stand only needs to be able to hold my q-snaps or small hoops (for those that use hoops) as I do not tend to work on big projects whilst on the move. The risk of losing or damaging a piece that I have been working on for months and years doesn’t bear thinking about. I want the stitching fixed more to the stand, but still be able to turn the work easily to end threads and get to the back of my work. An absolute deal-breaker is it needs to be lightweight and compact. I want it to fit in my handbag along with the stitching. I sometimes like to stitch whilst laying on the bed, so I want it to be able to balance on a pillow or on my legs sometimes and again I want my stitching to come to me, not me moving to get closer to my stitching so it needs to be able to be angled to suit the seating arrangement of where I am. Of course, although this stand will be compact and small enough to put away I also want to know if I leave it out on the side it will not be an eye-soar and blend with my decor – yes I know I am just being fussy now, but like most, I know what I like.
I don’t want much right?
How long do I expect it to last?
Well, this is where sometimes the price tag for me outweighs the general view of WOW that is too expense clash! I want the stands to last forever– or nearly lol! If the stand comes with a big price tag but ticks all my boxes and is built to last and looks good then for me it is worth the cost, even if that means I have to save all my pennies up and wait until I have the funds to buy the best products for my personal stitching needs.
So which ones did I decide on?
After all the decisions have been made I now have both the stands that really work for me and my needs. The floor stand is the Needle Needs stand.
Read my previous article, Christmas Goodies from back in December 2018.
The new desktop stand Velke Potoky desktop holder mini I received for Christmas this year.
Below are the Youtube reviews of the floor stand and desktop stand that I have that work for me.
Picking that all-important stand – the choice is yours!
