I often speak about changing cross stitch patterns, and how you’d get to a point where you’d see a dress in a pattern and would want to change the color or want to change the skin tone threads or hair threads to something more realistic. However, a lot of people are scared. They don’t know where to start, and often see big designs online and don’t know how to get there. So what should you do first?
Start small
I regularly get contacted about where to start with pattern making. Thanks to some advanced cross stitch designing programs, it looks like you need to know a whole tome of information to make a pattern, but that’s not the case. In fact, changing colors on a pattern is not only super simple, but you don’t have to go crazy. We covered changing colors on a cross stitch pattern a few weeks ago, but it can be a super small, super simple change that allows you to do make a pattern unique. Start with a dress color, move onto a skin tone or a hair color. See just how easy it is to make cross stitch yours.
Get more adventurous
By this point, you should understand simple color changes. But you don’t have to graduate straight away to something super complicated. Instead, go crazy with color changes.
The pattern below, by PatternArtCollection on Etsy is a great pattern, but they sell it in two different color tones. This, is something ANYONE can do. By purchasing the pattern, you can edit as you see fit, and by adapting whole color spectrums, even every color on the pattern, you can totally change the tone of the work. The one on the right to me looks like night, and the one on the right like day. Yet despite this, the colors aren’t what you’d see in either situation, no, instead one is purple and one is orange.
Mix items/pattern parts
But then what? This, is what I love.
By taking parts of patterns, and using them together, you can create something truly custom. Something that whilst coming from various places can be 100% of your work. There are even books like Lizzy Dabczynski’s Do-It-Yourself Stitch People Book which allows you to take tiny parts and combine them into one, creating a unique person, ever time. This harks back to some of the previous things you might be doing too. Changing skin colors, or hair colors, or dress colors, are exactly the things you’ll be done. But you’ll also be picking outfits, faces, hair cuts and beyond.
What about copyright?
That said, what about copyright? We cross stitch and copyright is something every cross stitcher should be aware of and frankly, its every cross stitcher’s duty to care about copyright. So how does that impact what you’re doing here? Well, not much.
You see, once you purchase a pattern you have the right to do it as you wish. Want to change colors? That’s fine! Want to chop, change, add, subtract, anything? Sure!
The issue is when you try to sell the pattern (or even give it away free). The pattern, even in its edited state, is still owned by the original creator. If you want to open your own store with your own patterns or give them away free, you NEED to use your own work.
Also, its always nice to give some cross stitch recognition.