#OxCoPALs #3 - Tracing and Punching

by Hannah Harding

Apr 28, 2023

Hi Everyone!

Are you ready to get started punching these adorable #OxCoPALs Spring Catch-all or Advanced boxes?

The first step is to make sure that you have your project traced up on your monk's cloth. You can easily fit one of the small Catch-all boxes on a 10" x 10" frame. You can also trace up 4 on a 24"x24" piece of monk's cloth and have it fit on your 18" x 18" frame. For this, you will want to be sure to find the middle of your monk's cloth before tracing. (We have a quick tutorial on this on Instagram) You can see in the picture above how Heidi managed to get the four Catch-all boxes on one piece of 24" x 24" monk's cloth.

Something to remember with any of the Spring Boxes, (Advanced or the Catch-all), is it is super important to make sure that the side panels and bottom all line up correctly. Since this project is mainly about construction, one side being a different length, or punched in the wrong row, can throw off how the end will look. The whole box will look super wonky instead of cute and adorable! To accomplish this you will want to trace the pattern on the weave of the monk's cloth and align the side panel and box bottom. When you start punching, you will want to keep everything in a line by punching in the same row on the side panel and box bottom.

Cotey and Heidi also strongly recommend punching on the inside of the border line so you have a little extra monk's cloth to whip stitch around. If, like me, you tend to punch on that traced line, you can still whip stitch. It will just be a little bit more fiddly, as you'll have a little less monk's cloth to work with.

Whether you have decided to have 1 box or 4 on your monk's, once you are done with tracing, you can go ahead and stretch your fabric on your frame or hoop. You will want to make sure it's as tight as you can possibly get it. It needs to be drum tight!

Quick Reminder on Punching:

Small Catch-all: Start punching from the outside and work your way in. You can start with any of the panels, we just so happened to each start with the base panel. If you are using a regular point Oxford Punch Needle, it is every other hole (6 stitches per inch), for the border After that it is every two holes (4 stitches per inch) to fill in. For finer weight yarns (worsted), use fine point Oxford Punch Needles, and punch every hole (10-12 stitches per inch). We have handy stitch gauges that are now double sided - one side for fine point needles, the other side for regular point! Don't crowd your stitches, make sure the loops are blooming nicely.

Advanced Patterns: We recommend punching the base of the box first. You will want to do this by reverse punching. Flip your frame to the underside and punch so that the loops are on the side of the frame you are normally punching on (the "back" side). Start with the smallest objects and your borders first. Once you have the bottom panel done, flip your frame back over so you are punching as you normally would. Here is where things may get a bit tricky. Like I said at the beginning of this post, you will want your rows to line up on each panel edge. Again, this is so that the box comes together in the construction phase as nicely and easily as possible. When I did this, I moved the loops aside so I could see where in the monk's cloth the punched line was and I followed that line to the corresponding side panel. This made it so everything was punched on the same line. Again, on the side panels, start with outlines and fill in smaller items first.

Pictured: Heidi's helper, Pinky

Once you have finished, clip all the tails, and clean up the punching to a finished state. Mix up your glue with a 1:1 ratio of white glue to water and paint around the dotted lines. Now you just wait for this to dry!

Next week we will discuss the construction process of the box. This is when we take it off the frame, cut it out, and begin whip stitching everything together!

Submit photos of your #OxCoPALs Spring Box Project to be entered to win a #10 regular Limited Edition Bamboo Oxford Punch Needle. Everyone who submits a photo will receive a free drawstring tool bag. Entrees must be of the box project and can be submitted one of three ways: emailed to info@amyoxford.com, tagging @amy.oxford on social media, or using #OxCoPALs.

Until then, Happy Punching!

~Hannah

Click Here for Catch-all Box Build Your Own Kit

Catch-all Box Pattern