It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and of course thoughts turn to…needlework.
I’ve written about my love of cross stitch for Stuff We Like before, and I’ve shared many a pattern and instructional post in Smart Bitches Cross Stitches. We have a cross stitch tag, too, for whenever we link to patterns and kits we love.
During the Quarantimes, I’m doing a lot of work on my current project, not only because the progress I make gives me a nice, fuzzy feeling of satisfaction and pleasure, but because I can listen to podcasts, audiobooks, or watch BritBox while I stitch. It’s been tremendously relaxing.
There are some terrific new cross stitching kits, patterns, and books out, too, if you’d like to try cross stitching. It’s simple and meditative, but very satisfying and visually nifty, too. (NB: some links herein are affiliate coded, which means a portion of your purchase will come back to us at no extra cost to you. If you use them, thank you! And if you prefer not to, no worries at all!)
First, this is the pattern I’ve been working on:
Yin Yang Cross Stitch Pattern (PDF), Stitchrovia, $6
I have also stitched this pattern after finding it in a magazine (more on that below) and am prepping it for pillow construction now:
I Read Past My Bedtime Cross Stitch Pattern (PDF), Stitchrovia, $7
Emma Congdon, the designer behind Stitchrovia, has just released a book of inspirational patterns, too! It’s called Cross Stitch for the Soul, and it has a mix of small, medium, and larger patterns for beginner/advanced beginner and intermediate skill levels. If you like stitching quotes as much as I do, this is a lovely book to try.
If you love to browse sets of patterns, there are some other fun books available in print and digitally (I prefer digital patterns personally, as I can zoom in on my tablet). Many of them may be available from your local library’s digital collection, or in their Hoopla library.
And don’t forget – if your library has RB Digital, there might be some terrific UK cross stitching magazines available, such as Cross Stitcher, and the more advanced Cross Stitch Gold. I wrote a whole post about using your library to read digital magazines!
If you’ve got a stash of fabric and floss, you might find your next project in one of these books, too:
Cross Stitch The Golden Girls, $7 Hardcover
Really Cross Stitch: When You Want to Stab Something a Lot
Subversive Cross Stitch: 50 F*cking Clever Designs for Your Sassy Side
I have a massive affection for Subversive Cross Stitch. Their kits were how I learned how to stitch, and I still have some of my original projects, including a pattern that reads “Bitch Bitch Bitch.”
Feminist Cross-Stitch
Bless This Mother-effing HomeLook, sometimes it feels really nice to stab fabric and create curse words out of pretty colors. I can’t explain it, but it definitely works on me.
But if you’re looking for more soothing patterns, how about Cross Stitch to Calm?
BookRiot has also released a book of literary patterns:
And if super tiny and adorable more your jam? Here you go:
I love stitching images of miniatures. I can’t explain it.
But if a kit that includes everything you need is more to your liking, get ready. We’ve got options.
Pusheen Cross Stitch Kit, $10 AMZ
You’d be cross stitching a cross stitching cat. That’s gotta be some kind of stitch-ception, right?
The benefit of a kit is that it includes everything you need to complete the project, including instructions.
A bookmark kit can be a great option for a beginner:
Or maybe you need to visually summarize Rowling’s statements about trans rights, or your personal feelings about how some governments have chosen to respond to the global pandemic? We’ve got options for that, too:
Subversive Cross Stitch has some new quarantine-themed kits, including one with a frame allowing you to celebrate many, many consecutive days without pants. The pattern itself is a free PDF download, because awesome.
There are patterns that celebrate other things you like, too. I shared this Stardew Valley Alphabet pattern with Amanda because I knew she’d love it.
Stardew Valley Cross Stitch Alphabet, PDF pattern, FancyFoxGlove, $4
Animal Crossing fans, heads up!
Animal Crossing Home Sweet Home Pattern PDF, Sarah Davidson Art, $4
Or, if you need to stitch out some Quarantimes frustration, there are patterns for that, too.
2020 Sampler, The RebelCrafterShop, $6
I particularly like the rolls of toilet paper in the corners.
Plastic Little Covers is one of my favorite pattern designers, and this pattern has been one of my favorites long before the Quarantimes:
I Want To Be Where the People Aren’t PDF pattern, Plastic Little Covers, $5
Maya: I love Snuggly Monkey!
They are running a bit low on products right now (much like everyone else), but here’s a few things they still have in stock. Look at the cute badger!
They also sell kits by Cozyblue. I’m working on this one right now:
And finally! If you are looking to learn a new type of embroidery style, you can try out Sashiko. Soooo pretty:
Here are some Etsy patterns I’m currently eyeing:
Beyonce Lemonade PDF pattern, Happy Sloth Patterns, $5
Lizzo PDF pattern, Happy Sloth Patterns, $5
My favorite Disney movie:
Moana Movie Poster PDF Pattern, RainbowStitchCross, $5
And Princess (General) Leia:
Princess Leia Rebel PDF Pattern, RainbowStitchCross, PDF $5
Sarah, have you seen these cross stitch/embroidery display frames from StitchLife Studio?
Sarah: NO, I have not but they’re PERFECT. Thank you!
OK, what about you? Any patterns or needlework you’re doing in the Quarantimes? What stabby work are you working on?
I am apparently old fashioned because I am working on a black swan designs pattern from 1987 and a Dracolair design from around the same time period. But I am doing a bright and cheerful tropical birds pattern from a Russian designer on Etsy also.
Flosstube is a great way to learn about beautiful patterns though a lot of people lean heavily to primitive and sampler styles which I just don’t understand at all. But there are people who do Mirabilia, heaven and earth full coverage, etc. Just go to YouTube, type in flosstube, and explore:
Cross stitching has been part of my life since I was a child and it is really a joy, especially with the right equipment – q snaps for small projects, a frame and lap stand for big ones.
