In our most recent season of recaps in Elyse Watches the Bachelor and the Bachelorette, a few of you mentioned cross stitch patterns inspired by the show.
EC Spurlock, designer and artist, is so here to help and this is tremendously exciting.
I’ve been working on developing a line of Smart Bitches Cross Stitches designs for a while, and I am so excited to share these two designs with you.
I’ll be commissioning more designs for development in the coming months, so if you, like me, enjoy stabbing things over and over, stay tuned. I’ll be introducing more patterns soon. And if you’ve got ideas, suggestions, or a wish list for Smart Bitches Cross Stitch patterns, please email me!
Fear the Rose God
Download Fear the Rose God – PDF (3.9MB) (Right-click-and-save-as, please!)
A few notes about this pattern:
- it is formatted to fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 standard printer paper in landscape format
- you can stitch on 14-count Aida in any color. It doesn’t have to be black, but it does look dramatic on a dark color! As the designer says, “It can be done on white, too; I liked it on the black because I wanted it to look like a horror novel cover 🙂 But it can be stitched on whatever the stitcher prefers.”
- a tip for dark color stitching: place a tablet or light below your fabric to make the holes visible as you work.
- there is backstitching, but I promise you can do it! Do the primary stitching first, then the backstitch. (And see below for some handy tutorial links!)
- the pattern includes a color key for DMC floss, but you can use an online calculator like this one to identify other floss brand colors.
- Yes. Of course you should Fear the Rose God!
Not Here for the Right Reasons
Download Not Here for the Right Reasons – PDF (1.4MB) (Right-click-and-save-as, please!)
A few notes about this pattern:
- it is formatted to fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 standard printer paper in landscape format
- you can stitch on 14-count Aida in any color, though this one will show better on lighter colors.
- as I’ve mentioned on Instagram, I really like stitching on oatmeal colored Aida. I feel like I’m stitching on a Triscuit.
- the pattern includes a color key for DMC floss, but you can use an online calculator like this one to identify other floss brand colors.
- No one is here for the right reasons, and that is 200% okay!
Need Some Tutorials?
I wrote a Cross Stitching 101 post a bit ago, but I can recap and share some links, too.
Cross stitching is using colored strands of embroidery floss to make multiple Xs on fabric. There’s lot of different fabrics, and loads of colors, plus advanced techniques, but we’re going to start with the basics.
Both of these patterns are set for 14 count Aida. It is a fabric meant for stitching that is very, very easy to find at crafting, needlework, and fabric stores. I often find supplies of it on eBay or CraigsList as part of estate sales.
EC Spurlock also provided a few links to different tutorials, and I couldn’t pick just one. I also like looking at different instructional videos and seeing which one works well for me.
- The Cross Stitch Guild – Cross Stitch Basics – “This provides instructions from one of the top designers in the world, in both written and video format, for whichever way you learn best.”
- Red Gate Stitchery – A Step by Step Guide to Cross Stitch – “This is also very basic and easy to read.”
- DMC – Cross Stitch Quick Start – “Another easy-to-follow guide from DMC.”
- Peacock and Fig – Cross Stitch for Beginners – “Here’s a nice set of tutorials.”
- The Yarn Tree – “This one from Yarn Tree provides a PDF download that a stitcher can practice on and keep handy while working on the next project as well.”
Many, many thanks to EC Spurlock for these designs, and the tutorial links!
I’m here to answer questions about cross stitching, and I am open to any ideas you have for patterns you’d like to see – Bachelor-related or not.
I’d also humbly like to ask you to answer a brief poll:
Happy stitching!
I haven’t done any cross stitching in a while, but now that I’m getting replacement corneas & my fuzzy vision will be fixed, gimme all the fun patterns to play with, please!
It’s been a long time since I’ve cross stitched anything. I’d be in for a design that I could do onto a tote bag with waste cloth, if that’s even still a thing.
I’ve never done any cross stitching, but did some embroidery as a kid & wonder if it’s similar. Crafting calms my brain so I think I may try this. Thanks for tips & links on how to get started.
My near vision started to go about the time I got back into cross-stitch. Maybe I should get one of those magnifiers you hang on your neck and give one of these a go.
I knit rather than cross stitch, but these are *amazing.*
@ Varian, you can duplicate-stitch them on your knitting too! 🙂
@ Zuzus, yes, waste canvas is still a thing; in fact it’s been slightly improved so that it’s easier to tell which squares you’re stitching across and which you are stitching into. There are also prefinished tote bags with aida panels woven right in, like this: https://www.herrschners.com/product/fashionably+floral+tote+bag+paid+download.do?sortby=newArrivals&refType=&from=Search (hey, that’s an old design of mine too!)
@Vicki my sixty year old sister needlepoints and only likes the 18 hole canvases (vs 10, 12 or 13). She swears by her light/magnifier which has allowed her to continue working. ,
These are really cool. I did some cross stitching when I was a kid. Nowadays, I prefer crochet and want to learn to knit. (I find transforming what is basically string into solid items very satisfying.) I love that these exist though, and I’d be willing to revisit my cross stitching days if there was a Bad Decisions Book Club pattern. 😀
I am so here for this! I have only been cross stitching for a year but it had worked wonders for my stress level. And it’s got so much easier since I bought an LED craft lamp with a built in magnifying glass. Yay cross stitch!