I had a huge, I mean Panera packed lunch for the office in it huge, bag of little kits that I acquired at various quilt guild functions. While I was working half time I finished all the pin cushions & a mug rug, pieced a gingerbread mini quilt top, then basted three small projects, fused two landscape tops from a class I took I can’t say how long ago and hand pieced about two dozen hexagon flowers and basted another dozen worth of hexies to their paper backings for the on going scrap Grandmother’s Flower Garden I started two years ago. Oh, and broke down about 15 pairs of jeans into assorted size squares for yet another project I’ve been planning for about a decade.
Now I’m moving on to the cross stitch fantasy Santa (Leisure Arts Noble Companions) that a bff’s mother started shortly before passing (+20 yrs ago) that she unearthed in her last clear out. I believe she intended to have me teach her how to do it herself, but when she unearthed it, laughed herself silly and gave it to me.
Also, I choose my friends for a shared ability to procrastinate and or magpie length of attention.
Well, this post hit me right in the wallet.
A little off-topic, sorry, but does anybody know of something equivalent to a HABO for cross stitch patterns? I’ve been trying to track a specific one down that I saw in a book.
I’ve been passing over some of the patterns I like because they aren’t kits and I don’t have access to a printer right now, so thanks for reminding me I can actually stitch while looking at the pattern on a screen, LOL.
I’ve been doing SO MUCH stitching and knitting during this time. I finished a complicated sweater I’ve been working on for approximately one thousand years, and hoping to use some of the sock yarn I’ve been amassing in case of an apocalypse (and here we are!)
Thank you for all these great suggestions of places to get more designs. Where do you like to buy your floss?
I have some sparkle aida and I’m leaning towards “Heroism Takes Kindness, DIPSHIT” from the great wisdom Shitpost Sampler (pay what you want on gumroad) or possibly “Be Kind, Be Weird, Eat Pasta.”
I’m on Quarantine Sweater Number 4, my planner looks like pintrest exploded and my apartment has never been cleaner. We are sublimating our anxiety up to eleven.
I love seeing all of this cross stitch stuff!! I have several of the books, and I am currently doing the Steotchalone by Steotch Fine Needlework (usually it is a mystery, but this time we know we are doing a House related stitch).
My Etsy shop is BLOWING UP with people looking for things to stitch! If you are looking for fannish wedding or baby samplers come have a look: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SavingGraces Hamilton wedding sampler coming up next. Also planning on listing more fabric, which is just flying out the door.
Here’s a freebie from my DA account for the quarantimes: https://www.deviantart.com/nevasirenda/art/Valley-of-the-shadow-836101928 More freebies there in my gallery under Needlework.
In a moment of prescience last fall, I purchased a cross stitch pattern with the saying “This too shall pass.” It’s been great for the current circumstances! Also if you are on Instagram, check out the hashtag #bewellandstitch. Many designers have posted free designs there.
Still working on the Cuyahoga Valley stitch. It’s about half-done. It’s ginormous and it is a testament to how much time I have had in the house and how much TV I’ve watched that I’m as far along as I am. This would normally take a really long time, possibly over a year. It’s beautiful, but it is a monster.
@suze in NE, your best option is to join a general cross stitch group like world of cross stitching on Facebook and ask. You could try random search terms in Instagram, that could be fun but you probably won’t find it that way 🙂
I have been accumulating fabric for a Cat Quilt. I know this sounds like I’m a crazy person, but I have been cutting blocks from fabric that has cats in it. I decided to cross stitch some cats on plain white blocks to intersperse with the prints. I went old skool and got some vintage looking stuff from Stitcher’s Revolution – the brand is sold at Joann’s and Amazon. I am having so much fun doing them.
I really love The French Needle’s stuff. They have embroidery kits which show scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry which my inner nerd loves. (The only thing stopping me from doing one is price.)
But I did order a small kit from a new-to-me cross-stitch designer called Avlea. She has her own website and Stitched Modern also sells her kits. Crafts are totally keeping me sane right now.
I took up cross-stitch again last year after having learned as a kid, and what good timing that was. I tend to lean heavily towards the sassy, expletive-filled patterns on Etsy these days. This is my current project from Snarky Crafter Designers: https://www.etsy.com/listing/667051490/im-sorry-youre-a-little-b-tch-sarcastic?ref=hp_rf-4&bes=1
I didn’t realize there were so many books out there, including at my local library! Thanks for the heads-up Sarah!
Also, as it so happens there are lots of friends having babies right now, which gives me lots of time to make everyone a baby blanket while working through my large collection of yarns.
I just bought my first Mill Hill cross stitch kit with a Halloween pattern (Moonstruck). This is a pretty small stitch for me and it includes beads! I have never done beading before, so we’ll see how this goes. I figure it will take until Halloween to get it done. Thankfully I was able to enlarge the stitch guide enough that I actually make sense of it.
I am working on Serenity Stitchworks Cassiopeia Nebula. It’s my first full coverage piece. My library has Flipster for magazines, and they have one Cross Stitch magazine. But there’s also an Ebsco database called The Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center where I also get some good patterns.
I’ve been using knit companion for digital cross stitch patterns, and like it a lot–it’s very basic, but it’s free! At the moment i am 3/5ths done with a stitch along (SAL in the lingo) for Alice by Satsuma street. Sadly for me, it has convinced me that I don’t like her use of colors enough to do more designs by her, but for others, there is a free design by her for the quarantine. ALSO instagram is the bomb for cross stitch projects as suits a photo site.